Must-read quote by BARRY GOLDWATER

... on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly.

The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate.

I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.'

http://yglesias.typepad.com/matthew

He was a little bit nuts sometimes, but he was an honest conservative, in the original and true meaning of the word.

He'd puke at what these rightwingnuts are pulling and - I would bet anything on this - he'd be a Democrat.

Then he'd start kicking serious Democrat ass and the party would rise up and be ........

I can't go on. I just made myself cry.

a deep distrust of Goldwater. My aunt joined up with Goldwater like a fan club, and I remember him taunting her about this. Of course, she also LIKED Rockefeller.

A colonel, I think, and he was a little insane during the Vietnam heyday. That's what made his 1964 campaign so absolutely over-the-top. I remember it, and he was just nuts. Man, he got trounced, he was so scary.

But, after that, he mellowed, and a gradual sensitization took place in him. I remember feeling a sense of loss when he retired. In his golden years, he took pains to align himself with one of his grandsons who announced he was gay. A far cry from the Dr. Strangelove character he had been back in the sixties.

(For what it's worth, my mother once voted for George Wallace. Then she voted for John Anderson. I have no idea .................)

I dont know much about his later life.

Its unfortunate what happens when you mix intelligent people with serious problems and unintelligent people with wild ambitions.

...he also said "every good Christian should kick (Jerry) Falwell in the ass."

Wonder what today's conservatives would say about him if he were still around? :shrug:

by today's neocon, religous Fundie standards, Goldwater would be a Liberal.

Howard Deanish...

Howard Dean is our Goldwater. His candidacy, although unsuccessful thus far, may have signaled the start of a new Democratic activism.

....Swayed By Some TV Evangelist Spewing There Hatred And Crap

.. if nothing else, he had intergity, not what is being displayed today.

one. Those who invoke Jesus or the name of Gods to further partisan political goals/ideologies will surely roast in hell IMHO if there is a just God in heaven.

just because they aren't as bad as the current crop.

Not too different from:

"Stale potato chips are nutritious and delicious, because unlike goat feces eating them won't make you sick!!!"

or

"The parking officer who wrote me a ticket was a really nice guy for not kidnapping me, driving me out to the country, and shooting me in the back of the head."

If our present government was run by folks like Goldwater, we'd still be getting fucked over, but since we'd be getting fucked over by folks with integrity and honesty I guess that'd make it OK.

Goldwater footage shows him claiming that johnson has decieved the
public and taken the country to war... in a way that is ironic beyond
conception given current circumstances.... a total reversal... except
that the deciever and criminal ... TEXAS. The lesson seems to be to
pass a constitutional amendment banning any politicians from texas
from national office.

and he admired Bill Clinton. Said he wouldn't say who he'd vote for in 1996 or the Republicans would take his name off some building in Arizona.