Mr. Conservative on the Religious Right

[gottaloveucla]

<p>Barry Goldwater</p>

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As a passionate defender of personal liberty, he saw the religious right’s views as an encroachment on personal privacy and individual liberties. In his 1980 Senate reelection campaign, Goldwater won support from religious conservatives but in his final term voted consistently to uphold legalized abortion and, in 1981, gave a speech on how he was angry about the bullying of American politicians by religious organizations, and would “fight them every step of the way”.

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and two years later stated that the Republican Party had been taken over by a “bunch of kooks.”

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In response to Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell’s opposition to the nomination of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, “Every good Christian should be concerned,” Goldwater retorted: “I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.”

He also said, “You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.” A few years before his death he went so far as to address the right wing, “Do not associate my name with anything you do. You are extremists, and you’ve hurt the Republican Party much more than the Democrats have.”[18]</p>

<p>In 1996 he told Bob Dole, whose own presidential campaign received lukewarm support from conservative Republicans: “We’re the new liberals of the Republican Party. Can you imagine that?”

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<p>DISCUSS!..</p>

[Elleneast]

<p>Goldwater once suggested that he and JFK get on a plane and travel around the country debating one another. People could decide which candidate and what platform they preferred if it were all laid out on the table in a straight forward way. I loved that.</p>

<p>Goldwater’s wife was very active with Planned Parenthood in Arizona and he supported his daughter when she terminated a pregnancy. He believed that one’s religious belief system was a personal and private thing and should not be part of the political process. I do not think that he started out this way but eventually he came to believe that sexual orientation was a personal and private thing. If he were still with us and politically active I would feel a certain comfort in knowing that at least one Republican represented me on a few critical issues.</p>

[gottaloveucla]

<p>He would be painted as a leftie today.</p>

[ucsd_ucla_dad]

<p>And, he lived next door to Alice Cooper.</p>

[menloparkmom]

<p>he was a classic Republican in the old sense- he was against big government interference in peoples lives-either in or outside the bedroom.</p>

[BedHead]

<p>^^^</p>

<p>Yes, it’s this form of conservatism that I was always in greater agreement with. When folks talk about how we grow more conservative as we get older, I move more in this direction. But it has nothing to do with moving closer to the Republican party (at least as it is now)! In fact, I’ve moved further from it as the crazies have taken over.</p>

[gottaloveucla]

<p>I think Lee Atwater, a Republican strategist, described new Republicans best.</p>

<p>Questioner: But the fact is, isn’t it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps…?

Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ By 1968 you can’t say ■■■■■■■■ - that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.
And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me - because obviously sitting around saying, ‘We want to cut this,’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■

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[gottaloveucla]

<p>bump…</p>