The South May Favor Romney over "Mean"

Did Barry Goldwater Endorse Mitt Romney?

Justice Dakota

03/09/2012

In his later years, Goldwater warned about "Social, Religious, Conservatives" Destroying the Republican Party:

In 1994, Goldwater said: "The oldest philosophy in the world is conservatism, and I go clear back to the first Greeks. ... When you say 'radical right' today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party, and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye."

Governor Mitt Romney is currently doing better in the South than anyone expected. Is the spirit of Goldwater speaking to the "Social Conservatives"? Is Goldwater saying, "Be cool, freedom and liberty for everyone -- that's the Real Conservative Movement. Don't be so uptight on social issues."

(I don't think Goldwater would have liked Governor Sarah Palin ...)


By Lloyd Grove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 28, 1994; Page C01

"At 85, after a life in politics spanning five decades (he retired from the Senate in 1987), Mr. Conservative has found himself an unlikely new career: as a gay rights activist."

This month he signed on as honorary co-chairman of a drive to pass a federal law preventing job discrimination against homosexuals. The effort, dubbed Americans Against Discrimination, is being spearheaded by the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the influential gay lobbying organization."

"The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they're gay," Goldwater asserts. "You don't have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that's what brings me into it."

Could it be true that the right-wing social conservative agenda has always been somewhat of a turn-off for the majority of Republicans -- let alone the majority of Americans?

Do these historical facts explain Romney's strength and staying-power? Is there a chance that the Right-Wing, Social Conservative, Republican Primary Voter is becoming more socially moderate? Just a tiny chance?

(Would Goldwater have done better with his sincere 1994 social views as opposed to his potentially "Republican establishment-forced" radical social views of 1964?)