I was surprised to see no diaries here unless I missed them in the search I did on the excellent documentary run on HBO tonight on Barry Goldwater. I watched it this evening, and I've heard John Dean talk a lot about how if Goldwater was alive today, he'd be a liberal and they ended the documentary with those words coming out of his mouth, and how he might be branded a liberal in the future, and how the religious right scared the hell out of him. There were a number of things that surprised me about the man's life that I did not know that I found refreshing even though I would not agree with him on 99% of his politics, and I was wondering if anyone else out there watched the special, and what they thought of it.
The things that hit me the most were his daughter talking frankly about having an abortion, and being open with her father about it, and him being very supportive of her. His hatred of Nixon, and John Dean going to Goldwater just before having to testify and asking him what he should do, and him telling Dean that Nixon's always been a liar, and go get him. How horribly betrayed Goldwater was by Nixon personally with him lying to him and how hard he took it, and how he really was the one that might have finally took him down with his lack of support. How his support of Sandra Day O'Connor may have well likely meant her getting through the nomination process due to all of those opposing her due to her position on abortion and his position in the party countering that. And lastly the cartoons of him literally kicking a donkey and that donkey knocking Falwell up into the air by his butt.
Another commentary on the documentary by those who caught it welcomed, and if anyone has a copy of that cartoon, I'd love to see a copy of it posted.