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In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)word "grandfather" literally. Love Stephanie Miller. I was not thinking of the actual family relationships. Sorry. I meant "grandfather" figuratively.
Whether he intended it or not, Goldwater gave courage to the infamous right-wing movement. He made their nutty ideas acceptable in the mainstream. Whether he shared them or not, most people thought he did. Born in 1943, I was pretty aware of what was going on when Goldwater ran. From the point of view of the liberal Democrats of which I was one, Goldwater was very extreme in his views. He may seem middle-of-the-road today, but that is only because of the extreme rightward shift of the US. What was then far right is now the Third Way maybe. That is not to be taken literally, but it is rather a way of describing how far right the Republican Party went beginning with Goldwater.