Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater [DVD recasts Goldwater as 'closet liberal']

dvdtalk.com ^ | July 21, 2007 | Paul Mavis

[MaestroLC]

Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater [DVD]

Zeitgeist Video // Unrated // $29.99 // July 31, 2007

(excerpts)

Zeitgeist Films has released Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater, a documentary on the legendary Republican Senator from Arizona. Co-produced by Barry Goldwater's granddaughter, CC Goldwater, Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater attempts the rather ridiculous transformation of the unsuccessful 1964 presidential candidate and author of The Conscience of a Conservative into a rebellious liberal, while hinting that his personal life may have been troubled. Perhaps significantly, no screenwriting credit is given, but one must assume that despite the film's listing of Julie Anderson as the nominal director, CC Goldwater is the main driving force behind the film. She narrates here, often framing the examination of her grandfather's political and social legacy in personal terms, so it is with her that the film largely rises or falls. I found her argument that Goldwater was a closet liberal slanted and selective, and her teasing about his personal life - the main contention being that he was an absent, distant father - largely unsubstantiated.

*snip*

There's no question that Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater has its own political agenda: to claim the former Senator's ideology as essentially "liberal," not conservative; or more accurately, not "conservative" as that word is applied today by the press and the Democrat Party. It's not surprising that such an attempt would be made in today's political atmosphere, with a looming presidential election where candidates on both sides seek to redefine themselves and their perceived ideologies, to maximize their electability. That's why Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater is filled to the brim with left-of-center liberals extolling the virtues of hawkish Goldwater. No less than Hillary Rodham Clinton, Al Franken, Julian Bond, Walter Cronkite, Ben Bradlee, James Carville, Alfonse D'amato, Bob Schieffer, Helen Thomas, Andy Rooney, and even Ted Kennedy making nice for the cameras about Goldwater (even Norman Lear shows up in a bonus interview). Where are the conservatives, you may ask? Well, we hear from George Will a couple of times. John Warner and John McCain pop up occasionally. John Dean shows up, too, but to call him a "conservative" is to laugh, so he doesn't even count. And that's it.

The very fact that the producers of the film felt the need to have that ridiculously skewed ratio of liberals to conservatives define Goldwater's legacy pretty much throws out any semblance of fairness the film may have claimed, while clearly indicating the biased intention of the filmmakers. This is further illustrated by the selective nature of the film's examination of Goldwater's career. The entire film is slanted to present an overwhelming argument that Goldwater's conservatism was a "good" conservatism, and by implication, that today's is "bad." Tellingly, no one interviewed for the film really discusses Goldwater's "conservatism." To all the liberals interviewed, he's a great guy because he "spoke his mind," and he had "integrity," but no one wants to put it on the line about his actual politics, because if they did, they'd have to admit that the majority of Goldwater's political beliefs were diametrically opposed to their own liberal ones.

The film, in what it obviously believes is some kind of "smoking gun," reveals (although anybody watching the news back in the '80s and '90s already knew this) that Goldwater didn't like the so-called "religious right," wasn't against abortion, and was against banning gays from the military. Supposedly, those three positions - importantly, positions made public after Goldwater was elected to his final term in office - are enough to convince everyone that Goldwater was some kind of closet liberal, and thus, "okay" as a "good" conservative. What the film doesn't do is make the case strongly enough, that Goldwater's positions on these issues were largely ones of constitutionality. Goldwater's political views could be summed up first, last and everything in-between as: hands off, government. Goldwater felt an individual was responsible for his own life and his own prosperity, and he despised the welfare, entitlement society that was rapidly gaining foothold in America. Knowing that, how can anyone watching Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater rationalize that long, long list of liberals speaking on behalf of Goldwater?

Of course, the film couches its intentions by having those interviewees discuss only his integrity, his forthrightness, and his honesty, which naturally makes them look tolerant and "forgiving." However, the film's notion that somehow the conservatism of Goldwater was in any way better or more acceptable to today's liberals, is frankly nonsense. None of those interviewed would buy one bit of Goldwater's ideology if he was in the Senate today (in fact, he'd more than likely be demonized in the press), and the instances where Goldwater's personal politics intersect with supposedly "liberal-only" issues like abortion and gays in the military, wouldn't cut any slack with the press and the Democrats today, either (just look at Giuliani's treatment in the press if you don't believe that). It's always easy for ideological opponents to talk favorably about an adversary when they're no longer with us.

[MaestroLC]

Liberals sully Goldwater from beyond the grave to score cheap political points. These libs have no soul. A disgrace.

[xcamel]

“Revisionist History” is what they do.

[Rodney King]

Yes, its disgraceful. But, Goldwater did have strong Libertarian tendencies in certain areas.

No doubt he would have been 100% opposed to the last 6 years of “big government is great, as long as we are in charge of it!” Or, “It’s ok if we pass massive new entitlements and lurch towards socilism so long as we are fighting muslims”.

[L.N. Smithee]

When Goldwater, in his waning years, would say things largely libertarian on hot button topics regarding Christian conservatism (e.g., abortion and gay rights), the news magazines (particularly ABC's 20/20) would send a crew over to Arizona, wind him up and let him talk. They used him to suggest that Reagan, who emerged as a political figure in support of Goldwater, had drifted too far to the right, and that the NEW Goldwater -- yes, the same one that said 'Extremism is no vice' -- was what a Republican should be.

Randy Shandobil, a local reporter (KTVU-TV Oakland) once did an entire story on the 1964 Republican Convention in San Francisco, and showed a edited grainy clip of Goldwater making the famous Cicero quote. It was the first of many times I have heard only the first half of it cited, and not what came after: "[E]xtremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and . . . moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." This has been the standard approach to Goldwater of late: linking a GOP icon to 'extremism.'

[shove_it]

“In your guts you know he’s nuts” comes to my mind as the prevailing liberal opinion of Mr. Goldwater back in ‘64. Strange how their tune has now changed.

[L.N. Smithee]

One of the strongest voices in favor of the so-called Fairness Doctrine is Bill Moyers, the former Kennedy-era Democratic Party flack, CBS News reporter, and PBS attack dog. Moyers devised the infamous "Daisy" ad for Johnson, the one depicting a petal-plucking little girl getting nuked in Goldwater's America. Here's what a Washington Post obit of Goldwater says about another ad conceived by Moyers they decided not to run, once again using a child:

---

The other television spot was of a girl licking an ice cream cone while a woman's voice talked off-screen about how radioactive fallout from atomic bombs exploding in the air made children die. There was a treaty prohibiting testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, the voice said, but a man who wants to be president of the United States voted against it.

"His name is Barry Goldwater," the voice said against a crescendo of Geiger counter clicks, "so if he is elected they might start testing all over again." Then there came a male announcer's tag line: "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home."

Only the first of the two spots was used on commercial television during the campaign, and it was broadcast only once. Political tacticians decided not to use the second one at all.

---

[Don Corleone]

Only the first of the two spots was used on commercial television during the campaign, and it was broadcast only once. Political tacticians decided not to use the second one at all.

They didn't need to. The first one worked!

[Fiji Hill]

So the liberals now want to claim Goldwater? Incredible!

Here's what liberals, Republicans as well as Democrats, were saying about Barry Goldwater in 1964:

"Goldwater appears to be gambling recklessly on racism and jingoism"--Walter Lippmann, New York Herald Tribune, July 16, 1964

Goldwater's acceptance speech had "the stench of fascism"--California Governor Pat Brown (D), July 16, 1964

"I now believe I know how it felt to be A Jew in Hitler's Germany...Goldwater, at best, is a hopeless captive of the lunatic, calculating right-wing extremists..."--Jackie Robinson (R), former baseball player, July 19, 1964

"Goldwater Republicanism is the closest thing in American politics to an equivalent of Russian Stalinism"--Senator J. William Fulbright (D-Ark), September 9, 1964

"Goldwater is...a wild man, a stray, and unprincipled and ruthless political jujitsu artist...A crushing defeat for Goldwater will drive the fanatic saboteurs of the Republican Party back into the woodwork whence they came. The Saturday Evening Post, September 19, 1964

[Reagan Man]

In the early 1960`s Barry Goldwater along with Bill Buckley were on the leading edge of conservatism as defined by limited government. This was an effort within the Republican ranks to advance fiscal responsibility and to reduce the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy. Great, but Goldwater never was part of the movement to advance social conservatism. That didn't come about until Reagan made social issues relevent, thereby garnering the powerful support of social conservatives.

It's very true, however. "Goldwater didn't like the so-called "religious right," wasn't against abortion, and was against banning gays from the military". Goldwater also defended Bill Clinton during his impeachment.

Sounds like old Barry was a closet libertarian.

One thing is certain. Goldwater was a lousy candidate for the GOP to nominate in 1964. The wrong man, at the wrong time.

[Mike Darancette]

I agree that Goldwater would be considered a libertarian by many were he alive today. The hints of liberalism displayed by Barry in his declining years were the product of his last wife.

[Reagan Man]

In the 1960`s, Goldwater’s first wife Peggy was a founding member of Planned Parenthood of Arizona. So, Barry liked the liberal ladies, I guess. ;^)

Goldwater was his own man and his politics were defined by himself. Barry was a great fiscal conservative but didn’t care about social issues. That makes him more a libertarian, then a well rounded conservative.

[Dick Bachert]

At the end of his life, he did absolutely swing hard to port.

[jim_trent]

I supported him when he made his presidential run (although I was a little too young to vote). In his last years, he came out in support of gun-control and also supported gays. I wondered if I was conned when I supported him. I don’t know for sure, but I have read that his last wife was a liberal and turned him.

[dfwgator]

Goldwater was a “Classic Liberal” which is what liberals really were, before the Communists hijacked the term.

[scrabblehack]

One of my profs said that the FEC or FCC ruled they could not broadcast the Daisy commercial a 2nd time....not sure if it’s true...

[SierraWasp]

After he married that sweet young "thang" he began to lose a lot of his conservative tone and relented several of what were considered traditional conservative positions. The one I remember best is his lapse into GovernMental EnvironMentalism!!!

It really stunk up the landscape near the end of his life... very sad to witness!!!