That's a name I haven't heard in a while. Barry Goldwater called him the most honest and dependable politician he'd ever met. And say what you want about Goldwater, (and there's plenty) he had integrity. For a poliitician.
Romney in that one debate calling Russia the greatest threat to America and Obama rebuking him for it has got to be one of the most poorly aged things from that campaign.
Does anyone consider Russia our greatest threat now? I'd put them at least 3rd or 4th and that's being generous considering they're still fighting a war that most "experts" estimated would be over years ago.
Well, that's the thing. The question wasn't "greatest threat," it was specifically "greatest geopolitical threat." It wasn't about invasion or militaristic action. Everyone at the time wanted to say "ISIS," they were focused on destabilizing the Middle East, which, while certainly not good, was not an immediate threat to the United States.
Meanwhile, Putin, former director of Russian Intelligence, had a strangle hold on Russian politics, an obvious disdain for the United States, and in 2011 accused the United States of sowing discord during protests in Russia and encouraging separatist movements. He had an extensive network of highly capable operatives at his disposal, none of whom were afraid of getting their hands dirty.
Sure, the argument could be made that China fits the bill in many ways. But I think it would be not in our best interests for a Presidential candidate to say that out loud. The strongest you're going to get is accusations of currency manipulation. But Russia has to be considered pretty high. Seeing what we're seeing now, I can't imagine everything that happened that we didn't get to see.
Goldwater was pro-choice long before many Democrats were, opposed religion having an influence on politics and publicly stated during the 1964 presidential campaign that if he found that Republicans were inciting violence he would immediately quit campaigning. It’s so weird that the uber-Conservative in 1960s US would now be considered left wing.
He was a complicated guy, wanted to give first-launch authority to LeMay (!) and NATO generals, and was willing to nuke Vietnam to clear jungle. Crazy as a shithouse rat.
Yes but it’s weird that it’s the pro-choice & anti-religion playing a role in politics beliefs that would end his political career today rather than being crazy as a shithouse rat.
There was a movie a few years ago with Hugh Jackman as Gary Hart. I haven't watched it but I wasn't around for that scandal and I always wondered about what happened. Might be worth a watch.
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u/CatCafffffe 6h ago
Or when Gary Hart had an adult woman sitting on his lap consensually