Barry Goldwater

WASHINGTON -- The conservatives of this generation could learn from Barry Goldwater, who died at 89 recently.As a longtime senator from Arizona and the Republican nominee for president in 1964, Goldwater was as militant in his dedication to conservatism as anyone in American politics today. But there were some significant differences in the way Goldwater played politics.The most important was the fact that Goldwater always saw those who disagreed with him on issues -- and there were many -- as adversaries who were wrong in his eyes but not as enemies who were morally flawed.

"If history were to repeat itself," warned President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1944 State of the Union address, "and we were to return to the so-called normalcy of the 1920s, then it is certain that even though we shall have conquered our enemies on the battlefields abroad, we shall have yielded to the spirit of fascism here at home. " The "normalcy" of the 1920s that Roosevelt referred to was a time of peace and prosperity. The decade began with Republican President Warren Harding commuting the sentences of political prisoners jailed by the Wilson administration, including the socialist leader Eugene Debs.

WHEN Barry M. Goldwater retired from the U.S. Senate after 30 years, a Sun editorial called him "a seminal figure in American history." He played Moses to the conservative movement -- leading it to the edge of the Promised Land.Though Mr. Goldwater's Republican presidential campaign in 1964 was a fiasco (he lost by a staggering 16 million votes), he planted seeds of conservatism in the political arena. They would take root under Richard Nixon and bear fruit under Ronald Reagan.Barry Goldwater, who died yesterday at 89, was an outspoken -- and endearing -- political figure.

Among the casualties of the 2012 presidential election, along with Mitt Romney, was the vanishing breed of moderate Republicans of which he once was a star, until his embarrassing lurch into conservatism. Mr. Romney first failed to win the GOP nomination in 2008 as a moderate governor of heavily Democratic Massachusetts. Four years later, he shed the middle-road path followed by his late father, George Romney, who won three terms as governor of Michigan but failed to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1968.

A Glorious Disaster: Barry Goldwater's Presidential Campaign and the Origins of the Conservative Movement J. William Middendorf II Basic Books / 303 pages / $26.95 Barry Goldwater actually won the presidential election of 1964, columnist George Will once quipped, but it took sixteen years to count the votes. Although he carried only six states and 36 percent of the popular vote, Goldwater was the Moses of the Reagan Revolution, Will implied, and his campaign provided a primer on how a "movement conservative" could get the Republican nomination and win the presidency.

PURE GOLDWATER By John Dean and Barry M. Goldwater Jr. FLYING HIGH Remembering Barry Goldwater By William F. Buckley Jr. Basic Books / 208 pages / $25.95 John McCain, who was elected to the Senate seat Barry Goldwater retired from in 1987, describes himself as "a Goldwater Republican." I believe he meant to reassure right-wingers, who are suspicious of his philosophy. But the big news about Goldwater is that "Mr. Conservative," the man who famously said when nominated for the presidency in 1964, "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!

"Twenty Ads That Shook the World" by James B. Twitchell (Crown, 229 pages, $25) Subtitled "The Century's Most Groundbreaking Advertising and How It Changed Us All," this is an immensely entertaining and seriously provocative piece of work. Beginning with P.T. Barnum ("Prince of Humbug"), Twitchell devotes 10 pages or more to the history, theory and impact of 20 major ad concepts and campaigns. There is Pepsodent ("Claude Hopkins and the Magic of the Preemptive Claim"), Coke and Christmas ("The Claus That Refreshes")

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to energize liberals disaffected with the Clinton administration, the Americans for Democratic Action yesterday endorsed President Clinton as the Democratic nominee.Traditionally, the group has resisted backing incumbent Democratic presidents like Mr. Clinton, whom many of its members consider insufficiently liberal. But this year is different.For the first time since 1955, the Republicans could win control of both the executive and legislative branches. And the question of whether Bill Clinton is ideologically pure enough has been replaced by the "life and death issue" of stemming the Republican revolution, said the ADA's national director, Amy Isaacs.

IN ITS December billings to MasterCard and Visa customers, the Bank of Baltimore includes a cheery note urging card holders to forgo payments until next month.The note, with the words "SKIP IT!" in big, black letters at the top, reads: "We know how short money is at this time of year. We also know how well you've handled your bank card payments."So, in order to help you over the financial hump, we'll allow you to skip this month's payment. We won't bill you for two payments next month. We will however, [sic]

"I remember in 1964 when Barry Goldwater was nominated, Harry Golden, the great Southern Jewish writer, said, `I always knew the first Jewish president would be an Episcopalian.' Barry Goldwater's grandfather had been Jewish, and he was an Episcopalian" - Mark Shields on The NewsHour on PBS, Aug. 7. "When Barry Goldwater's Jewish roots were revealed in 1964, Jewish writer Harry Golden joked, `I always knew the first Jewish president would be an Episcopalian'" - Jonathan Kaufman in the Wall Street Journal, Aug. 10. "Barry Goldwater had a Jewish grandfather, prompting the Jewish humorist Harry Golden to say that he always knew that the first Jewish president would be an Episcopalian" - Syndicated columnist George Will in The Sun, Aug. 10. And so it went in the wake of Joseph I. Lieberman's being chosen for the Democratic vice presidential nomination.

In the long lull before the Republican National Convention in Tampa in late August, party leaders and strategists for Mitt Romney are calculating how they can put their collective best foot forward. This year, it will not be easy. The usual centerpieces of the event are the selection of the presidential nominee and the choice of a running mate; however, the first piece is already clear, and the second may well be known before the delegates gather. In any event, Mitt Romney being certifiably cautious, there seems little chance he will drop a firecracker of the sort John McCain tossed in four years ago with his selection of the combustible Sarah Palin.

Richard Grenell had the right resume to be Mitt Romney's spokesman on foreign policy -- a stint as communications director for four of the Bush administration's U.N. ambassadors; a degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government; his own international PR firm and frequent stints on TV as an expert on international issues. Too bad for him he has a boyfriend. Mr. Grenell was the first openly gay spokesman for a presidential candidate, but he never got to speak. Before he even officially started the job, enraged homophobes in the so-called pro-family community spooked Mr. Romney's campaign staff.

The following testimony is scheduled to be delivered by the former deputy counsel to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. at a hearing of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee today on Senate Bill 116, which would legalize gay marriage in Maryland. Mr. Chairman: I appreciate the opportunity to appear here today and testify about a bill that I regard as extremely important. Senate Bill 116 will bring full civil marriage freedom to Maryland and move our state closer to realizing the promises of the Declaration.

Charles O' Donovan Evans, a retired history teacher and archivist at Mount de Sales Academy, died of lung cancer Nov. 27 at his companion's home in Sparks. He was 80. Born in Baltimore and raised on Longwood Road in Roland Park, he was the son of the commander of the 29th Division, Maryland National Guard, Henry Cotheal Evans, who fought in both World Wars I and II, and the former Eleanor O'Donovan. He was a 1949 Loyola High School graduate and played for the school's football team, a squad invited to play in the New Year's Day contest at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Barack Obama's 30-minute campaign commercial last night was not merely a tactical decision to barrage millions of Americans in pursuit of a few thousand undecided voters who can dictate the outcome of the presidential campaign. Aired on seven network and cable stations, the ad served as a national get-out-the-vote organizing tool for Obama operatives. It offered the chance to see Obama looking presidential. And once again it proved how Obama's deep pool of campaign cash has enabled him to rewrite the rules of presidential campaigning.

PURE GOLDWATER By John Dean and Barry M. Goldwater Jr. FLYING HIGH Remembering Barry Goldwater By William F. Buckley Jr. Basic Books / 208 pages / $25.95 John McCain, who was elected to the Senate seat Barry Goldwater retired from in 1987, describes himself as "a Goldwater Republican." I believe he meant to reassure right-wingers, who are suspicious of his philosophy. But the big news about Goldwater is that "Mr. Conservative," the man who famously said when nominated for the presidency in 1964, "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!

Houston. -- These are unsettling times for the conservative movement that has been the driving force in American politics for more than a generation. Old war horses and true believers, assembled once again at a Republican National Convention, knew in their hearts last week that the Goldwater-Reagan revolution has run its course.It is a victim of time and its own success. The Bush years have been one slow dying, and even if they continue another four years the face of conservatism will be irreparably changed.

WASHINGTON - The selection of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, as Al Gore's running mate marks the first time a person of his faith has been part of a major political party's national ticket. But 36 years ago, there were whispers that a Republican nominee for president was, at least in part, Jewish. When Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater ran for president in 1964, the conservative Republican was confronted with questions about his religion because, though he was raised an Episcopalian, his father was Jewish.

Sometimes, the term "liberal" has a positive connotation. To liberate is to set free. A liberal education gives one a broad cultural background. But in Republican primaries, using the L-word is tantamount to calling your opponent a disease-ridden, ferret-faced goon - only the latter is a much nicer way of saying it. Presidential front-runners John McCain, the hawkish anti-abortion U.S. senator from Arizona, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney actively...