Honestly until very shortly ago I knew very little about Senator Barry Goldwater, and he didn’t really come into the forefront of my mind until I read the Goldwater Conservative John W. Dean’s book, CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE. WIth that I found out about a man who I did not agree with on many issues, but on others I do, and I wish he was still around today because he would be right with many of us who are against the Religious Right having any say in Politics, and he stood for conservative values, values that the new Republican party espouses but does not believe in, such as fiscal responsibility and actually trying to make America a safer place.

This is an excellent documentary on the man and and his career of over 30 years as a senator and his run for President against Linden B. Johnson up until his retirement and finally his death. It has interviews with people on both side of the political spectrum talking about this man from Arizona who had no compunction about saying what he felt and fighting for. And many of his views were very Libertarian including his belief in a woman’s right to abortion, and later his support of allowing gays into the military.

REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS…

This was produced by CC Goldwater, his Granddaughter, and includes interviews with his sons and brother and surving family members, along with people from both sides of the political spectrum.

As HBO shows on it’s web site it has quite an impressive spectrum of people that are interviewed.

Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater includes interviews with Senators Edward Kennedy, Hillary Rodham Clinton (a onetime “Goldwater Girl”) and John McCain (who succeeded Goldwater in Arizona); former TV anchorman Walter Cronkite; humorist Al Franken; TV correspondent Robert MacNeil; former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee; author George Will; 60 Minutes’ Andy Rooney; CBS News’ Bob Schieffer; White House reporter Helen Thomas; political consultant James Carville; former White House Counsel John Dean; Goldwater’s brother, Bob; sons Barry, Jr. (a onetime House Representative from California) and Michael; daughters Joanne and Peggy; and others.

And it really gives an unbiased look at him as a man and as a politician. He loved his family and always filmed and photographed them, but it does not sound like he was around much for them.

And he enraged and infuriated his enemies, and yet he was a great friend of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and when his party drafted him to run for President he looked forward to running against his friend, but when Kennedy was assassinated the campaign became brutal and he lost to Johnson and his scare tactics, though I think more to his opinionated voice and a couple of very wrong ideas.

For he was very pro nuclear weapons, and did say things about bringing them to bear in Vietnam and against the Kremlin so he came off as a warmonger. And even more hurtful in my eyes was his opposition to the Civil Rights act in 1964. He felt the laws were in place, and that things would work there way out, but things had not changed since African Americans had been given some rights. In this he was wrong.

In his opposition of the religious right and it’s take over of Conservatism he was very against, and was always pro a women’s right to abortion and had a gay nephew and after long thought came out for Gays in the Military.

He also never liked Nixon and he was the one that forced the issue with Nixon resigning, which is how he got to know John W. Dean.

He retired after more than 30 years as a Senator, and was very respected by many people and even liked by people that did not agree with his views because he did not make it personal.

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This was a very good documentary. I really enjoyed it, and while I do not agree with many of his views, I would much rather have someone of Goldwaters true conservative ilk in control of the Republican Party instead of the Religious right that is perverting the democracy in this country and making this country a much worse place than it has been, and making the world a worse place as well.

This also pointed out more reasons why I dislike Hillary Clinton, because she got started in Politics campaigning for Goldwater, as she was a young conservative, no wonder she leans so far to the middle from the left. That is where she is politically and why I do not agree with her on so many things.