This may mean more, to some, than Republican general Colin Powell’s endorsement of Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama: Two granddaughters the late conservative icon and longtime Arizona senator Barry Goldwater — and other members of the traditionally GOP clan — are not backing the candidacy of Sen. John McCain.
Writing for HuffPo, CC Goldwater breaks the news:
Myself, along with my siblings and a few cousins, will not be supporting the Republican presidential candidates this year. We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.
My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman’s right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930’s, a cause my grandfather supported. I’m not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear.
… After the last eight years, there’s a lot of clean up do. Roll up your sleeves, Senators Obama and Biden, and we Goldwaters will roll ours up with you.
… There always have been a glimmer of hope that someday, someone would “race through the gate” full steam in Goldwater style. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened, and the Republican brand has been tarnished in a shameless effort to gain votes and appeal to the lowest emotion, fear. Nothing about McCain, except for maybe a uniform, compares to the same ideology of what Goldwater stood for as a politician. The McCain/Palin plan is to appear diverse and inclusive, using women and minorities to push an agenda that makes us all financially vulnerable, fearful, and less safe.
Before his death on 1989, Goldwater came out in favor of ditching the ban on gays in the US military, so obviously his mind was at least open when considering equality issues. That can’t be said for many of the Republican ilk.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reports another Goldwater granddaughter used early voting to cast her vote for Obama/Biden.
Alison Goldwater Ross, 45, waited about an hour and a half to cast her vote at the Fulton County government center in Atlanta, for the Democratic presidential candidate.
“I’m avoiding the crowds on Election Day,” Goldwater Ross told my AJC colleague, Mary Lou Pickel.
… The Goldwaters and the McCains have a history of antagonism.
“Coming from a political family, I had insight into a lot of things,” Goldwater Ross said. Of McCain, she said, “I don’t have respect for him.”
It’s great news, but this is a handful of votes. Many more will be needed to counter the Republican dirty- tricks machine. Take nothing for granted; this is far from over. But good on the Goldwaters. Their Paka was a conservative in the genuine sense, and represented the type of Republican one could respect even when there were points of disagreement. McCain and Palin are not Goldwater conservatives in any sense.
Summit Peace 