Nelson Rockefeller: Republican Party must repudiate extremists

[NickoliLion]

"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." Barry Goldwater.

[okefixico]

I take great comfort knowing that these evildoing globalists will be tossed into the lake of fire.

[theapollomoonlanding]

Rockerfeller is so rich. He wants a new world order.

[UncleMikeNJ]

Oh the irony: One of the people trying to boo Rocky off the stage was Goldwater campaign manager Steve Shadegg. In 2010, Steve's equally conservative son John Shadegg retired from Congress because he faced a primary challenge from someone who thought he wasn't conservative enough. Ben Quayle. You may have heard of his father, too.

[goohgulliscia]

Nelson Rockefeller, who died while copulating on top of a woman who was not his wife, was an anti-American, new world order globalist and most likely a Luciferian. The Rockefellers are a criminal syndicate of degenerates. Little surprise that this scumbag opposed a true American patriot such as Barry Goldwater at the 64 convention.

[Sistarovat]

@AliceNchainz011 That's one of the Conservative positions I'm referring to. Barry Goldwater was most likely the most Conservative Republican to have ever gotten the GOP nomination. I believe he was the only major party candidate other than Ronald Reagan in the 20th century since the founding of the CFR to not be a member. But RR chose CFR member Bush to be his running mate in order to appease the "moderate" wing of the GOP and very quickly forgot about monetary policy after getting elected.

[CoombesKidd]

if i was alive back then, i would have booed him off too, rockefellers are all scum

[Sistarovat]

Nelson Rockefeller was just ticked that the Republican Party was moving away from the big bankers and big buisnessmen and actually standing up for the Constitution for the first time it the Republican Party's history.

[AliceNchainz011]

@Sistarovat Please elaborate...are you referring to true conservatives' opposition to the Federal Reserve? Aside from Ron Paul, I dont see any republicans calling for the monetary system to be changed.

[madcowdeseasman]

Boooh !!

[whatukno1975]

So they had Ron Paul and the TEA Party back in 1964?

[UsonianAC]

@whatukno1975 In 1964, Ron Paul was serving our country in the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon. Paul was first elected to the United States Congress in 1976. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 GOP presidential nominee, was Tea Partying before Ron Paul even started his political career, my friend.

[whatukno1975]

@UsonianAC That was a joke son, you missed it!

[mlytjc]

I was in 9th grade at the time and remember watching this on TV . I still remember his famous line when Goldwater delegates tried to drown him out with boos. " "This is still a free country, ladies and gentlemen." The irony is that Goldwater went on after returning to the Senate  to epitomize a libertarian version of conservatism that runs counter to today's Religious Right dominated conservatives. He once said: "Jerry Fallwell can kiss my a**"

[djwolf12]

Funny that Nelson P.O.S. Rockefeller sort of looks like Keith Olbermann.

[WoAzMM]

The funny thing is that even though Rockefeller and and Goldwater were the two opposing ideologies in the Republican party (Liberal/Moderate v Conservative), both of them would be on the extreme left of the modern Republican party.

[NoGuff]

The Republican Party must KICK RINOS LIKE ROCKEFELLER OUT!! Bye-bye Juan McCain, Lindsay La Raza Graham, and Olympia Democrap Snowe.

[philberz]

@NoGuff Good luck with that. You should be begging the moderates to stay IN your party, otherwise it will never survive.

[NoGuff]

@philberz

Please tell me why it wouldn't survive.

[philberz]

@NoGuff Because there are a lot of politically moderate folks that vote republican. If they are not welcome in the republican party, they will vote democrat or 3rd party. PS How many states did Goldwater win in 64?

[doglin82]

can somebody explain to me, when Rockfeller said we must repudiate extremists, was he talking about Goldwater? he was NOT, right?

[TheNoCoincidence]

does anyone know the song name at the beginning ? the guitar?

[ABisopht]

@TheNoCoincidence Its by "Habib Koite and Banada" and the name of the song is "Din Din Wo." I know this because this song comes free with Windows Vista. You can find the song on YouTube.

[TheNoCoincidence]

@ABisopht thank you very much

[whoo689]

I mean, guys like Rockefeller were constantly denounced by folks like Bob Taft and Barry Goldwater as being part of some "Eastern Establishment", and they were actually PRETTY MODERATE for Republicans! You think ROCKEFELLER was "establishment" or a 'tool' of Wall Street?  Today's Republicans are 50x worse in that regard! THEY are the Eastern Establishment. Rockefeller was a Republican with actual principles and not a big business pro-corporatism shill.

[whoo689]

As governor, he actually SUPPORTED things like infrastructure investment and public spending on healthcare. Few Republicans put much thought into that kind of stuff anymore. When Obama proposed a $50 Billion jobs bill, some of which focused on infrastructure repairs, the Republicans went NUTS! They called a "second stimulus" that would 'fail' like the first one and all this other baloney.

[whoo689]

Of course, on the other hand, Goldwater was also very much a respectable Republican who I still somewhat admire. His brand of conservatism is much more tolerable than what's peddled as "conservative" today, and even when Reagan got elected. Morons who claim that Reagan's election was "Goldwater's but it took 16 years to count the votes" are horribly ignorant. I would NEVER DREAM of comparing Ronald Reagan, the stooge that he was, with Barry Goldwater.

[whoo689]

For decades, we had been getting either bad info or were just plain WRONG about our assumptions of the economic strength of the Soviet Union. That led us to overestimate their actual ability to "take over" or "defeat" the West. Reagan also did a lot of things, some of which I agree with (like keeping SS solvent, although he still didn't eliminate the earnings cap for payroll tax), which were FAR from conservative.

[whoo689]

Nelson Rockefeller, while far from perfect, represented a sensible Republican Party that did'nt go off the deep end like TODAY's GOP does so often. The Reagan Revolution was a JOKE, and it led to very few substantive 'conservative' victories! Even Ronald Reagan's "winning" of the Cold War was not so much because of him but the fact that the Soviet Union was crumbling, and it was only a matter of time. Reagan's militarism may have SPED UP the fall of the USSR, but he didn't wholly cause it.

[Archangel101576]

Nelson Rockefeller was arrogant and elitist. He knew nothing about the people he bitterly condemned. Had he bothered to leave his palatial estate in New York, he would have realized that "these people" were ordinary Americans who were ignored and routinely insulted by the media and cultural elite. He underestimated and stereotyped a powerful conservative uprising that left him in the dust and reshaped America - culminating with the election of Ronald Reagan. Rockefeller is totally irrelevant.

[leboharold]

@Archangel101576 yeah say that now 10 20 years from now you'll be the ones on the ash heap of history and with that being said you guys did nothing but fuck up the republican party so please listen for a change maybe you'll learn something . im sick and tired of repubs being compared to bible thumping rednecks we should leave the south and have our base in the more sophisticated and intelligent NE just as it was before 1980 id like it better that way

[eparkbuckeye]

From Lincoln and this guy to Glenn Beck and Limbaugh, that's rough. They should've hanged Goldwater from the rafters and put this man in the White House. Goldwater is the genesis of today's warped GOP. Lincoln is rolling continuously in his grave.

[EdwardP88]

If i were a Republican id be a Rockefeller Republican... That party needs to denounce all of their tough rhetoric that goes on today but nobody in the GOP has the balls... I love being a Democrat

[nurbSoldier]

what the heck is 'americanism'?

[wreehill]

ROCKEFELLER WAR CRIMINAL SUPPORTED VIETNAM WAR LIKE NIXON GOLDWATER WHATS THE DIFFERENCE HE LOVED NEGROES MORE THATS ABOUT IT anyone who can watch nixon without vvomiting either has a stomach coated with gorilla glass or a brain soaked in liquid merde

[wreehill]

ROCKEFELLER WAR CRIMINAL SUPPORTED VIETNAM WAR LIKE NIXON GOLDWATER WHATS THE DIFFERENCE HE LOVED NEGROES MORE THATS ABOUT IT

[fishhead06]

I don't know what to say about Rockefeller. On the one hand he was an extraordinarily wealthy, well-connected, powerful member of the corporate class. On the other hand, he was right. There is a dangerous, jingoistic, fearful, and even violent element in US politics - as is to be expected in a country of that size and diversity. But exploiting it and building it up is immoral. Frightened people are dangerous people.

[wreehill]

@fishhead06 kissinger war criminal was rockos gift to nixon and the american peoples foreign policy of worldwide hooliganism behind the scenes that produced the 911 fiasco for the current endless war that never ends

[ctomarctus]

The only thing that Rockefeller and Goldwater agreed on, was that big dark-rimmed glasses were "how to score, in '64".

Seriously though, Rockefeller did an awful lot for New York state. Pretty much rebuilt the place from the ground up, for better or worse. It would have been interesting to see how he'd have done as president.

[marcparella]

Nelson Rockefeller was responsible for some of this country's harshest laws again first-time drug users. Laws that put away women for as long as 15 years for possession of certain drugs and life sentences for pushers. Conservatives like William F Buckley was aghast at Rockefeller vilification of drug use.

[bonfirejovi]

Rockefeller got his chance and sucked.

[TheFlanker35]

Nelson Rockefeller hated this country and never denounced his anti-freedom views. As governor of New York, his policies contributed to a long term massive rise in education costs for the private citizen. Through regulation that was passed at his approval, colleges and universities became dependent on government funds for lower rates. Once this funding disappeared, the colleges were forced to jack up costs, denying millions of American clean access to the job market.

[TroyOi]

@TheFlanker35 First of all, it's renounce, not denounce, in this context. 2nd, even if Rocky made mistakes like the ones you cite, how does that make him anti-American? By the same standard, Bush would be a downright Communist. 3rd, aren't you giving Rocky a bit too much "credit"? Aside from being VP for 2 yrs, he didn't hold electoral office at the national level. 4th, your "analysis" is simplistic, at best - Rocky committed himself to public education, building SUNY to the best system in U.S.

[TheFlanker35]

@TroyOi,

No, I actually meant denounce. A view can be renounced without being condemned. He never condemned the anti-freedom views he held. Bush was a Rockefeller Republican as well. Bush the elder even called Reagan's moderate economics "voodoo economics". Rockefeller did a lot of damage as a supporter of leftist politicians who weeded out good Republicans like Robert Taft. Bottom Line: Government regulations make college cost more and they make it more necessary for success.

[TroyOi]

@TheFlanker35 You can hardly expect someone to denounce his own views before even renouncing them. That kind of language hasn't been heard since the Stalinist purges and the Chinese Cultural Revolution. But it also comes part and parcel with the kind of simplistic thinking, finger-pointing and revisionism that's gaining such great traction with the new GOP and the Tea Party today.

[TheFlanker35]

@TroyOi,

That's true, although a denunciation implies a renunciation. Your choice of examples is interesting because Rockefeller Republicans hardly do much to prevent a situation like Mao's Cultural Revolution from happening over here. The more bureaucratic society becomes, the more likely a Cultural Revolution is to occur.

Reading more about the man from multiple points of view, I think he may have had good intentions, but he and his GOP faction did not have proper means.

[TroyOi]

@TheFlanker35 FYI the Chinese Cultural Revolution had nothing to do with bureaucracy and everything to do with ideology run amok. Study a little history.

And again, insisting a man should have "denounced" himself is exactly the kind of mentality one would expect of a fanatical ideologue. A "denunciation implies a renunciation"?? Well gosh, yes, that's very true. It's also very meaningless in terms of this discussion. You're trying too hard to seem intelligent and achieving the opposite effect.

[TheFlanker35]

@TroyOi,

The implication of renunciation in denunciation is important because you said one has to renounce his formerly held views before denouncing them. A verbal denunciation would be just fine without an explicit renunciation. The ideology of Maoist Communism is an ideology of bureaucracy. Study a little philosophy. The more power bureaucracies have, the weaker civilization becomes. This is what the big government advocates don't understand.

[TroyOi]

@TheFlanker35 You're just hellbent on proving my last point, aren't you?

[TheFlanker35]

@TroyOi,

Rockefeller's anti-American views rested in his radical internationalism. Unlike the noble Goldwater, who at least had the guts to attack the UN for trying to plunge us into dictatorship, Rockefeller was always content with transferring US sovereignty to the UN which has threatened our manufacturing, our education, and our liberty. Business regulations that he favored have also cost the jobs of millions of people.

[Drregaleagle]

@TroyOi,

I agree with you on this one. I like how Rockefeller sought practical solutions to problems and was willing to cross party lines to do it. Nevertheless, I disagree with his methods for achieving his goals. Goldwater and Reagan were much more capable of making government efficient and allowing more entrepreneurship.

And U Michigan is the best university system in the country :).

[TroyOi]

Interesting. I've always been aware of Goldwater's "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice" speech, but never realized the context of it. I guess the word "extremist" was being bandied about quite a bit at the '64 convention, and Goldwater's words were a direct repudiation against those moderates, like Rockefeller, who were calling on the GOP to reject the hard-rightists.

And, quite possibly, Goldwater's fate in '64 foretells those of the Tea Party candidates today.

[bonfirejovi]

@TroyOi Remember what happened when Goldwater lost, LBJ became the most disgraced president up to that point. There is a reason he didn't seek re-election. So Goldwater was right in the end.

[TroyOi]

@bonfirejovi It doesn't take a scholar in propositional logic to see the total ludicrousness of your argument: Goldwater lost, LBJ became disgraced, ergo Goldwater was right... Come again???

LBJ's "disgrace" came from failing to extricate the US from Vietnam. (In point of fact, as White House tapes reveal, LBJ desperately wanted out of VN, but knew that the GOP would rip him to shreds if he took that course.)

Goldwater's solution was, of course, quite simple: nuke the North Vietnamese.

[genek64]

The republicans need someone like Rockefeller today. They all seem to either go along with the extremists or they're simply afraid of them. They do not represent American values like "justice for ALL" or "freedom of religion." As phoenixtimes2 posted 9 months ago, I agree completely. "Throngs of ignorant people" is the perfect description.

[sandythebear]

Rockefeller was the original Neocon artist.

[marcostar57]

You go Rocky! Just as today the (few that are still sane) Republicans must repudiate "these people" -- the rabid loons of the far-right who demand idealogical purity & the tea-baggers who bash all government (except for huge defense programs & wanting their OWN entitlements). I left the GOP years ago due to "these people."

[UncleMikeNJ]

He wasn't perfect, but he called the GOP of the 2000s, all the way back in 1964. And when the grandfathers of today's Tea Party idiots tried to boo him off the stage, he stood tall and proved he was the better man. Now look at them, they can't even have better sex scandals than he did.

[FrsBigeasy]

Nelson Rockefeller was man without a Party in the 1960's. He was a Progressive Northeastern Republican in the Goldwater era of Conservative Libertarianism & today would probably be a Democrat like his nephew Sen Jay Rockefeller.

[butchieman]

Rockefeller would have loved Bush.

[MassLiberal1]

I came from a family of New England liberal Republicans, in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt and Rockefeller. Starting w/ Goldwater the conservatives took over the GOP. Makes me sad :(

[whoo689]

If he came back today, I know exactly what he'd say to the GOP: "Let's grow up, conservatives!"

[whoo689]

Funny thing is, these new "conservatives" at the 64 convention were pretty moderate compared to today's Republicans. I mean, if anything Goldwater was more of a libertarian than a conservative. He was also quite nonpartisan in his old age. He actually favored a Democratic Senate candidate in Arizona (I think), or some DNC candidate there, in the 90s, and he told the GOP to stop bitching and let Clinton "do his job." He was not a huge friend of the GOP post-Reagan and Bush Sr.

[whoo689]

I actually liked Goldwater a lot. His hawkish stance on war was a bit much, but he did eventually take a stand against the Vietnam War, among other things. He became prochoice and pro-gay later on. He was a constitutionalist like Ron Paul and very open to smaller gov't. He HATED the Religious Right with a passion.

A biography by Lee Edwards of Goldwater was the first major political book that I liked, and I became real interested in politics after that at age 14 or 15.

[NYerintransit]

Goldwater called the Eisenhower Administration a "dimestore New Deal". He was pretty far to the right.

[xaviqaz]

@whoo689 and he always opposed universal health care

[marcostar57]

@whoo689 Yep.. Goldwater would hate the GOP today ..and especially the tea-baggers. He supported letting gays serve in the militatary too. He said "I don't care if they're straight or not ... I just want them to shoot straight" He was a witty guy.

[blanchelincoln]

@marcostar57 Bullshit. The Goldwater of 1964 would oppose everything nobama and his ilk are trying to impose on America. The tea partiers are direct descendants of AUH20. He was prophetic about the "great society". We declared a "war on poverty", and poverty won.

[phoenixtimes2]

And for the record not only was Rockefeller's speech prophetic, but courageous. He had a brilliant mind and was a political genius. Yet the extremists threw him out and they have been doing that ever since. All you have to do today to appease a 'conservative' is wrap yourself in the flag, hold a Bible in one hand, and an NRA card in the other, and you have throngs of ignorant people on their feet shouting HALLELUJAH!

[marcostar57]

@phoenixtimes2 Oh, you forgot they hold an apple pie and the picture of Mom, too

[balabaluze]

@phoenixtimes2 Except for the fact is that this was the election of 1964. Barry Goldwater, who was the Conservative "extremist" criticized the religious right, supported gay rights to serve in the military, and would be considered a social liberal by many today. He was simply staunchly fiscally conservative. A precursor to the libertarians, if you will.

[phoenixtimes2]

@balabaluze Yes, and I ended up admiring Barry Goldwater for many things.

[phoenixtimes2]

They took over what was once my party-now we have Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the rest of these 'patriots." I admire Nelson Rockefeller-always have. Thought he'd have been a great President. He spoke the truth on that platform about extremism. Look at the Republican party of today: The arm of the Christian Right. So, Gov. Rockefeller, wherever you are, you can be damned proud you stood your ground; You were right on target.

[switchhitter07]

Though I am a conservative, I fully respect Rockefeller for the way he stood his ground and never changed his belief because of outside pressure from others. Sure, I dont agree with his stances, but I certainly respect him for sticking with them. Again, this is coming from a conservative.

[Mactekus]

Sure... and I respect Adolph Hitler for standing his ground and not conforming to outside pressure. I didn't agree with him, but I respect that he stuck to his beliefs.

(that logic sounds kinda silly doesn't it)

[HVACSoldier]

@switchhitter07 I think that is one thing that is lacking in Washington. A lot of politicians wet their finger and stick it in the air to guage the public opinion. BTW, I too am a conservative.