If Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater, instead of Gerald Ford, to replace Spiro Agnew.

[RandomPoster]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew, assuming Barry Goldwater had accepted? Would the left have even bothered with Watergate?

 

[DOTR]

An interesting whatif. But I think so. Post 1970 the radicals on the left had moved to a much more aggressive style to bring the US down. Elections hadnt been working for them (and still dont)

 

[Picaro]

An interesting whatif. But I think so. Post 1970 the radicals on the left had moved to a much more aggressive style to bring the US down. Elections hadnt been working for them (and still dont)

Pretty much it, and besides, Goldwater and Nixon represented different wings of the GOP at the time, and though William Buckley managed to increase Goldwater's 'respectability' in the 1960's by booting out the right wing nutjobs like the John Birchers, Goldwater still wasn't quite ' there' yet to win a general election in 1976 either. Turns out Ford wasn't, either, but he probably came closer than Goldwater would have. By the late 1960's and mid 1970's Reagan's star was on the rise in the GOP and as Governor of a big state that was far more critical than Goldwater's Arizona. People tend to forget about Reagan until the 1980's for some reason, but he was also a beneficiary of Buckley's purge and more acceptable than Goldwater outside the Party loyalists. He was elected Governor in 1967 and again in 1971, and declined a third term, easily a better GOP choice because he could carry California's electoral votes for the GOP.

 

[DOTR]

An interesting whatif. But I think so. Post 1970 the radicals on the left had moved to a much more aggressive style to bring the US down. Elections hadnt been working for them (and still dont)

Pretty much it, and besides, Goldwater and Nixon represented different wings of the GOP at the time, and though William Buckley managed to increase Goldwater's 'respectability' in the 1960's by booting out the right wing nutjobs like the John Birchers, Goldwater still wasn't quite ' there' yet to win a general election in 1976 either. Turns out Ford wasn't, either, but he probably came closer than Goldwater would have. By the late 1960's and mid 1970's Reagan's star was on the rise in the GOP and as Governor of a big state that was far more critical than Goldwater's Arizona. People tend to forget about Reagan until the 1980's for some reason, but he was also a beneficiary of Buckley's purge and more acceptable than Goldwater outside the Party loyalists. He was elected Governor in 1967 and again in 1971, and declined a third term, easily a better GOP choice because he could carry California's electoral votes for the GOP.

We suffer this mindset to this day. These people always want a Republican that Democrats like. And he always gets his ass kicked...as planned.
Still doing it today. Trump kicked Hillary's ass and brought the House and Senate and dozens of states with him.
The next day never trumpers began bellyaching about replacing Trump with “somebody who can win”.

 

[Dekster]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew, assuming Barry Goldwater had accepted? Would the left have even bothered with Watergate?

I am not sure at that point is was such a left-right issue as far as watergate.

 

[Picaro]

An interesting whatif. But I think so. Post 1970 the radicals on the left had moved to a much more aggressive style to bring the US down. Elections hadnt been working for them (and still dont)

Pretty much it, and besides, Goldwater and Nixon represented different wings of the GOP at the time, and though William Buckley managed to increase Goldwater's 'respectability' in the 1960's by booting out the right wing nutjobs like the John Birchers, Goldwater still wasn't quite ' there' yet to win a general election in 1976 either. Turns out Ford wasn't, either, but he probably came closer than Goldwater would have. By the late 1960's and mid 1970's Reagan's star was on the rise in the GOP and as Governor of a big state that was far more critical than Goldwater's Arizona. People tend to forget about Reagan until the 1980's for some reason, but he was also a beneficiary of Buckley's purge and more acceptable than Goldwater outside the Party loyalists. He was elected Governor in 1967 and again in 1971, and declined a third term, easily a better GOP choice because he could carry California's electoral votes for the GOP.

We suffer this mindset to this day. These people always want a Republican that Democrats like. And he always gets his ass kicked...as planned.
Still doing it today. Trump kicked Hillary's ass and brought the House and Senate and dozens of states with him.
The next day never trumpers began bellyaching about replacing Trump with “somebody who can win”.

The nature of electoral politics is that almost nobody gets their own way and most people will be perpetually unhappy re election outcomes . Personally I'm happy if that works to keep wing nuts from either end of the spectrum from getting in office. I've never heard a convincing argument that establishes the Nixon/ 'Rockefeller Republicans' in the GOP were somehow much worse than the Goldwater Republicans would have been, other than breast-beating ideological rhetoric. I wasn't impressed by Reagan's performance in office, or Volcker's economic policies either, but I also can't say the democrats had anything better, but they did moderate each other somewhat, better than nothing.

 

[Picaro]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew, assuming Barry Goldwater had accepted? Would the left have even bothered with Watergate?

I am not sure at that point is was such a left-right issue as far as watergate.

Most U.S. politics aren't, it just seems that way if you only went by what pols say rather than what they actually do; same with all the noise about what 'Founder' said about something or other, never mind much of it was contradictory and varied by who was in or out of power.

 

[mikegriffith1]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew, assuming Barry Goldwater had accepted? Would the left have even bothered with Watergate?

I am certainly no fan of Nixon's. If I had been 18 in 1968, I would have voted for Humphrey. But, as the smoke has cleared and more evidence has become available, it is now obvious that Nixon got a very raw deal in Watergate and that the main charge against him--the charge that convinced the grand jury to name him as a co-consipirator--was bogus. Nixon did not authorize the hush-money payment to Howard Hunt, and many of the legal maneuverings against him were grossly unethical.

CNN Shows Zero Interest In Probing Conventional Wisdom On Watergate

Transcript: Geoff Shepard on the Watergate "Road Map" » Richard Nixon Foundation

Geoff Shepard | Author of The Real Watergate Scandal Book

Geoff Shepard's book The Real Watergate Scandal is a must-read for anyone who wants to truly understand Watergate.

 

[RandomPoster]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew, assuming Barry Goldwater had accepted? Would the left have even bothered with Watergate?

I am certainly no fan of Nixon's. If I had been 18 in 1968, I would have voted for Humphrey. But, as the smoke has cleared and more evidence has become available, it is now obvious that Nixon got a very raw deal in Watergate and that the main charge against him--the charge that convinced the grand jury to name him as a co-consipirator--was bogus. Nixon did not authorize the hush-money payment to Howard Hunt, and many of the legal maneuverings against him were grossly unethical.

CNN Shows Zero Interest In Probing Conventional Wisdom On Watergate

Transcript: Geoff Shepard on the Watergate "Road Map" » Richard Nixon Foundation

Geoff Shepard | Author of The Real Watergate Scandal Book

Geoff Shepard's book The Real Watergate Scandal is a must-read for anyone who wants to truly understand Watergate.

That is what the ideologues on the left do. The rules do not apply to them because their goal is supposedly so noble.

 

[Polishprince]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew, assuming Barry Goldwater had accepted? Would the left have even bothered with Watergate?

Would have never happened. Congress was controlled by Democrats in both houses, and they would have never approved a conservative for the job. Nixon was already in their crosshairs by the time Agnew quit. Installing liberal Speaker Carl Albert as President when they got rid of Nixon would have been pleasing to their ears.

 

[gipper]

Nixon would never choose Goldwater. He wanted a yes man and someone who would likely pardon him. Ford fit the part perfectly.

Was there ever a bigger Big Government yes man, than old lying Gerald?

 

[Polishprince]

Nixon would never choose Goldwater. He wanted a yes man and someone who would likely pardon him. Ford fit the part perfectly.

Was there ever a bigger Big Government yes man, than old lying Gerald?

Ford was popular enough in Congress as well. He had spent most of his life there and his devout RINOism was well known. He was the last Republican President or Presidential nominee not to be skewered by the Dems as a racist, Nazi and Literally Hitler.

Of course, Ford was also a pathetic loser, taking it up the ass from Jimmy Carter.

 

[Picaro]

Reagan eclipsed Goldwater in the GOP Right by 1968; he was much more charismatic, and he was Governor of a huge state population wise. It's that simple; neither Goldwater nor Reagan were known for being intelligent, but the personalities and stage presence was like night and day.

 

[Picaro]

Nixon would never choose Goldwater. He wanted a yes man and someone who would likely pardon him. Ford fit the part perfectly.

Was there ever a bigger Big Government yes man, than old lying Gerald?

Ford was popular enough in Congress as well. He had spent most of his life there and his devout RINOism was well known. He was the last Republican President or Presidential nominee not to be skewered by the Dems as a racist, Nazi and Literally Hitler.

Of course, Ford was also a pathetic loser, taking it up the ass from Jimmy Carter.

I doubt any GOP candidate would have beat Carter; the Watergate plus Energy Crisis' hoax was laid at their feet, along with the global food shortages creating the high inflation cycles, and Republicans essentially just stuck their asses in the public's faces as a response, as they usually do in hard times, and then act all shocked at the backlash.

 

[Polishprince]

Nixon would never choose Goldwater. He wanted a yes man and someone who would likely pardon him. Ford fit the part perfectly.

Was there ever a bigger Big Government yes man, than old lying Gerald?

Ford was popular enough in Congress as well. He had spent most of his life there and his devout RINOism was well known. He was the last Republican President or Presidential nominee not to be skewered by the Dems as a racist, Nazi and Literally Hitler.

Of course, Ford was also a pathetic loser, taking it up the ass from Jimmy Carter.

I doubt any GOP candidate would have beat Carter; the Watergate plus Energy Crisis' hoax was laid at their feet, along with the global food shortages creating the high inflation cycles, and Republicans essentially just stuck their asses in the public's faces as a response, as they usually do in hard times, and then act all shocked at the backlash.

You may be right. Carter was the last Democrat presidential candidate to sweep through the Southland winning virtually every state. BTW, long after the "southern strategy" mythology that the South turned Republican due to backlash against the Civil Rights Act and the mythological "southern strategy".

 

[Mac-7]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew,

What an interesting thought

for libs that would have been the first atomic bomb blast on US soil

 

[konradv]

How would history have changed if Richard Nixon had chosen Barry Goldwater to replace Spiro Agnew, assuming Barry Goldwater had accepted? Would the left have even bothered with Watergate?

Goldwater was one of the Republicans that told Nixon he had to go.

 

[whitehall]

LBJ destroyed Goldwater with the cooperation of the mainstream media and Hollywood using tactics that the media was used to but became outraged when it came to Nixon. Allegations were that LBJ bugged Goldwater's plane. Black bag tricks were common except when they could pin a 2nd rate burglary on a republican.

 

[there4eyeM]

American history since Nixon would probably be a lot better.

 

[whitehall]

If the media was as concerned about LBJ's taxes and personal history as they were apparently consumed by Spiro Agnew, we might not have lost about 50,000 Americans in LBJ's war in Vietnam..