This Republican’s ‘Confession’ From The 1964 Election Is Eerily Appropriate Today

Back in 1964, Barry Goldwater literally scared a significant portion of the electorate into voting for Lyndon Johnson. His rhetoric was so extreme and hard to follow that a life-long Republican filmed a campaign ad for Johnson explaining why he no longer could support the Republican nominee. Sound familiar?

The video shows an unnamed Republican man “confessing” his feelings about the election with gravity and regret in his voice. Of course, the title of the video along with the notion that speaking your feelings is a “confession” is a bit misleading, but we see here something we’ve been privy to throughout the 2016 election as well.

Here’s the ad in its raw format:

He then speaks to the notion that he happens to believe that the “offce makes the man,” and that a candidate is more aptly judged by the company he keeps than on his own merits. But to that end, the man offers that he doesn’t much care for Goldwater’s associates or potential cabinet choices. Finally, and perhaps most appropos for the 2016 election, is disbelief and confusion in how the candidate can completely contradict himself when presented with his own words from an earlier statement.

To that last point, he states bluntly, “A president ought to mean what he says.”

Keep in mind, this diehard Republican voter is not a fan of Johnson. He doesn’t even say he’ll vote for the Democrat. He concedes only that Johnson sticks to and speaks to the facts, whereas Goldwater fails to clear even that low bar. Shortly thereafter, the stakes get raised as the man suggests the concern and reservations he has with Goldwater’s finger on the proverbial nuclear “button.”

This may be the first time in a generation a candidate such as Donald Trump has been so widely detested, it’s not the first time it’s happened in a presidential election.

It’s a shame we don’t have the man’s name. If he’s alive, I’d love to know what he thinks about what’s going on in 2016.