brunobaby

Finally returned the Goldwater book to the library, enriched by my further education in that pivotal year of 1964.

Did I mention that author Rick Perlstein has a bitchin' collection of 1964 campaign memorabilia, some of which was pictured in the book:

• Brochures for Johnson-Humphrey reiterating the theme of the "Daisy" commercial (Hey, after the kind of crap LBJ pulled in that campaign, you've gotta wonder if Karl Rove is some kind of cosmic revenge)
• Hand-held fans with a picture of an elephant crushing a donkey--they'd have to wait a few years for that one
• And my personal favorite, a collection of paperbacks distributed by various conservative activist groups because the RNC wouldn't touch 'em. Nifty diatribes like "A Choice, Not An Echo" by Phyllis Schlafly (uh huh her) and "None Dare Call It Treason" by John Stormer, which goes to show that cries of "Treason!" are nothing new, whether they're from a crew-cut Bircher or a blonde babe in a miniskirt.

Upon returning Barry, I checked out "Left For Dead" by Michael Tomasky. Published in 1996 in the aftermath of the Gingrich Revolution, the book covers the same theme as many of Tomasky's columns in the American Prospect. In other words, he's been telling the Left to get its head out of its ass for a decade now.

I don't think this book (or his columns) will create a new New Left, but it can make thinking liberals think and disgruntled ex-liberals remember what it was about the radical movements of the '30s through the '60s that worked and made changes to the US that were long overdue and improved people's lives immeasurably. And for those of you too young to remember the late '60s-early '70s, this is where it got screwed up.