Kennedy and Goldwater--A Blast from the Past

On the View this morning, John McCain said he wanted to appear with Barack Obama in townhall forums, including on the View. He then referenced John F. Kennedy's desire to do that with Senator Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election.

I read about that a long time ago in Goldwater's autobiography, With No Apologies. But it's been on my mind a lot, even before McCain mentioned it this morning. Wouldn't it have been great to have an actual give-and-take on the issues? Instead, what we got was LBJ's smear campaign! LBJ was from the thug school of American politics.

Goldwater recalled fondly John F. Kennedy's desire to debate him. And, except for his womanizing, his possible stealing of the 1960 election, and his ties with rather sordid people, I think JFK was a decent fellow. He certainly comes across as a humble, down-to-earth person when I see clips of him on television.