Mr. Conservative vs. Mr. Republican

[The Mikado]

despite his horrible foreign policy.

I suppose Goldwater's was better?

Somewhat.  Taft's opposition to the Marshall Plan and to America's extensive involvement with NATO and allies abroad would've been disastrous in the opening years of the Cold War.  Truman and George Kennan had the right idea, and their fundamental policies that guided American presidents from both parties were anathema to Taft.  Goldwater was at the hawkish end of the Cold War consensus, but still well within its wings.

Uh huh, so in your opinion nuclear war was preferable to non-interventionism? Interesting.

Wait, you are buying into Lyndon Johnson's propaganda about Barry Goldwater?  Even more interesting.

FTR, see the fact that I did vote for Taft over Goldwater despite my reservations about some aspects of Taft's record.  At the end of the day, I do trust the Establishment wing of the GOP over the more radical ones.  If there's one thing I have in common with the GOP, it's a strong support for stability and continuity between parties and governments, and I don't want someone that'd rock the boat too much in the White House.  Obviously, I'm glad Eisenhower got elected rather than Taft, but Taft would certainly have been a more reliable safe pair of hands than Goldwater.

[Holmes]

Goldwater, I guess.

AuH2O

My chemist brain started wondering what kind of molecule that would look like... though I suppose, in reality, gold molecules are hydrated like basically every other molecule there is so adding an H₂O is kinda redundant.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

despite his horrible foreign policy.

I suppose Goldwater's was better?

Somewhat.  Taft's opposition to the Marshall Plan and to America's extensive involvement with NATO and allies abroad would've been disastrous in the opening years of the Cold War.  Truman and George Kennan had the right idea, and their fundamental policies that guided American presidents from both parties were anathema to Taft.  Goldwater was at the hawkish end of the Cold War consensus, but still well within its wings.

Uh huh, so in your opinion nuclear war was preferable to non-interventionism? Interesting.

Wait, you are buying into Lyndon Johnson's propaganda about Barry Goldwater?  Even more interesting.

FTR, see the fact that I did vote for Taft over Goldwater despite my reservations about some aspects of Taft's record.  At the end of the day, I do trust the Establishment wing of the GOP over the more radical ones.  If there's one thing I have in common with the GOP, it's a strong support for stability and continuity between parties and governments, and I don't want someone that'd rock the boat too much in the White House.  Obviously, I'm glad Eisenhower got elected rather than Taft, but Taft would certainly have been a more reliable safe pair of hands than Goldwater.

Your hero Truman dropped multiple atomic bombs on civilians, so based on your remarks I had to assume you preferred atomic warfare to non-interventionism.

[Bo]

Taft, by far

I thought you were pro-war and pro-interventionism?

Not always.

[Derek]

Goldwater, the republicans have really lost touch with their base and it has cost them the past 2 elections. The tea party is getting them out of office now as we saw with Bennett and Specter who would've been voted out had he stayed in his party. We're coming back to the Goldwater/Reagan model and killing the "let's be less liberal democrats" model of Snowe/Chaffe.