https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/23/us/convention-in-dallas-the-republicans-transcript-of-remarks-by-goldwater.htmlGoldwater gave a pretty enthusiastic RNC speech for Reagan and bashed the Dems quite a bit:
A month ago I sat in my den and watched the Democratic National Convention. Speaker after speaker promised the moon to every narrow, selfish interest group in the country. But they ignored the hopes and aspirations of the largest special interest group of them all, free men and free women.
So tonight I want to speak about freedom. And let me remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.
What, may I ask, was more extreme than our Revolutionary War? Our founding fathers pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor for that most honorable and noble cause, freedom.
But last month, those Democrat orators turned their backs on our own heritage. Indeed, they would have us ashamed of our freedom and our ability to defend it.
And to me the worst part was that they said nicer things about the Soviet Union than about our own military services. And I would remind you that these are the men and women in uniform who are sworn to protect that very freedom that made our country so great.
Now believe me what I'm going to say is not easy to say; but nonetheless, truth demands it. It has been the foreign policy and defense weakness of Democrat administrations that have led us to war in the past. And I will be as specific as the Democrats were unspecific in San Francisco.
Every war in this century began and was fought under Democrat administrations. You doubt me? World War I, Woodrow Wilson, Democrat. World War II, Franklin Roosevelt, Democrat. Korea, Harry Truman, Democrat. Vietnam, Jack Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, both Democrats.
Members of the convention, we have a leader, a real leader, a great Commander in Chief: President Ronald Reagan. And in your hearts, you know he's right.
