This is a rush transcript from "Glenn Beck," June 1, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GLENN BECK, HOST: Now, with me here in Phoenix is former California Congressman Barry Goldwater, Jr. He's the author of "Pure Goldwater."
How are you, sir?
BARRY GOLDWATER, JR. (R), FMR. CALIFORNIA CONGRESSMAN: Nice to be with you.
BECK: Good to see you.
Help me out. I mean, with the way that the United States government is being run now — I mean, well, I should say, the way the United States government is running everything now, we have fundamentally changed America, have we not, in the last six months?
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GOLDWATER: Hang on to your pockets. You know, you were talking about this gentleman running the General Motors.
BECK: Yes.
GOLDWATER: You know, I'm not surprised, because the chairman of the board, Barack Obama, and, of course, the vice president, and the speaker of the House and Treasury Secretary Geithner, as well as Senator Reid — I don't think any of them have ever worked in the private sector.
BECK: No, I don't think —
GOLDWATER: Let alone be responsible for employees and paychecks and the bottom line.
BECK: So, how do —
GOLDWATER: So, I mean, it fits — it fits right in there.
BECK: How do we — how do we, as a country, survive a government run by people who have — really, I think, in many ways — have contempt for business? They're running the businesses. How do we survive?
GOLDWATER: This is change. The people of America voted for change, and Obama won. And that's the game that we play.
BECK: Do you believe that that's the change people wanted, though?
GOLDWATER: I'm not sure that the people understood what Obama was talking about. No. I don't think that's what the people really wanted.
BECK: Where do you think — where do you think people are?
GOLDWATER: I think most people are conservative. They're concerned about their families. They're concerned about their work and having an income to support themselves, their kids, schoolchildren.
I think people are compassionate. They will reach out and help the less fortunate and the underprivileged and our arts and our culture.
Americans love their country. I don't think they're looking for a change towards socialism — which seems to be the way we're going — where you have government intruding on every aspect of their lives.
BECK: You know, I think, when you say Americans are conservative, I think there are a lot of people in the audience that will say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," but I think that's because the words conservative and liberal don't mean anything anymore. They mean the party label. They mean, they mean — I don't even know what.
I guess — I guess, if you're conservative, it means that you're a Jesus person and if you're a liberal, you're a Marxist. You know, it doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean what things used to mean.
GOLDWATER: Someone once defined politics as "poly" meaning many and "ticks" meaning blood sucking creatures.
(LAUGHTER)
GOLDWATER: And we have a two-party system and that system basically, historically has worked well.
I think the Republicans have gotten off-track. My father, Senator Goldwater, set the tone for the conservative movement back in 1964, established a philosophy which appealed to a lot of people and still do today — and that's less government, protecting our liberties, personal freedom, personal responsibility, a strong national defense and a free market.
Those are the core principles that Senator Goldwater and also Ronald Reagan adhered to, were spokesmen for and governed by.
But in the '70s, all of a sudden, under Ronald Reagan, they started to embrace religion. And they began getting these personal issues into the political spectrum. And as a result, we're — we are constantly debating wedge issues — like abortion, prayer in the schools and the definition of marriage.
And we've gotten distracted and away from those core principles. And the Republican Party needs to get back to that.
BECK: Right. If somebody came to the forefront today, and spoke clearly about — I mean, look, I'm finding myself more and more libertarian every day, but I still believe you can't — we've taken — it has taken us 100 years to get into this mess. And it's going to take us a long time to slowly withdraw out of this mess. So, you can't turn things off immediately, but you can walk down that path.
But if somebody came with a clear message and said, "Look, you just want government out of your life and so the states can decide."
Look, you want gay marriage in California, that's great. Let California be California. Let Tennessee be Tennessee.
Just stop arguing about these things. That's for the state to decide. What we need to do is just protect and defend the United States. We just need to make sure that there are roads and everybody is operating honestly with each other.
Don't you think that that would be a winning message? And that's not a message that the Republicans are even close to.
GOLDWATER: Glenn, you need to read "Pure Goldwater" and I autographed a book for you.
BECK: Thank you, sir.
GOLDWATER: It sets the premise upon which the Republican Party and I think our country should follow. And if the Republican Party is to survive, it's got to get — it's got to get — this is war. This is survival of this country. And the Republican Party, being the loyal opposition, has to present positive alternatives, like, for instance, let's get rid of the IRS and replace it with something that's simple and people can understand.
BECK: Let me hug you.
GOLDWATER: You know, let's reduce — let's — we got to — we've got to reduce and eliminate a lot of this government that is just plugging up the system. We ought to get rid of half the Cabinet.
BECK: We're going in the opposite direction. We're not even going to Cabinet, we're going to czars.
GOLDWATER: Yes, but this is the Republican — this is the Republican message. And we've got to be — we've got to get serious about this.
BECK: Who do you think is the Republican that can carry that message?
GOLDWATER: We have a lot — we have a lot in the inventory. We have a terrific young guy, Tom McClintock from northern California, you'll hear more and more about. Here in Arizona, Jeff Blake, and Senator Jon Kyl are terrific. I love Mark Sanford out of South Carolina. He's tearing them up down there.
BECK: Yes. What do you think of Bobby Jindal?
GOLDWATER: I like Bobby...
BECK: What do you think of Sarah Palin?
GOLDWATER: I think Sarah Palin has potential. She is great.
BECK: Yes.
GOLDWATER: She's attractive. She's smart. She got the right message and she doesn't take any crap from anybody.
(LAUGHTER)
BECK: I love that. Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it.
GOLDWATER: All right.
BECK: The name of the book is "Pure Goldwater."
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