"The only two candidates that speak clearly are the ones they call the kooks"

Former Barry Goldwater speechwriter Victor Gold has this to say about the next election (Via Andrew Sullivan):

"The only two candidates that speak clearly, you see, are the ones they call the kooks. On the Democratic side they ask Mike Gravel a question and he goes, "Do you think Ameri-- English should be the official language?" He said, "Yes." And the rest of them say, "No, not the official language, the national language." I said, "Well, what the devil is the national lang"-- I mean, why don't you just say "no"? And on the Republican side you have Ron Paul, who was the only candidate who is antiwar and pro-civil liberties. That is he opposes what this administration is doing in terms of civil liberties. And they call him a kook. That's the closest thing you can get [to Barry Goldwater]. So you can imagine Senator Goldwater, if he were-- he'd probably throw up his hands at the whole process and not run."

Of course, I seem to recall Dave Barry saying something along the lines that Goldwater lost because, at the time, he appeared too crazy to trust with a toaster, let alone a nuclear arsenal.