No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.

I am not sure when and where this trend started, nor am I completely sure the reasoning behind it. I can only assume that by pointing to revered conservative icons and saying 'they're not so bad,' the Left has a basis for justifying that George Bush is El Diablo. But it's annoying, and I'd wish they'd stop.

The Officious Intermeddler sums up my feelings:

Interpretation is a necessary part of the art of writing history; in fact it's what [separated] good historians from mere clerks. However, there appears to be a growing [tendency] to re-interpret history to suit the political views of the historian. Perhaps Marxists historians are most guilty as they attempt to posit all history in terms of class struggle. What set off this particular rant is the recent HBO special on Barry Goldwater. Recently, the Senator has become something of an icon of the left/liberal contingent [and] is bandied about as something of an indictment against the "neo-cons". This special made the reason for that pretty clear. Barry favored abortion rights, had no problem with gays in the military and hated the "religious right". If there's anything that sums up the core values of the modern Democratic Party, it's abortion, gay rights and anti-religion.

So there you have it. Never mind that he opposed all civil rights legislation, never mind that he considered the use of nuclear weapons in Viet Nam to be legitimate, and never mind that he favored states rights when that was still a pseudonym for bigotry. Barry was OK with abortion and for your modern Democrat that's all that matters. As a result, Barry is no longer a bad guy.

Take heed Rush Limbaugh: Change your stance on abortion and you too may have your own HBO documentary someday. It's not liberal TV, it's HBO.