THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIEND – AT 9:58 A.M. ET:   The word "liberal" is thrown around loosely these days, and even applied to those on the fringe left, who are anything but liberal.  There was a time, though, not long ago, when "liberal" was an honorable word.  True liberals put national defense first, and had a compassionate but not insane domestic policy.  They fought Communism as hard as conservatives did, unlike today.  Jack Kelly recalls the time.  From RealClearPolitics: 

I thought the liberal giants of my youth were usually mistaken, but I never doubted their intelligence, their good intentions or their patriotism.

Those of us who are or were in Army Special Forces will always be grateful to John F. Kennedy for giving us the Green Beret.

No politician has been a more effective defender of America’s national security than Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, D-Wash., for whom I would have voted if Democrats had nominated him for president in 1976 (instead of the pious Jimmy Carter).

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., the premier sociologist of his time, was a “social scientist” who was really a scientist. What a concept!

Sen. Hubert Humphrey, D-Minn., was a passionate advocate of equal rights at a time when most other politicians who were happened to be Republicans. Then the mayor of Minneapolis, he fought so hard, and so effectively, against the segregationists at the Democratic National Convention in 1948 that he prompted the Dixiecrat walkout. Mr. Humphrey was the chief sponsor of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The “Happy Warrior” was renowned for his exuberance. I remember covering a speech he made to farm reporters. Speaking of agricultural subsidies, Mr. Humphrey said: “Ten thousand bushels of wheat. Ten thousand bushels of wheat. You know what that is? That’s peanuts!”

Mr. Humphrey was a U.S. senator for 22 years, vice president for four, but (unlike most long-serving Democrats today, and many in his), he never tried to cash in on his “public service.” He may often have been mistaken about how best to do it, but Hubert Horatio Humphrey was in government to help others, not himself.

Like Voltaire, who said: “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it,” Messrs. Kennedy, Jackson, Moynihan and Humphrey were defenders of free speech. They fought hard for what they believed, but they played by the rules. They understood how critical to liberty and democracy is the rule of law.

These liberal giants of not so long ago treated political opponents with dignity and respect. When they served in the Senate together, Mr. Kennedy and my first political hero, Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., were good friends. Had they run against each other in 1964, the race would have been civil, and edifying.

COMMENT:  I worked for one of the liberal giants of the time, Paul Douglas of Illinois.  Not only was he a man of impeccable integrity and a brilliant professor of economics, he was the oldest man ever to go through Marine Corps basic training, having enlisted at the age of 50 to fight World War II. 

He also was a man who told me of the kindness of some Southern senators during the civil-rights debates, men who knew change had to come, could not talk about it publicly without being destroyed, but who worked behind the scenes to keep things civilized.  Not all Southerners were running around in white sheets, contrary to the image that the trendy left liked to portray. 

Jack Kelly was right.  There were liberal giants, none of whom would recognize the Democratic Party of today.  Jack Kennedy couldn't come anywhere near a presidential nomination in that party.  It is a sad spectacle. 

August 3, 2015