After his wife of nearly 50 years died, and when Goldwater was nearly 80 years old, he became more vocal in his liberal social opinions. After his retirement in 1987, Goldwater described the conservative Arizona Governor [[Evan Mecham]] as "hardheaded" and called on him to resign, and two years later stated that the Republican party had been taken over by a "bunch of kooks". In a 1994 interview with the ''[[Washington Post]]'' the retired senator said, {{cquote|When you say "radical right" today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like [[Pat Robertson]] and others who are trying to take the Republican party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.}}
In response to [[Moral Majority]] founder [[Jerry Falwell]]'s opposition to the nomination of [[Sandra Day O'Connor]] to the Supreme Court, of which Falwell had said, "Every good Christian should be concerunedconcerned", Goldwater retorted: "Every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the a**."<ref>Ed Magnuson, [[Time Magazine]], [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954833-2,00.html ''The Brethren's First Sister''], July 20, 1981. Retrieved 1/1/07.</ref>
Goldwater was long an outspoken critic of presidents of both parties, harshly criticizing [[Richard Nixon]] at a pivotal time during [[Watergate]]. Goldwater criticized the arms to Iran that became public in 1986 as part of the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] as "the god-d***ed stupidest foreign policy blunder this country's ever made!'",.<ref>[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-374469737793037291&q=Robert+MacNeil "Archive of American Television Interview with Robert MacNeil Part 5 of 14" (video)]</ref> Otherwise, Goldwater thought that Reagan was a good president.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLATQAU-Hw0&feature=related YouTube - Charlie Rose - Goldwater tribute/<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>