I actually enjoyed talking with the guy. Cranston had a long and interesting political career, of course, that spanned a good deal of the century just ended. He garnered his last notices for a Senate reprimand in 1993 even as he defended his actions for corruption in the Keating Five scandal. It is likely that the most important political lodestar for Alan Cranston was the World Federalist Society, whose presidency he assumed in 1948. When he visited the Register editorial board a few years ago, he professed to being a libertarian, or at least being with us on certain issues relating to freedom for the individual.
Most politicians do that if they have taken the time to read some of our editorials and columns.
And on some civil-liberties issues, he may have justifiably used the term. But for most of his 24-year career as a California senator, he fought for ever bigger and more intrusive government. And he really knew how to come across as reasonable and open-minded, the very picture of moderation, your slightly eccentric but goodhearted Uncle Al. It is a mistake to picture him, as most of the obituaries have, as a devoted idealist who somehow fell into bad company with the Keating crowd. It's more complicated than that.