The point was to demonstrate my agreement with what he said. Nothing more or less than that!
Everything in which someone takes a firm stand FOR something is apparently ironic in your eyes Luis!
So, in a discussion about whether or not waterboarding is torture and other related topics, you introduce a Goldwater quote about extremism being OK so long as it is used in the defense of liberty.
You also want to argue that the quote has nothing to do with either waterboarding as extremism, while at the same time, arguing that I would "damned well know" that Goldwater would not hesitate to use waterboarding.
So why the Goldwater qoute then?
Here... let me try this. See if I get it right.
Suppose for a minute that there's a debate about the moral decay which leads to acceptance of transgenderism in our society, and as I argue that some people being "different" doesn't make them immoral or amoral, I introduce this quote:
"I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it." - Marilyn Monroe
Then after doing that, I try to make the case that the quote has no relevance to the subject at hand other than the fact that I agree with Marilyn, and that I am not a homo.
That wouldn't play well, don't you think?