Ever since Goldwater's defeat some among Conservative circles had advocated leaving the Republican Party (which they held to be too liberal) to make a conservative third party. After Watergate, Viguerie also held that there was no hope for the Republican party, telling a reporter "I know the marketing field and you just can't market 'Republican' any more. It means depression, recession, runaway inflation, big business, multinational corporations, Watergate, and Nixon. It's easier to sell an Edsel or Typhoid Mary. 'Independent' and 'American'--those are words which will sell. Don't kid yourself. That's the way we're moving. All the Republican party needs is a decent burial. In ten years, there won't be a dozen people in the country calling themselves Republicans. …Nixon, whose name is poison to voters now, wiped out every issue the Republicans could use--balanced budget, morality in government, law and order, national security. Richard Nixon flushed them all down the commode."