Goldwater did not go like Nixon. Nixon went crookedly.
Goldwater, instead and especially, died still thinking that he was straight.

He died clutching the strange idea that he was right, that
he knew the country and, especially, the west,
  especially Arizona, and, especially the inside of his favorite cowboy hat
  here his sweet self-righteous sweat met the headband's genuine leather in
  such a way that the brand name (Goldwater) was almost miraculously
  highlighted, a personal bas relief  ever- present to the handy eye.

Goldwater died thinking that he had always been right:
  about abolishing the TVA;
  about abolishing Social Security and making irresponsible persons pay for
  their sins of omission and their hard luck and live out the dry and tawdry
  dramas of their ill-starred lives;
  about opposing the Civil Rights Act to preserve the beautifully demarked
  constitutional boundaries which almost miraculously coincided with his
  personal code;
  about "getting government off the backs of the people" so that the people's
  innate selfishness could give rise to that rich hum of the civic harmony
  intended by Jefferson, Madison, and, especially, Calhoun.

Before Goldwater's funeral on CNN there will be specials.
A pockmarked journalist, hoping to keep his/her job, will try to compare Goldwater and Sinatra, and fail.
Much will be said (always facing the camera) about his honesty, his courage,
  his candor.
Shown (repeatedly) will be his baby pictures.
Shown (repeatedly) will be his iron jaw (what part strength, what part
  stubbornness?). Shown (repeatedly) will be the pictures of Goldwater
  sitting in or near an airplane.
Shown (O how repeatedly) the pictures of Goldwater saying something
  untenable about virtue and right and vice and moderation.
Shown (again and repeatedly) will be the living politicians, his heirs,
  saying (over and over) how, while he was a difficult person at times, he
  was honest and candid.
Shown (you guessed it) will be his family's statement: he died like he lived,
  with dignity, and courage.

In the end CNN will officiate at the funeral and the fake green grass will
  accept the shriveling body.
In the end, almost miraculously, the cowboy hat and its sweatband with the
  brand name in bas relief will be gone.
A flight of airplanes will roar overhead.
The pockmark's voice will quake.  An actress will wave away a hint of a tear.

Goldwater will be gone.