News, Woodward and Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate, Nixon was far worse than we thought.

[VM1138]

That's a ridiculous article.

Looking at it from a non-ideological point of view, what Nixon did was criminal, but I imagine every President has done something similar. Maybe not as criminal, but they all try to subvert the election process in their favor. For example, President Obama is blurring the lines between official Presidential business and his re-election campaign to help him. Bush did the same thing.

The article, though, is what I take issue with. It's very hyperbolic, especially with the line about him starting 5 and a half "wars." As a historian I like to think intelligent adults can look at something that happened 40 years ago in an objective manner but the article really has it out for Nixon.

Nixon the person was a mess, though. I'm not sure we've ever had such a high level of paranoia centered in one person in the White House before.

[picklejuice]

Originally Posted by totsuka

Obama makes Nixon look like a Saint. JFK was way more corrupt than Nixon too and let us not forget about LBJ. It is amazing how the media still hates Nixon after all these years.

"An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought."

~ Simon Cameron US financier & politician (1799 - 1889)

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by Philip T

Ever read People of the Lie? Interesting study of this condition.




From what I see, it is the non-voting, but higher ranking "citizen" -- corporations -- they are the funders.

Corporations are people, too, now -- at least that is what I have heard from one of the Corporate Candidates.

At this point many of the Real People have stopped voting for either of the lying Corporate market-share "choices."



texdav's - balbiliying abuot Kenendy bieng teh cuase fo Nioxn's baad beahavor.

Yes, the planned agenda of the 70's seems complete. Sadly we all have to live through this now. Corporate Laws are separate from individual.

All Corporation Law is engineered and crafted by lobbyists/congress.

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by lucknow

Politics in the USA is dirty, lowdown, lying, cheating, stealing, murdering and anything else you can think of that is bad, dishournable and self serving.

That's what is just so stupid about these clowns who claim to be Christians running for office. I don't think it's even a possibility that any Christian could win any election in the USA and be true to to his or her convictions.

I have a huge admiration for the American people. What they have been able to accomplish dispite the horrendously bad governance they get. The system has always been bad and it's getting worse by the year. It's begining to decend into the realm of near total disfunction. This presents a very real danger both to the USA and the rest of the world.

religion is just the diversion from a decimated economy.

I agree with you on all the rest.

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by dreamofmonterey

Yes, the planned agenda of the 70's seems complete. Sadly we all have to live through this now. Corporate Laws are separate from individual.

All Corporation Law is engineered and crafted by lobbyists/congress.

Sure. It is a funny ethic they play.

The basic premises is that if it is legal -- it is ok.

And then they pay to write the law that serves them.

So then if you -- as a real human being -- route around or simply break the law and rip them in return, they seem to just be confused. About like a sort of stupid robot.

[linicx]

History is a snapshot of time that all the ranting and false explanations cannot change. There is no question that it happened or why. I think if Nixon did not have a mental defect he hid well, as I suspect, he was pure evil. I keep seeing the phrase "moral authority" bandied about. Nixon had no morals. Most likely he was amoral. But there were statements that Woodward wrote that are very telling about politics today.

"Why was Watergate?” Ervin answered, had “a lust for political power." It blinded Nixon and his cronies to moral action. What his secret tapes reveal is his endless self-interest in his place in history, his hatreds, "and, above all, his schemes for revenge. By the time he was forced to resign, Nixon had turned his White House, to a remarkable extent, into a criminal enterprise."

There has not been a civil national election campaign since. The old men in Congress who understood DC politics, the old men who knew how to play the game with honor, the old men who defended the Constitution are gone. Congress is in gridlock and will stay that way as long as the public ignores the lessons of history and continues to elect members to congress who have deep seated hatred for those they represent who do not look like them, and who do not agree with them.