Has anybody ever wondered whether the crime in question - the Watergate break-in - was not the crime about which Nixon's knowledge made him truly vulnerable?
The meticulously crafted British production "The Men Who Killed Kennedy" suggests that Nixon was at a meeting that included Johnson at a Dallas residence the night before Kennedy was shot. Johnson, too was there. After the meeting tells a confidant something like "After tomorrow we won't have to worry about the Kennedies any more."
The meme that was widely circulated by the press at the time of Nixon's resignation was "If you have knowledge of a crime you are culpable." But truthfully Nixon looks really shaken when he resigns. And I was never convinced that Nixon would fold over a break-in. Just wondering out loud...
Posted by steve at July 8, 2007 10:22 AMIt seems that every Republican President elected in the last fifty years has a crime family associated with him. Is this a trend?
Posted by james k. sayre at July 8, 2007 10:32 AMin all fairness, Mr. Sayre, Old Man Joe Kennedy was hardly a stranger to the ways of organized crime. Certainly the Bush family, from the same New England roots, has had a hand in the public till for a long time. In the end, its all about money, and the more power you have, the more money you control and the more money you have the more power you have. Peanut farmers and hicks from Arkansas weren't born in those circles. Neither was Nixon, but especially for the Republicans, high office comes with a bill to pay. And it better be paid, regardless of the costs.
Posted by T2 at July 8, 2007 11:43 AMThe Democrats are busy rewriting their own history. They'll tell you all about how they blocked the stupid stuff republi-cons were doing in the 107th to 109th Congress...yet look at all the stupid shit they voted for (they were keeping their "powder dry" on the Patriot Act, and swooned because they just didn't have the votes for the Military Commissions Act or the Supremes).
When the Dems write the history of the 110th they'll look as good as any Keyboard Kommando in their support of the Constitution. I can see it now: "We swooned and kept our powder dry. Clap for Tinkerbell!"
Posted by phidipides at July 8, 2007 12:38 PMCheney "records"? What "records"?
I think you can assume the Presidential Records Act has been declared unconstitutional by secret opinion of the VP's "creature", David Addington. Violates the "commander-in-chief" clause, of course.
Posted by euzoius at July 8, 2007 02:26 PMMaybe the new light shining on Nixon's Watergate will help the campaign of Fred "the Snitch" Thompson. Here's a guy who literally tried to keep Nixon in office by becoming a full-fledged member of the Cover Up while pretending to actually be on the side of the Law. Yeah, this guy is a perfect candidate for the GOP Presidential nod...another in a long line of Crooks and Liars. What a ticket Giuliani and Thompson would make...the GOP dream ticket...no way they can find more repulsive candidates...oh, well, I guess Newt might qualify.
Posted by T2 at July 8, 2007 02:35 PMOn a recent trip to Santa Monica, CA, I picked up a tourist brochure for the Nixon library. I thought it was pretty unusual that one of the photos used was of a helicopter with the White House in the background...bringing to mind his escape in the helicopter after resigning in ignominy. I wouldn't think that that was what they wanted people to remember.
I have thought for many years that the Watergate break-in was about making sure that the Dems didn't have the dirt on the JFK assassination. Nixon and his team of operatives had engineered things as best they could to run against McGovern instead of Muskie. Then the Eagleton disaster occurred and about the only thing that could have turned the election to McGovern would have been revelations of great magnitude. JFK was certainly no saint, but he was an eloquent leader. What a different world this might be without all the assassinations of that era. From JFK, to Bobby, to MLK Jr., Malcolm X, Fred Hampton, did I forget anyone? - when you cut off the head, the tail no longer wags.
Posted by angel at July 8, 2007 09:18 PMWhen the massive volumes of sanitized fiction are put on display in the bush libarry they will feel right at home in their designated wing of the Creation Museum.
Posted by TIKI AL at July 9, 2007 04:48 AM"When the massive volumes of sanitized fiction are put on display in the bush libarry they will feel right at home in their designated wing of the Creation Museum."
TIKI AL, it will be known as the Libarry of Lies.
Posted by Judith at July 9, 2007 05:58 AM"After tomorrow we won't have to worry about the Kennedies any more."
Steve, and sure enough, they were right. There is only one deduction from that comment, and we all know what it was.
Posted by Judith at July 9, 2007 08:51 AM