The American Spectator

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8.13.04 @ 12:01AM

NIXON AT 30
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s Missing Nixon:

Very good article on Nixon and his resignation post-30 years.

I think that the passing of the infamous date went under the media's radar simply because it's no longer the story it once was, and also because Americans are simply exhausted by scandal and the aftermath of political hubris.

Nixon is remembered for many things nowadays, both good, bad and just plain ugly, but at present he gets a fair shake and history looks on his administration more kindly than many of his fellow former presidents.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace on this past Sunday, the 9th of August. It was a small crowd throughout the day, with no media present whatsoever. Still, the visit was both educational and, at the same, time, strange and slightly uncomfortable. For, though Nixon created a powerful imperial presidency and a strong conservative base within the GOP, he also had the taint, as early as 1969, of being a president consumed with screwing his enemies before they (through his own perception) screwed him.

His downfall and the cover-up of Watergate by having the CIA back off the investigation, even in his own words (and the Liberia is full of his quotes and his ruminations on his accomplishments), is inescapable and inexcusable. Even his own loyalists and intimates at the time finally had no choice but to move him, as gently as possible, toward resignation rather than impeachment (which would have left him open to criminal prosecution for obstructing justice). Remember, by August 1974 he had lost almost all support amongst the GOP base and his conservative friends in Congress. People who had stuck by him under many conditions suddenly saw no way to stick by him once the June 23, 1973 tape was made available to Sirica and Jaworski, as well as his own insiders. When Pat Buchanan heard the tape (and Pat would have gone into quicksand for the man), even he had a hard time reconciling the evidence at hand with his loyalties and animosity toward Nixon's enemies. In the end, he would not abandon Nixon, but helped convince the family (Nixon's true stalwarts) and his lawyer James St. Clair, that there was no more battle to be fought: the war over Watergate was over, and they had lost.

Still, Nixon will be remembered for more than Watergate (his prescience on China as an eventual economic powerhouse, for instance) and his legacy will endure; however, the taint of his misdeeds in office will cast a shadow over that legacy for generations to come (much as Clinton's misdeeds will certainly follow his accomplishments into the history books). Nixon remains a giant in the political pantheon and his status, warts and all, will continue to be writ large into our nation's history.
-- Christian Hokenson

A careful examination of the available evidence (listen to Ford's explanation of his pardon. The chief accuser of Nixon regularly lied under oath.) indicates that Nixon would not have been found guilty in a fair court of law. He was done in by public opinion.

There is great probability that the House impeachment committee knew the case against Nixon was weak.

Be that as it may be, why are after 30 years the Star Chamber preceding of the House Impeachment committee still secret?
-- William M. Selenke
Cincinnati, Ohio

LT. SWIFTY
Re: Thomas H. Lipscomb's John Kerry's Bodyguard of Lies:

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, thank you very much.
-- Gene Hauber
Meshoppen, Pennsylvania

Indeed, it is time for the press to investigate and objectively report on, rather than attack, the allegations of the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth. That dog's not going to hunt, though.

The partisan press is rooting for and supporting John Kerry's election. They've deep-sixed this story, just as they did with Juanita Broaddrick and the Arkansas state troopers during Bill Clinton's presidential candidacy. The lady and the troopers raised unpleasant history-partisan-press-speak for legitimate, likely truthful issues-that was damning to Clinton.

As an opinionist said this week, if the partisan press gave one-tenth of the time it gave to Richard Clarke's and Joe Wilson's fantasies and lies -- or even Michael Moore's "9/11" fakeumentary -- the public would know a lot about Mr. Kerry and his Vietnam service.

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