Heads UP: Blitzer on CNN is going to play some NIXON tapes--new ones--sounds interesting.

[MADem]

Apparently they're to do with him carping at political opponents.

It might resonate, given the woes of the Bush White House.

I am pleased that they are obliquely making the comparison!!!!!

He said it would be on right after this break....

[mzmolly]

1. "I am pleased that they are obliquely making the comparison!!!!! "

Me as well!

[MADem]

4. Ah, the excerpts they provided were classic Dick!!

He loved calling people 'pricks' and sons-a-bitches! And classic meanspiritedness, too! He was griping about what an asshole Gene McCarthy was...the guy couldn't even manage to be gracious in VICTORY! Amazing! And his toadies on the phone certainly said something about the quality of reasoned advice he was getting!

Can't wait to hear the rest of them!

[mzmolly]

6. Sounds familiar huh?

YIKES!

[earthlover]

2. After enduring Bush, Nixon is beginning to look a lot better

The whole country has gone so far to the right that Nixon would probably today be considered too liberal.

[MuseRider]

3. Is that what they are doing?

Trying to compare to make us aware of the crap from Bush** or are they trying to show us how much worse it was with a real unlikable guy. At least Bush** is likable right? OK, typing that last sentence just made me wanna puke but please let those of us without cable know how this comes off.

[MADem]

5. A new bunch of Nixon tapes are being released, is all, and they're more "unvarnished" than the old

ones. They have more salty language, which Dick was well known for using. He was a real fan of swearing, and he could do it pretty heartily.

There was no overt comparison made. I couldn't help but note that by covering the story, despite this busy news day, there may have been an oblique one, is all.

Nixon was portrayed as a swearing bastard and a bit of a tragic figure (that by the vanquished Gene McCarthy, ironically enough) who couldn't even be magnanimous in victory.

[MuseRider]

7. Thanks.

I find myself almost almost buying the tragic figure simply because of where we are now. But in the long run this is not really news to those of us who lived through it. Good to hear they are being released though.

[MADem]

8. He really WAS a bastard, or a prick (that was one of HIS favorite words!)

That rosy long lens of history with it's sometimes unfocused view can be deceiving!!

Anytime you start to feel sorry for Nixon, simply keep this in mind: the architects of the Bush administration, Cheney and Rumsfeld, got their feet wet with White House intrigue thanks to Nixon. They worked there, they saw the whole mess from the ground up, they saw how badly Dick fucked up, and they LEARNED, all too well, from those mistakes.

I remember those "Enemies Lists" like it was yesterday. They Swiftboated people too (Ellsberg, e.g.)before Swiftboating became a term. And never mind firing US attorneys--Nixon told his Justice Department to fire a Special Prosecutor (resulting in a great bumper sticker:IMPEACH THE COX SACKER), and as a consequence his Atty General and Deputy walked off the job in strong protest, refusing to fire the guy. Robert Bork (who deservedly got Borked for what he did) ended up dealing the fatal blow to Archibald Cox.

The one thing the Nixon crew didn't do -- and this administration has learned to do -- is kick over the traces. There were TAPES. There were memos. They were sloppy. That's what this crew learned from Nixon--hide those logs, slip people in the back door, use offsite servers and non-governmental laptops and make those emails disappear, write nothing down, don't talk on government phones, use RNC provided gear or disposable phones, meet on the street where no one can hear you...just like drug dealers. Had Nixon followed a few of those rules, he'd have finished his term.

It was a pretty ugly time.

[MuseRider]

9. True.

As bad as it is now it does make one forget how truly terrible it was then, at least temporarily.

I think this is the driving reason that I have to take care of these bastards once and for all. We keep letting them go and they get smarter and stronger. I don't for one second think that impeachment would hurt this country. I think the people demand it. We have lost too much, some have suffered too much, the world has been damaged too much and we see the little guys taking the fall (not Scooter, he was not as little as I mean). They have to be held accountable for us to regain any kind of good will from the rest of the world and for us to once again respect ourselves. One more time and they will have us if they do not now.

Thanks for keeping me informed about this. I have not had cable for about 8 months and find it often frustrating but very nice, especially if someone kind lets us all know what is going on.

[MADem]

10. I honestly think we need new law. These 'internets' and new methods of

documenting access (we're so far from "signing in" it isn't funny) aren't keeping up with record keeping requirements. I think there oughta be a law that whoever the head bastard in charge is, he checks the in/out logs every X days, he downloads paper copies, sends them to the National Archives on a regular basis, and if there's any issue they go to a MANUAL system until that issue is resolved.

I think there oughta be mandatory jail time for issuing government work product from a non-government telephone or server (you could still work from home, so long as you hooked into the dot gov server while you were doing it, and used your government issue cellphone). Without stiff penalties, no one's gonna follow the rules--especially in this regime--I'm thinking Bush is gonna hand out pardons like after dinner mints at the end of his term--maybe like Poppy did for Cap the Knife Weinberger!

You're probably better off without the cable (except for Li'l Bush--it's an hysterical cartoon, http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/lil_bush/index.jhtmltry to visit friends with Comedy Central on Wednesdays)--they usually, eventually, post the good stuff at YouTube anyway!!!

[MuseRider]

11. Thanks again.

I do miss Comedy Central but once the house is finished I will have satellite. I think since I had not watched most cable news for 2 years prior to my self imposed life in my barn office while the house goes up I was very fine but it is getting a little boring without Jon and Stephan. I have never seen Li'l Bush, I will check it out. Thanks.

I agree with everything you wrote.

[MADem]

12. Lil Bush was a scream tonight--all about sex, drugs and torture.

And global warming....!!!! L'il Al Gore made a guest appearance, as did L'il Joe Lieberman...and L'il John McCain was tortured by L'il Cheney! There was even some gratuitous cartoon nudity!!

It was one of the funniest yet. L'il Neil Bush even showed up with two Thai hookers, and one was a transsexual!

Now Jon Stewart is on--I gotta watch! Take care!

[MuseRider]

13. OMG

I must see this. I will look for it on the net.

[MADem]

14. Here--click on the pic of L'il Bush when you pull up the page

http://www.comedycentral.com/

The first episode had L'il Dick Cheney having sex with Barbara Bush (the ELDER) and ending up stuck in her uterus--they had to go to the abortion clinic to get him out. It was a real pantwetter!!!!

I'm serious--find a friend with cable, pop in on Wednesday night!!!

[MuseRider]

15. Thanks so much.

I will have my husband TIVO it for me. Poor dear, he is living in our house with all the nice things while I am out here getting the house built. Ahhhh, I really feel for him. I don't know if he knows how to set the thing but I am going home to pack some stuff this weekend so I added the note to my phone calendar to remind myself. Thank you so much.