how did they bring down nixon?

[colonel odis]

can't something be used from that playbook?

granted, we didn't have a corporate-owned media then. but nixon actually had something more resembling a mandate. and, of course, they didn't have internets back then.

but -- maybe some of those paths are worth pursuing.

[edbermac]

1. They didn't...he brought himself down...

[Ice4Clark]

2. They had "real" journalists back then. They dug deep!

and of course, the tapes helped.

[Bullshot]

14. That's the big difference between the press of the 70s and today.

The media had real investigative reporters, not the pretty boy PR lapdogs the media try to pass off as reporters. Woodward and Bernstein got the ball rolling and Nixon was eventually engulfed in his own corruption and had to resign.

I'm afraid you'll never see that kind of reporting today. Too much corporate control in the media and the corporate folks love their Republicans.

[99Pancakes]

18. Yup!

We now have dumbed down robots writing stuff to brainwash us.

[Copperred]

3. PROOF

PROOF

PEOPLE IN ON IT>...

ETC ETC

PROOF

[John Q. Citizen]

25. US Supreme Court ordered release of the tapes

Demos held Congress and the Senate.

He resigned to avoid facing certain impeachment.

[anamandujano]

4. It was from within his own party

or so I've read. Some kind of power struggle. I probably read it from a link or two from a google search.

[nmoliver]

5. Nixon - not the same thing

Under Nixon, there was a congress that had a certain independence of mind. Impeachment was possible, and his own Republicans were turning against him. They were not organized into the rigid, loyalty-based hierarchy that they are now. Nixon was willing to step down to escape disgrace.

Today, of course, there is the media factor which we all know. Republicans who do not show loyalty are purged. Democrats who threaten his regime are putting their lives in danger, as was shown with the anthrax against Daschle et al., and Wellstone's plane crash.

This regime operates at a different level. It has escaped the normal rules of social and political discourse, like a cancer that has escaped the orderly functioning of the human body and just acts on its own. George Bush knows no disgrace.

As Harvey Wasserman says, George Bush is a curse. He is a curse of a unique kind. Perhaps we Americans have earned it, through our longstanding treatment of Indians, Blacks, and the environment.

- Nina

[colonel odis]

8. i agree with a lot of what you're saying. i wonder, though,

if all the purges of moderate republicans won't result in some people pissed off enough to turn on bush.

things are very, very different now than they were then. and in the political arena, they're not better. i just can't help but wonder if there might not be some similarities an enterprising journalist (now there's an oxymoron) would behoove him or herself to look into.

nixon didn't have the hubris bush has. he was more suspicious of those around him. not to mention, he was a lot smarter than president yayhoo and his posse of texas's finest.

[AndyTiedye]

13. Even if ALL The Moderate Repubs Turned On Him, It's Not Enough

The Dominionists have enough seats to protect Booosh from
any reprecussions for his actions, no matter what.

[99Pancakes]

19. spooky, ain't it?

nt

[flyingfysh]

6. it was a highly-placed insider informant

Who guided Woodward and Bernstein to where to look.

The identity of "Deep Throat" is still unknown, his identity will not be revealed until after he dies.

Several people have been suggested; I would guess Pat Buchanan.

Now: how do we get a simlarly-placed informant now?

[shesemsmom]

7. Nixon screwed up and had it on audio tape

and the rest is history

[nashville_brook]

9. i think you're on the right track

the only way to address is to KICK IT -- to keep it up in the air -- to keep the story alive.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x63777

[McCamy Taylor]

11. W. is too dumb to bring down...

...if he is sworn in, he has plausible deniability and even if his entire cabinet is sent to jail they will just pick him new right wing handlers. That the the benefit for the GOP of having a chimp for President.

[shraby]

12. If a story is kept alive it increases the chances

for another informant like Deep Throat to appear to interested parties. They need someone to talk to who won't turn them in.

[nashville_brook]

33. funny -- my friend's son who it 12 years old

said the same thing to me when i picked him up from school the other day. he siad, with all the cabinet people stepping down and all the vote mess going on, it's about time people in the know started talking.

i love this b/c it's way more sophisticated political thought that his parents engage in. i told him i would adopt him if ever he needed another parent! :)

[Socialist Dem]

10. Nixon kacked himself.

He turned something that was very minor and didn't even have any effect on the election into a monster that ended up costing him the presidency.

[Jawja]

15. I think Democrats

had control of the House and Senate as well. That brought about hearings in the House Judiciary.

[Roger_Otip]

16. woodward & bernstein kept at it

when no one was taking any notice of them, or when they were taking notice it was to ridicule them, they didn't give up. it took them two years though.

[charlyvi]

17. There used to be Republicans with integrity....

They brought Nixon down more than anything. Even Goldwater advised him to resign. Now, the word republican is synonymous with right wing/norquist social darwinist ideology. Their own party is too ideological to recognize incompetence; they value ideological purity above integrity and public service. I think the proper term is fascism. God help us.

[99Pancakes]

20. Arrogance should bring Dumb-Dumb down.

I just can't see a Prez. that narrow-minded not F--- up somehow.

[charlyvi]

22. He's been fucking up for four years....

And he thinks he won a mandate because of it. I think his arrogance this time, though, will bring him down because the consequences will be so awful. When religion is shoved down everyone's throat, the moderates who laughed when we told them what was coming will perk their ears--I hope. My only question is, how bad will it get before it gets better? Again, God help us.

[99Pancakes]

26. Mark Morford

wrote a column a couple months before the election in a seeming sudden seizure of paranoia that we'd lose (we the Dems). He went on and on about how maybe it just wasn't bad enough for most people....maybe we needed to smell the breath of the Devil and watch the onslaught of hypocrisy and witness our rights being stolen before the Republican't party and deluded Jesusland "get it". (I'm summing his thoughts and feelings). It's sad, but maybe true.

AND, I DO believe that with His Royal Highness, King Dumb-Dumb, it is entirely possible landslides of horror will happen. A no brainer.

[YellowDoginthehouse]

21. Deep Throat and REAL journalists n/t

n/t

[slackmaster]

23. Nixon let the power go to his head

And surrounded himself with "Yes" men.

[citizen snips]

24. Nixon brought himself down.

All of his crooked lies finally caught up with him and hopefully the same thing will happen to Bush.

[cyn2]

27. I think we're doing it

Nixon was brought down through persistence and checking sources.....that's what we're doing.

Keep up the good work.

[NY lib NY]

28. Deepthroat

[dewaldd]

29. Hey if Bush knew that Florida was fixed--get him on that, even if he won

It would be so much like Watergate then!

[wlubin]

30. Somehow an impeachment was a real possibility with Nixon.

Hell, with the congress we have now, dumbya can get caught torturing babies for sexual amusement in a secret white house dungeon, and this freakin congress still would not impeach him.

[jsascj]

31. Where is Forrest Gump when you need him?

Oh yea...he's in the WH

[caligirl]

32. Read Gergens NYTimes editorial. Gergen has it pegged.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/19/opinion/19gergen_.html?oref=login


Bush will do himself in.

Sure would like to help him along though.:smoke:

[PaulaGem]

34. If Shrub is "Texas sized"

it's because he's one of those big blow up air dolls...

[caligirl]

36. Big watch little dick theory! n/t

Similar to all hat and no cattle idea.

[caligirl]

35. last two paragraphs say it well. Bush will screw himself over!

"The more immediate danger is that Mr. Bush and his troika are falling into a trap facing other re-elected presidents: hubris. When presidents win their first elections, they and their teams think they are king of the hill; when they win re-election, they too often think they are masters of the universe. As Richard Neustadt pointed out, even the best of modern presidents, Franklin Roosevelt, fell into the trap when he was first re-elected in 1936. He immediately started overreaching, as he tried to pack the Supreme Court in 1937 and tried to purge Southern Democrats in 1938. F.D.R. nearly did himself in during his second term.

In Mr. Bush's case, his administration has already shown ominous signs of "group-think'' in its handling of Iraq and the nation's finances. By closing down dissent and centralizing power in a few hands, he is acting as if he truly believes that he and his team have a perfect track record, that they know best, and that they don't need any infusion of new heavyweights. He has every right to take this course, but as he knows from his Bible, pride goeth before. ..."

"David Gergen is professor of public service at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and editor at large of U.S. News & World Report. He served as a White House adviser to four presidents."
NYTimes today