Nixon on Fred Thompson: "dumb as hell."

[ProSense]

Fred Thompson Aided Nixon on Watergate

Jul 7, 4:38 PM (ET)

By JOAN LOWY

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fred Thompson gained an image as a tough-minded investigative counsel for the Senate Watergate committee. Yet President Nixon and his top aides viewed the fellow Republican as a willing, if not too bright, ally, according to White House tapes.

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Those tapes show Thompson played a behind-the-scenes role that was very different from his public image three decades ago. He comes across as a partisan willing to cooperate with the Nixon White House's effort to discredit the committee's star witness.

It was Thompson who tipped off the White House that the Senate committee knew about the tapes. They eventually cinched Nixon's downfall in the scandal resulting from the break-in at Democratic headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington and the subsequent White House cover-up.

Thompson, then 30, was appointed counsel by his political mentor, Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker, the top Republican on the Senate investigative committee. Thompson had been an assistant U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tenn., and had managed Baker's re-election campaign. Thompson later was a senator himself.

Nixon was disappointed with the selection of Thompson, whom he called "dumb as hell." The president did not think Thompson was skilled enough to interrogate unfriendly witnesses and would be outsmarted by the committee's Democratic counsel.

This assessment comes from audio tapes of White House conversations recently reviewed by The Associated Press at the National Archives in College Park, Md., and transcripts of those discussions that are published in "Abuse of Power: The New Watergate Tapes," by historian Stanley Kutler.

"Oh s---, that kid," Nixon said when told by his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, of Thompson's appointment on Feb. 22, 1973.

"Well, we're stuck with him," Haldeman said.

more

Thompson reacts to Libby clemency. Former senator Fred Thompson, who serves on Scooter Libby’s Legal Defense Fund, today said he is “happy” by President Bush’s decision to commute Libby’s sentence:

I am very happy for Scooter Libby. I know that this is a great relief to him, his wife and children.

While for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the president’s decision.

This will allow a good American, who has done a lot for his country, to resume his life.

Republican ethics is dragging America down.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. I guess that REALLY makes him "Reaganian..."

:rofl:

K&R - no more ninnies in the WH!

[mloutre]

2. "Republican ethics" is an oxymoron. n/t

[williesgirl]

3. k&r

[NoodleyAppendage]

4. You know it's bad when sociopaths from your own party think you're dumb.

Repukes by their very nature are clannish, but protective, so you know it has to be bad when one turns on another.

It fits that Thompson is dumb because the Xiofascists tend to like their despots stupid.

J

[glitch]

5. In other words, he's the perfect stooge for Jeb's run. First he has to replace Cheney though.

It's not just that they're idiots, it's that they can't imagine that we're not.

[Frustratedlady]

6. He sounds to me to be a perfect Republican canidate for Prez 2008

Go, Fred!

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. Nixon. Bad but not stupid.

If he said you were dumb, you were dumb.

Wonder what Dick Nixon had to say about Dick Cheney. Cheney was there to see the mistakes and missteps the Nixon WH made with regards to Watergate. Cheney has elevated the stonewall into the lead-lined titanium wall. Would Nixon be envious or appalled, I wonder. Probably some of both.

As for Thompson, this whole Watergate leak thing sinks him. If he tosses his hat in the ring he's going to end up one sorry sumbitch.

[earthboundmisfit]

12. Yep. I hope this story keeps its legs - this for Fred,

and the dog thing for Romney, and Giuliani making $ off the Trans Texas Corridor should make things dicey for all of 'em. Or hell, maybe not.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

15. also for Rudy, ditching the Iraq Study Group

The every-day-it's-something-new cycle has already swept that one off the front page, but I'm hoping it'll come back to bite him again and again.

Once more I raise the chant for 08: Newt! Newt! Newt!

[Glimmer of Hope]

8. This describes all the R candidates. I can't think of one that I would consider "smart".

Fred Thompson - all the way!!

[UrbScotty]

9. Even Richard Nixon was right once or twice during his Presidency

As for 43?

[UrbScotty]

10. Dupe - self-delete

[caligirl]

11. Need an ad campaign hopefully with Nixon saying those words.

[Catherine Vincent]

13. If he thought Thompson was dumb as hell, lord knows what he would have thought about Bush 43.

:)

[TwilightGardener]

14. Nixon left us a gift--

I can't imagine someone saying that about Hillary, or Obama, or Edwards. "Dumb as Hell"--that is priceless.

[cassiepriam]

16. That makes him perfect for the job. Americans like stupid presidents.

[deutsey]

17. "Well, we're stuck with him." The GOP campaign slogan if Thompson's the nominee n/t