Woodward & Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate: Nixon was far worse than we thought

[KingOrfeo]

Woodward & Bernstein: 40 years after Watergate: Nixon was far worse than we thought

WaPo editorial:

By Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, Published: June 8

As Sen. Sam Ervin completed his 20-year Senate career in 1974 and issued his final report as chairman of the Senate Watergate committee, he posed the question: “What was Watergate?”

Countless answers have been offered in the 40 years since June 17, 1972, when a team of burglars wearing business suits and rubber gloves was arrested at 2:30 a.m. at the headquarters of the Democratic Party in the Watergate office building in Washington. Four days afterward, the Nixon White House offered its answer: “Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it was,” press secretary Ronald Ziegler scoffed, dismissing the incident as a “third-rate burglary.”

History proved that it was anything but. Two years later, Richard Nixon would become the first and only U.S. president to resign, his role in the criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice — the Watergate coverup — definitively established.

Another answer has since persisted, often unchallenged: the notion that the coverup was worse than the crime. This idea minimizes the scale and reach of Nixon’s criminal actions.

Ervin’s answer to his own question hints at the magnitude of Watergate: “To destroy, insofar as the presidential election of 1972 was concerned, the integrity of the process by which the President of the United States is nominated and elected.” Yet Watergate was far more than that. At its most virulent, Watergate was a brazen and daring assault, led by Nixon himself, against the heart of American democracy: the Constitution, our system of free elections, the rule of law.

Today, much more than when we first covered this story as young Washington Post reporters, an abundant record provides unambiguous answers and evidence about Watergate and its meaning. This record has expanded continuously over the decades with the transcription of hundreds of hours of Nixon’s secret tapes, adding detail and context to the hearings in the Senate and House of Representatives; the trials and guilty pleas of some 40 Nixon aides and associates who went to jail; and the memoirs of Nixon and his deputies. Such documentation makes it possible to trace the president’s personal dominance over a massive campaign of political espionage, sabotage and other illegal activities against his real or perceived opponents.

In the course of his five-and-a-half-year presidency, beginning in 1969, Nixon launched and managed five successive and overlapping wars — against the anti-Vietnam War movement, the news media, the Democrats, the justice system and, finally, against history itself. All reflected a mind-set and a pattern of behavior that were uniquely and pervasively Nixon’s: a willingness to disregard the law for political advantage, and a quest for dirt and secrets about his opponents as an organizing principle of his presidency.

Long before the Watergate break-in, gumshoeing, burglary, wiretapping and political sabotage had become a way of life in the Nixon White House.

What was Watergate? It was Nixon’s five wars.

 

[Frizzle_Fry]

Nixon was a scum bag....???
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/210/119/+_2acc5a8841f8752904d37f90a8014829.png?1322693145

 

[unregistered]

 

[KRCummings]

Nixon is dead and every political scandal is named whatever-gate. Time to let it go.

 

[JohnnySavage]

Nixon is dead and every political scandal is named whatever-gate. Time to let it go.

I'm just shocked to see a C&P post from Oreo. I mean, usually he's very insightful and always posts his own thoughts.

Time for some parroty threads!

 

[Phelia]

Obama makes Nixon look like a piker. Nobody died in Watergate.

Honestly: What?

Nixon is dead and every political scandal is named whatever-gate. Time to let it go.

See, I'm torn. On the one hand, I agree. This is a non-story, and mostly just seems like a wanky attempt the disprove the non-relevance of either WaPo, the writer him/herself or traditional journalism at large.

On the other hand, maybe reflective journalism is good, if the message is that if you (read: a politician) do something slimy, you'll be dissected and shamed for years to come.

I suppose in a world where reputation is currency, that might mean something, but it's obvious that in our world, currency is currency, so I'm leaning towards the "PAY ATTENTION TO ME! I SMART!" non-story.

 

[KRCummings]

I'm just shocked to see a C&P post from Oreo. I mean, usually he's very insightful and always posts his own thoughts.

Time for some parroty threads!

He's the Meemie of the left.

 

[koalabear]

Honestly: What?

Fast & Furious.

 

[The_Trouvere]

Obama makes Nixon look like a piker. Nobody died in Watergate.

People died in Vietnam and for no good reason. Nixon liked to talk about "Peace with honor." The honorable course of action would have been to negotiate a conditional surrender to North Vietnam that would have enabled the United States to evacuate those Vietnamese who later became boat people.

When the boat people fled South Vietnam they were preyed on by Thai pirates who robbed them and raped the women. The United States did nothing to protect those boat people.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

Honestly: What?

He just wanted to make his Official Obama False Equivalency Post® of the day before his buddies beat him to the punch. Doesn't mean more than a peanut's weight, really.

He's the Meemie of the left.

But unlike Meemie, Orfeo doesn't sound different or less capable of posting original thought when he's not C&Ping.

Reading Meemie without his C&Ps is like going to a Japanese restaurant and seeing Stevie Wonder behind the sushi counter as head chef.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

Nixon and healthcare

In hindsight, this was the worst thing this asshole did: He fucked healthcare. So stick your Obama comparison where the sun don't shine. We are cleaning up the mess Nixon, Ehrlichman and Kaiser and the HMO Act made right now with the Affordable Care Act.



This is a transcript of the 1971 conversation between President Richard Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman that led to the HMO act of 1973:

John D. Ehrlichman: “On the … on the health business …”

President Nixon: “Yeah.”

Ehrlichman: “… we have now narrowed down the vice president’s problems on this thing to one issue and that is whether we should include these health maintenance organizations like Edgar Kaiser’s Permanente thing. The vice president just cannot see it. We tried 15 ways from Friday to explain it to him and then help him to understand it. He finally says, ‘Well, I don’t think they’ll work, but if the President thinks it’s a good idea, I’ll support him a hundred percent.’”

President Nixon: “Well, what’s … what’s the judgment?”

Ehrlichman: “Well, everybody else’s judgment very strongly is that we go with it.”

President Nixon: “All right.”

Ehrlichman: “And, uh, uh, he’s the one holdout that we have in the whole office.”

President Nixon: “Say that I … I … I’d tell him I have doubts about it, but I think that it’s, uh, now let me ask you, now you give me your judgment. You know I’m not too keen on any of these damn medical programs.”

Ehrlichman: “This, uh, let me, let me tell you how I am …”

President Nixon: [Unclear.]

Ehrlichman: “This … this is a …”

President Nixon: “I don’t [unclear] …”

Ehrlichman: “… private enterprise one.”

President Nixon: “Well, that appeals to me.”

Ehrlichman: “Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason that he can … the reason he can do it … I had Edgar Kaiser come in … talk to me about this and I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because …”

President Nixon: [Unclear.]

Ehrlichman: “… the less care they give them, the more money they make.”

President Nixon: “Fine.” [Unclear.]

Ehrlichman: [Unclear] “… and the incentives run the right way.”

President Nixon: “Not bad.”

 

[The_Trouvere]

I'm just shocked to see a C&P post from Oreo. I mean, usually he's very insightful and always posts his own thoughts.

I'm a bit disappointed myself. He should have excerpted this, and linked to the rest:

"In the course of his five-and-a-half-year presidency, beginning in 1969, Nixon launched and managed five successive and overlapping wars — against the anti-Vietnam War movement, the news media, the Democrats, the justice system and, finally, against history itself. All reflected a mind-set and a pattern of behavior that were uniquely and pervasively Nixon’s: a willingness to disregard the law for political advantage, and a quest for dirt and secrets about his opponents as an organizing principle of his presidency.

"Long before the Watergate break-in, gumshoeing, burglary, wiretapping and political sabotage had become a way of life in the Nixon White House."

 

[KRCummings]

I'm a bit disappointed myself. He should have excerpted this, and linked to the rest:

"In the course of his five-and-a-half-year presidency, beginning in 1969, Nixon launched and managed five successive and overlapping wars — against the anti-Vietnam War movement, the news media, the Democrats, the justice system and, finally, against history itself. All reflected a mind-set and a pattern of behavior that were uniquely and pervasively Nixon’s: a willingness to disregard the law for political advantage, and a quest for dirt and secrets about his opponents as an organizing principle of his presidency.

"Long before the Watergate break-in, gumshoeing, burglary, wiretapping and political sabotage had become a way of life in the Nixon White House."

Flew right the fuck over your head, didn't it?

 

[Bert Notorius]

Just think if Nixon had the internets.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Obama makes Nixon look like a piker. Nobody died in Watergate.

Many died in Vietnam. WFT are you talking about anyway?

 

[KingOrfeo]

He's the Meemie of the left.

But I do it better.

 

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

I do not suppose this thread is a good one to mention only Nixon could go to China?

 

[KingOrfeo]

I do not suppose this thread is a good one to mention only Nixon could go to China?

No, that's a good point. Never said he was all bad. Nixon got us the EPA, for instance. He was a really smart guy, dedicated public servant, with a certain integrity as he understood it -- but his integrity never in his life included honesty. He seems never to have accepted even in principle that a politician is obliged to tell the people the truth -- his attitude was always that the in-the-know officials will decide what's best, and "the public will be told what the public needs to be told."

A really good source here is Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, by Rick Perlstein.

 

[IndieSnob]

People died in Vietnam and for no good reason. Nixon liked to talk about "Peace with honor." The honorable course of action would have been to negotiate a conditional surrender to North Vietnam that would have enabled the United States to evacuate those Vietnamese who later became boat people.

When the boat people fled South Vietnam they were preyed on by Thai pirates who robbed them and raped the women. The United States did nothing to protect those boat people.

He's OK with that though.

After all, if the women were only worth a can of corn, I'm sure the children weren't worth a cent.

 

[Sean Renaud]

No, that's a good point. Never said he was all bad. Nixon got us the EPA, for instance.

Which is strangling American businesses in the crib! It's been nothing but down hill since that organization destroyed the US economy.

 

[coachdb18]

The Nixon legacy is that he resorted to criminal activity because he believed what he was doing was good for America, and had an ego big enough to believe he was the only one able to do it.

Obama's legacy will be that he does what he does because he does NOT believe in America (having listened at the knee of Rev Wright screaming 'God DAMN America'), befriending terrorists and Marxists who fight to bring down America.

Of all the Presidents we have had, Obama will be unique for having committed purposeful treason.

 

[BoyNextDoor]

The Nixon legacy is that he resorted to criminal activity because he believed what he was doing was good for America, and had an ego big enough to believe he was the only one able to do it.

Obama's legacy will be that he does what he does because he does NOT believe in America (having listened at the knee of Rev Wright screaming 'God DAMN America'), befriending terrorists and Marxists who fight to bring down America.

Of all the Presidents we have had, Obama will be unique for having committed purposeful treason.

"You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours."

Since I believe in that statement I guess you have the right to say things like that no matter how many people may be listening. But seriously - comparing Obama to Nixon? WTF? I think it is unconscionable.

 

[Sean Renaud]

"You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours."

Since I believe in that statement I guess you have the right to say things like that no matter how many people may be listening. But seriously - comparing Obama to Nixon? WTF? I think it is unconscionable.

Obama is way worse than Nixon. Hell if you'd paid any attention at all to his efforts to actively destroy this nation you'd realize that because of his skin color we can't even have a proper dialogue about the many things he's done to unmake America.

 

[coachdb18]

"You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours."

Since I believe in that statement I guess you have the right to say things like that no matter how many people may be listening. But seriously - comparing Obama to Nixon? WTF? I think it is unconscionable.

An even better comparison is Obama to Hitler...consider:

1) The soaring rhetoric, and huge crowd draw of each, as people listen and totally become enraptured in their speeches, both considered for their high flying oratory! In each case, their followers have tried to deify them in the public mind, to stage huge rallies, and to villify anyone not 'on board'.

2) Each took on the Automotive industry as a bailout of a nationalized industry (Obama with GM/Chrysler, Hitler created the Volkwagen)

3) Each nationalized their countries healthcare system, promising 'free' healthcare

4) Each was highly skilled at villanizing and finding blame for the problems, and offered solutions that absolutley 'must' be fixed

5) Hitler shut down the Reichstag, decalring it ineffective. Obama has declared congress ineffective too, and has worked tirelessly to 'work around' it, each after working up their supporters in speeches with much fanfare and pushed by central staffers.

6) The pushing of a 'Justice Department' that was criminal in its activity, Hitler having Judge Roland Friesler to hold mock trials, while Holder mocks congress and defies subpoenas for documents, while defying the rule of law (Black Panthers with nightsticks at polling places, the murder of Border Agent Brian Terry with ATF secured rifles, etc)

The comparisons are everywhere....

http://mediamatters.org/research/200802130016

 

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

No, that's a good point. Never said he was all bad. Nixon got us the EPA, for instance. He was a really smart guy, dedicated public servant, with a certain integrity as he understood it -- but his integrity never in his life included honesty. He seems never to have accepted even in principle that a politician is obliged to tell the people the truth -- his attitude was always that the in-the-know officials will decide what's best, and "the public will be told what the public needs to be told."

A really good source here is Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, by Rick Perlstein.

I agree with you. It is just that Nixon seem like such a deep, dark leader suspicious of everyone. I sometimes think Nixon believed it was best for the the USA's interests not to tell the truth to the public. He believed everyone always thought the worst of him. Unfortunately, he proved them right in many situations.

I read a lot on Nixon when I was in HS. Many people forget Nixon continued serve the US as an elder statesman after he resigned from office. Thanks for the link.