Friday, August 9, 2013

The Model For All Lying Criminal Scoundrel Presidents

King All-Lying-Scoundrels I
Regular readers know that Friday is usually Weekend Rebel Science Day.

Today we remember some political science and argue that Nixon is the model for all presidents who commit crime.

Whether those crimes be spying on Americans like Bush II and Obama, or whether they be war crimes.

Anyway, this is the Dredd Blog's political science version of The Germ Theory of Government, a theory that the toxins of power are as real as the political corruption they facilitate:
"Richard Nixon had resigned as President of the United States on August 9th, 1974.  His political demise was brought about principally by the 1972 Watergate affair: an illegal caper involving clandestine operatives.  The operatives — later linked to the White House and Nixon’s re-election committee — were caught bugging the Democratic Party’s national headquarters at the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C.  Nixon and his team maneuvered to cover up their connection to this crime in what then became additional illegal activities including obstruction of justice.  A protracted legal and political battle ensued over the next two years between Nixon’s White House and those pursuing the case, including:  the national media and the press, the U.S. Congress, two Special Prosecutors, and the U.S. Supreme Court.  All of this culminated in the July 1974 House Judiciary Committee’s vote approving two articles of impeachment.  Headed for a certain trial in the U.S. Senate, Nixon pre-empted that possibility by resigning."
(The Frost Nixon Biz, emphasis added). Happy August 9th and happy weekend.


2 comments:

  1. Hard to believe it seemed so bad at the time, yet easy to believe the behavior is common place and widely employed today. Nixon was an amateur, modern progressive political science has made him so>

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  2. Juan Cole says that on some issues "Obama’s record is worse than Nixon’s." (Link)

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