does anyone think that nixon, of all people, sincerely believed in law and order?
"the rule of law" ≠ "law and order," which symbolized the suppression of the black power, free speech and student movements (ie of blacks, non-'straights', jews and intellectuals) that were announcing to the world how much nixon was fucking up in vietnam. it's not that he didn't care about domestic policy, it's that he responded to the claims of new interest groups on the government with a policy of benign neglect, cheering when hardhats fought back against protesters. while he had much more of a free hand when it came to war powers, he couldn't much stand in the way of liberal initiatives of a strongly Democratic Congress pressured by such groups, but he created agencies in part to neutralize/contain those efforts, and proposed some liberal measures of his own as poison pills to tank liberal legislative initiatives. he also sought to undermine liberal efforts through the bully pulpit ("law and order") and covert operations. that he did not do more and was not explicitly racist in public was merely reflective of his jekyll-side attempt to be as buttoned-up and removed from the mess as the elites he resented and the internality of his resentments. 'silent majority' indeed.
his entire strategy at home seems to have been one big concerted effort to get the voters to shut up and leave him alone so he could get on with escalating the war
actually, he thought antiwar protesters were encouraging the north vietnamese. and while he prolonged the war in part due to uncertainty as to how a resolution would play politically, he ultimately wanted to end it and get on with larger foreign-policy initiatives that could in fact be described as deescalation.
― gabbneb, Saturday, 13 September 2008 22:51 (fifteen years ago) link
My only hope for McCain if he's elected is that he'll pursue a Nixonian indifference to domestic policy.
smoke yr planet while you got it
― gabbneb, Saturday, 13 September 2008 22:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Ok, admittedly I wasn't even alive during the Nixon administration (or half the Reagan administration for that matter). Calling him an "honest liar" was my own awkward way of saying that he was less dangerous simply because he was more obviously creepy -- whereas Reagan was like a cuddly, harmless-looking teddy bear filled with pure hate. Nixon was merely a Jeffrey Dahmer of a president; Reagan was like Chucky or something.
...God, did I just write that? I need to get some sleep.
― i fuck mathematics, Saturday, 13 September 2008 23:15 (fifteen years ago) link
because he was more obviously creepy
I think it's hard for people of our generation (I'm 26) to get a solid bead on this - all the footage I've ever seen of Nixon is colored through knowing about all the shit he did, whereas for most of his presidency that stuff was well under wraps. So - obviously awkward and uncomfortable, and if you didn't like him he definitely would read as creepy...but to the vast majority that re-elected him in '72, he had to seem like a solid American statesman, ascending from humble roots to accomplish great things in a no-nonsense fashion...or something like that? Help me out here, ILX oldsters.
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 13 September 2008 23:50 (fifteen years ago) link
I guess this is the way Nixon was selling himself, anyway. Wow. Delightful teens in love frolicing down the street - you have Nixon to thank for your youth and energy!
― Doctor Casino, Saturday, 13 September 2008 23:58 (fifteen years ago) link
nixon wins this because GWB has committed worse crimes, in my opinion. So did Reagan, probably. It seems like Nixon's biggest crime might have been making the US public jaded enough to not care.
― akm, Sunday, 14 September 2008 00:15 (fifteen years ago) link
uh, no
― The 69, 666, 420th Beatle (latebloomer), Sunday, 14 September 2008 00:53 (fifteen years ago) link
nixon did tons of evil, heinous shit
― The 69, 666, 420th Beatle (latebloomer), Sunday, 14 September 2008 00:54 (fifteen years ago) link
there is a swedish indie group called nixon which i am sure a lot of you appreciate. i would vote for nixon because he is history and w bush is the brute hard reality one will face tomorrow :((
― sonderangerbot, Sunday, 14 September 2008 01:00 (fifteen years ago) link
"he is history" == safely dead and buried... true that.
The problem is that, as Marc Antony says in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, the evil that men do lives after them. Nixon has a lot to answer for in his conduct of the war in SE Asia, where he killed a million Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians, and for his crimes at home, where he subverted the rule of law on a daily basis.
― Aimless, Sunday, 14 September 2008 01:16 (fifteen years ago) link
All it took was G W Bush for Nixon's legacy to be reconsidered.
― the return of (burt_stanton), Sunday, 14 September 2008 01:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Ann Beattie attempts, well, something about Pat Nixon.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 19 November 2011 18:17 (twelve years ago) link
Nixon was more vile than Dubya as a person and as a politician, but Dubya left our political system more thoroughly damaged at the end of his administration, because his criminality was embedded in a context that condoned it. In many ways, Dubya was the fullfillment of Nixon's vision and a product of the malign trends that Nixon inaugurated.
So, Nixon still wins this FITE, in terms of villany.
― Aimless, Saturday, 19 November 2011 18:37 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/24/politics/bush-interview-king/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
"History will ultimately judge the decisions that were made for Iraq and I'm just not going to be around to see the final verdict," the two-term president told CNN in a wide-ranging interview."In other words, I'll be dead."(...)"You know, I'm really not that concerned about why people did what during my presidency." Bush said.
"In other words, I'll be dead."
(...)
"You know, I'm really not that concerned about why people did what during my presidency." Bush said.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 25 April 2013 04:06 (eleven years ago) link
I want you Obama voters to listen to who praised Dubya's "incredible strength and resolve" at the liberry today, and think 'bout whatcha did.
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 April 2013 21:14 (eleven years ago) link
oh come on presidents always praise each other at these things, even mortal enemies that hate each other
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 April 2013 21:17 (eleven years ago) link
A president paid lip-service to a former president at a fancy ceremony. My hands are so bloody.
― pplains, Thursday, 25 April 2013 21:18 (eleven years ago) link
These guys aren't enemies. They're all in the same club. They'll just as cheerfully praise one another as beat each other over the head with a rock, but that's the sort of club it is.
― Aimless, Thursday, 25 April 2013 21:23 (eleven years ago) link
praising your mentor and role model IS entirely polite and proper
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 April 2013 21:30 (eleven years ago) link
o did eisenhower come up?
― balls, Thursday, 25 April 2013 21:31 (eleven years ago) link
Did he ever!
http://pulpfactor.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Zombie-President-Eisenhower.jpg
― pplains, Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:12 (eleven years ago) link
I've lived enough years with "center-right" administrations on both sides to wish for an executive curbed by Congress (Clinton doesn't count).
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, September 13, 2008 2:43 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark
well that's been pretty super.
― Clay, Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:17 (eleven years ago) link
I'm a prophet!
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:33 (eleven years ago) link
lol, Ike was Noam Chomsky compared to Bam
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:34 (eleven years ago) link
lol @ you preferring a fucking military general who probably directly killed more people than Bam ever will
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:45 (eleven years ago) link
it was a Good War, you know
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:46 (eleven years ago) link
what's a little firebombing/nuking between war criminals eh they're all the same amirite
yr sense of scale is so weird
― four Marxes plus four Obamas plus four Bin Ladens (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:47 (eleven years ago) link
I find your actual scales offputting, wanna test you for mercury.
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 25 April 2013 22:49 (eleven years ago) link
This is a W. vs. Obama fight? Can't we work Nixon into this somehow?
― clemenza, Thursday, 25 April 2013 23:23 (eleven years ago) link
We don't have him to kick around anymore, correct?
― Sheela-Tubb-Mann, You Real Know-It-All (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 25 April 2013 23:41 (eleven years ago) link
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A2pnGgHVVhs/TxvFmbhULrI/AAAAAAAAB-c/XINp5bIY8zE/s1600/nixonbeach1.jpg
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 25 April 2013 23:43 (eleven years ago) link
has obama used the CIA to overthrow any left-wing governments? i think ike's still got him beat in that department.
god, gabbneb was annoying as shit on this thread.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 25 April 2013 23:48 (eleven years ago) link
I was annoying as shit too.
actually, the best case would be if the Democrats lost Congress and Obama became prez; but this scenario seems unlikely.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, September 13, 2008
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 25 April 2013 23:50 (eleven years ago) link
btw this book is superficial but the reporting is pretty good. What's hilarious is how the four living presidents have their own reasons to at best distance themselves and at worst loathe Jimmy Carter.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 25 April 2013 23:52 (eleven years ago) link
"I understand now, fellow club members"
http://www.salon.com/2013/04/25/obama_embraces_the_worlds_most_exclusive_club/
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 April 2013 00:12 (eleven years ago) link
http://admin.fridayfunfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/nixon-beach.jpg
― pplains, Friday, 26 April 2013 00:19 (eleven years ago) link
He must have been in a particularly jaunty mood that day--he usually wore a tie on the beach.
― clemenza, Friday, 26 April 2013 01:10 (eleven years ago) link
whom did eisenhower nuke
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 April 2013 01:14 (eleven years ago) link
Anthony Eden as prime minister.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 April 2013 01:22 (eleven years ago) link
the fissile relationship
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 April 2013 01:26 (eleven years ago) link
that coulda gone better
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130425135314-obama-barbara-bush-story-top.jpg
― buzza, Friday, 26 April 2013 01:53 (eleven years ago) link
^^^ the white queen and her caustic judgments
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 26 April 2013 02:08 (eleven years ago) link
pictured w the little prince of inane false binary hype
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 April 2013 02:25 (eleven years ago) link
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/04/26/us/OBAMA-3/OBAMA-3-popup.jpg
You're still a scary dude, DC. Congrats on that.
― pplains, Friday, 26 April 2013 03:18 (eleven years ago) link
Hugh Hefner made an appearance as well.
http://timenewsfeed.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/texans-bush-cheerlead.jpg?w=753
― pplains, Friday, 26 April 2013 03:19 (eleven years ago) link
^^ pic is very very texas
― Aimless, Friday, 26 April 2013 04:21 (eleven years ago) link
btw Shakey, not only are you an ass for your ingratitude to Ike keeping us from speaking kraut, but....
"In 1945 ... , Secretary of War Stimson visited my headquarters in Germany, [and] informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act.... During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and second because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face.' The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude, almost angrily refuting the reasons I gave for my quick conclusions."
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/history/pre-cold-war/hiroshima-nagasaki/opinion-eisenhower-bomb.htm
― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Friday, 26 April 2013 13:25 (eleven years ago) link
feel like one of eisenhower's bigger positives as president was specifically not nuking anybody, maybe even more than jfk altho he's more famous for it. famous for it after eight years of firm precedent of executive resistance to military+political+popular belligerence.
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 April 2013 13:31 (eleven years ago) link
but then i guess it is one of every president's bigger positives! thanks RN
― the white queen and her caustic judgments (difficult listening hour), Friday, 26 April 2013 13:33 (eleven years ago) link
but that's what the thread's for – the reposting of wisdom
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 27 July 2016 13:55 (seven years ago) link
Richard M. Nixon @dick_nixonThese DNC wikileaks. This is why you employ plumbers.
Richard M. Nixon @dick_nixonBeyonce might sing about lemonade, but Arnold Palmer was the man with the real drink.
See? Anyone can do it!
― pplains, Wednesday, 27 July 2016 14:14 (seven years ago) link
I get the uneasy feeling that @dick_nixon might be a friend of ours, but I just hate to see anyone trying to sully up the good Nixon name.
― pplains, Wednesday, 27 July 2016 14:21 (seven years ago) link
― the return of (burt_stanton), Saturday, September 13, 2008
I bet we all know how to update this, as fucked as it is.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 4 March 2017 14:23 (seven years ago) link
https://twitter.com/DennisThePerrin/status/837659000581808128
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 4 March 2017 14:26 (seven years ago) link
I can't wait to see Trump's finger painting.
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 4 March 2017 14:26 (seven years ago) link
http://www.avclub.com/article/george-w-bush-takes-credit-snls-strategery-not-war-251447
― Wes Brodicus, Saturday, 4 March 2017 17:57 (seven years ago) link
@adamjohnsonNYC39 of the 39 people indicted by the ICC for war crimes are African meanwhile Blair is writing NYT op-eds & Bush is taking selfies w/ Ellen.
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Monday, 6 March 2017 16:05 (seven years ago) link
Sometimes it's hard to believe Dubya was President. Is there a German word for knowing and remembering something but it not feeling real?
― louise ck (milo z), Saturday, 9 December 2017 07:00 (six years ago) link
buschtraum
― omar little, Saturday, 9 December 2017 07:25 (six years ago) link