Dean is to Nixon as Clarke is to Bush

[PCIntern]

These guys wind up being brought down by their own men. It is a great lesson in history and one which the Bush WH always attempted to avoid. The instincts were to demand absolute loyalty for exactly this reason: that the only way that anyone would sit up and take notice over a docile media and dittoheads would be if someone inside spoke up. Well, they hit the Trifecta (again): Wilson, O'Neill, and Clarke.

What bothers me is the Right's need, ability, and success, to paint otherwise decent Americans, even officials within their own party, as traitors not only to the Party, to the Administration, but to the US itself. We have seen not only these three fellows, who probably have all kinds of professional and personal foibles, tarred, but real military heroes like Cleland and Kerry and McCain(!). Certainly, the Right gives a throwaway gesture to their military service but then goes on to publicly or surreptitiously denigrate them. I'll never forget one winger telling me personally that McCain was in violation of the Code of Military Conduct because he refused to leave his men and return to the US, so therefore he was a seditious, dangerous traitor in league with the NVA.

But it is just this type of short-sightedness which finally convinces decent, moral conservatives of the old stripe, who understand that there is a sea of humanity out there who may suffer indignities for their policies, that enough is enough, and for whatever reasons they personally have, will not be forever tarnished by their association with a group who will be vilified in the history books. I mean really, let's say you're an educated fellow or gal, raised in an upper-middle class home with Conservative politics at the dinner table, and you go to work with a group who for personal and political gain, slams those whom your father told you night after night were the true sacrificers on the battlefield while all the 'hippies' stayed home, smoked pot, and had casual sex (that part didn't seem SO bad). So your first job that AM is to send out a picture of Max CLeland posed next to a snapshot of Osama - that's got to bother you to an extent, 'cause you really know better than that.

Or that you really did know some who were in the Pentagon or the WTC who died, or even if you didn't that you were somehow responsible or associated with those who refused to listen to you when you expressed concerns. Something's gotta give in someone. When all is said and done, many of these people have to be able to live with themselves and their families and while we still have a vaguely functioning democracy, it seems that a few have been emboldened to finally state what the rest of us have known to be the truth since that day or shortly thereafter.

[H2O Man]

1. Clarke may be closer to

the composite character "deep throat," from the Nixon era. The primary person was a "sincere" republican, who recognized that the administration was a threat to national security. So he spoke out; I suspect we have a clear idea why he didn't allow his identity to become public.
Condi Rice will be the John Dean of the administration. This is why the administration is afraid of having her go to testify under oath. But it's gonna happen. By the middle of the summer, the administration will begin to become unhinged.

[PCIntern]

2. You know

it is not unreasonable to think that Dean and Deep Throat were 'urged' by some governmental agency (take your pick) to bring Nixon down. there's a lot of writing on that out there - even at the time. If there had been an Internet, that story would have been even bigger than it was at the time.

Don't ever forget that Nixon's poll numbers were not that much below 37% when he resigned. somehting to think about in these days of 'going the hang-out route."

[H2O Man]

3. I agree 100% with you.

In fact, I think it could be said that it is beyond reasonable to recognize that at least Deep Throat was/were an "unofficial" part of a group of intel-agencies that removed the cancer from the presidency. The only serious question, I suspect, is was the decision made by the same people who removed the last president a decade earlier, by a patriotic group who recognized the threat of the imperial presidency, or was it more under-handed forces within the administration that have become the current power elite?

[PCIntern]

4. You raise the 64000 dollar question...

The answer to many fascinating trivia questions over the years is GHW Bush.

Another answer to other questions is Arlen Specter...

Life is just very fascinating, isn't it?

gotta run at work...love to talk otherwise!

'Enjoy' the hearings today!