Turn Off That Dripping Faucet: Presidential Scandal Scorecard

[Coffee Coyote]

Looking back on the colorful history of various administrations, it appears indeed Watergate was a freak of nature - a confluence of so many unlikely events and spoilers, that we may never see its likes again. Then again, we will never (we hope) see the likes of ol' Tricky Dicky again, either. Desperately, some of our fellow travelers cling to this Ancient Scandal Most Foul as the exemplar of what fate should await the fallen in high office.

But for what it's worth, and in GD, that isn't much, it seems the vast majority of presidents whose regimes were tainted by scandal got away with it. The reasons are as varied as the occupants, but let's look at a few, shall we? I am sticking to the MAJOR scandals here, because lots of small-time crooks passed through too, and almost every administration had one or two shameful cabinet officers, including revered Democrats like Carter and Clinton. (Note to lurking freeps: The Adventures of Clinton's Penis does not count as a scandal except in your filthy little Starr-crossed minds).

In brief:

U.S. Grant. A principled man, and tried to do good things, but so damn trusting, that he had the most corrupt cabinet in U.S. history to poison his two terms in office. EVERY one of his eight cabinet departments was investigated for all kinds of frauds, theft, and tomfoolery. Some of these guys were so filthy and venal, it would give Dick Cheney a throbber. As it was, the Democrats (who were the bad guys then anyway, so fuck 'em) still couldn't take advantage of the bruising the Republican party took, and so the next election was handed over to Republican Rutherford Hayes.

Result? Grant did two terms in full. His personal rep is intact, but his presidency remains one of the most besmirched of all time.

Warren G. Harding. A total loss in every respect. This crooked Republican was not only a dim-witted sonofabitch, but his cabinet made Grant's look like so many amateur pikers. Teapot Dome remained the presidential scandal par excellence until Watergate dethroned it a half-century later. Harding got off scot-free by dying before any legal proceedings could be started against him. Lucky bastard.

The result? Succeeded by Calvin Coolidge, who presided over a mindless decade of carefree greed and resurgent racial hostility. A new Red Scare, Sacco & Vanzetti, and getting his ass out of office just in time for Hoover to get blamed for the Great Depression. He served out Harding's term, and was elected to his own in 1924.

Richard M. Nixon. Well, hell, we all know about this one. We'll never be so lucky as to have self-destructing insiders, two dogged journalists (one of them wrote a bootlicking Pro-Bush* book last year, so how does make you feel?), an attentive media with a long attention span, no Britney Spears lost cherry stories, and Walter Cronkite EVER again. Do I have to keep beating you all over the heads with this? Plus, it not only embedded us with a deeper national cynicism, it made us scandal-weary perhaps for good. Unless it involves sex, which Republicans think is sinful because Scalia and Pat say so. Their scandals are never made-up ones about sex, which also works against us in this era of voyeuristic unreality television. But I digress...

Result: The ONLY resignation of a president in our history, due to the threat of impeachment. This would have been the first (and still ONLY) VALID time an impeachment would have occurred. The only previous try was carried out under Andrew Johnson, which every one agrees was borne out of the same bitter partisanship that created the Clinton impeachment. Nixon was also a lucky bastard to have gotten off free, with Ford's pardon to seal the deal.

Ronald Reagan. This post is long enough as it is without listing ALL of his high crimes and misdemeanors, so let's just state the big one: Iran-Contra.

Result: Hearings which made a felonious USMC Lt. Col. a media sensation (and still a scabrous wart on the media whore landscape), and Reagan served two terms fully, free to age disgracefully in diapers.


Folks, it looks like only ONE scandal had the desired result, and it was good ol' Watergate. Because Watergate is actually remembered by many DUers (including me), it makes it tantalizingly appealing to cite as an example of presidential hubris going awry and leading us all into the Promised Land with a happy result (Note: The Previous Promised Land was a bust that resulted in disco and runaway inflation, not to mention polyester leisure suits and mood rings).

Lots of Republicans. Scads of scandals. Only one - ONE - was driven from office, and even then he was pardoned.

Now then, please proceed with caution in the coming weeks as I continue to shame you toaster-posters by calling you on your silly delusions. History rolls right over your pet theories, it seems.

[opihimoimoi]

1. Its a new situation we have here, all bets are off

The Bush and Co have totally fucked up.

They arrogantly plowed into thisd war thingy with a helter skelter approach.

9/11 produces a call for revenge.

Enter the Homelands Security Act and the Hun for the Red Osama.

Nada Osama, revenge factor still in play, need another target:

Enter Saddam, everyones fave bad man.

Problem, how to shift from Afghanistan to Iraq without causing the sheep to baa baa to loudly.

Scare them with bull shit is what they came up with.

Enter Bull shit, the Niger thingy.

wins war, now in troubles because of poor planning, etc. Dead troops everywhere and much ado about too much MREs.

Now scandle of the Big Lie is open and people starting to see/smell bullshit from the Pubs. OH MY, what have we here.???

We are an Emotional Species, we like to blame:

High Unemployment,

Market 20% off the 11K Clinton left

Jobs lost during Bush: 2.5 Million

Interest rates lowest in 40 years indicating economy is stressed.

etc etc etc

Result, People will BLAME BUSH only because HE IS TO BLAME.

We need a new coach, this one is a loser, period.

[Coffee Coyote]

2. I'm just shooting down the Watergate comparisons

I haven't given up on 2004 and booting him out. But Ithink many DUers have a "smoking gun" fixation born of Watergate, and it is the wrong approach.

You summarized many of the misdeeds, and in the recent past, he would be suffering from 20% approval ratings.

But to steal from you, ALL bets are off in Nu-Fascist Post 9-11 Amerika, where it seems that Bush* could shit on a flag in Times Square and arrognatly claim it as a "patriotic act" while millions eat it up.

Sad times are these.

Do any of the Democrats offer hope? Or is this like after Grant where they rolled over and let the same tainted party maintain power.

I love you Opi, I do... you are a voice of hope and optimism and you are a brother. But I will have to respectfully part ways with you on this issue.

Thanks for reading, always!

Come, we surf for beers. :hi:

[Flubadubya]

23. Let it drip...

[Coffee Coyote]

27. waldenx was right

He told me the other day I couldn't reason with reactionaries.

All the weight of history, and yet many persist in hanging on to the mythology of "smoking guns" and "dripping faucets".

That is your right, as long as you can bear the weight of disappointment and own up to the responsibility of being misleading to yourself and others.

[Flubadubya]

31. "Reactionary?" Oh, maybe I just haven't been swallowed whole...

by abject, cancerous cynicism just yet. Not yet anyway, though I certainly do feel your pain and see your point. Not here to argue, just to proffer another view.

[athos1126]

3. Finally!

Okay, it's not just here, it's also on campus, and on other liberal sites, that people go off on Watergate. Always, I hear/read: "Bush with get caught! It'll be like watergate! He's goin dooooowwwn!!!!!!!"

No, it won't. And no, he's not.

[Terwilliger]

7. I dunno athos

it could badly for Bush in a quick hurry

People are pissed...men and women are dying and they're trying to blame people for their "unfortunate mistake"

It's like Watergate in the sense that Bush WILL have to answer for these serious charges:

KNOWINGLY REPEATING FALSE STATEMENTS IN PERFORMANCE OF THE CONSTITUTIONALLY MANDATED STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS.

KNOWINGLY COMMITTING ABOVE CRIME AND KNOWINGLY MISLEADING HIGH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS ABOUT THE VALIDITY OF SAID STATEMENTS

KNOWINGLY COMMITTING ABOVE CRIME AND FURTHER COMMITTING TREATY VIOLATIONS, ABROGATING UN MANDATES, VIOLATING WORLD AGREEMENTS

KNOWINGLY COMMITTING ABOVE CRIME KNOWING THAT AMERICAN DEATHS WILL RESULT FROM COMMISSION OF SAID CRIME


Have I gotten anywhere yet?

[Coffee Coyote]

9. Oh no! Ter!!!

The Drip Drip Pods have gotten you too! :o

;-)

I love your idealism, your spirit, and your tenacity. When you are proven wrong, I at least expect you to apologize to DU. ;-) :evilgrin:

[Terwilliger]

16. you're kidding right?

I'f I'm wrong you probably won't see me again until I can figure out how those Canuckians say eh.

[Coffee Coyote]

19. where I kid and where I am serious

Always a murky line, lol. It makes GD more entertaining for my cheap donation dollar. :evilgrin:

Hey, don't think I wouldn't want to join you, eh? :-)

[scarletwoman]

4. The only reason Nixon went down is that the "Owners" of this country

wanted him out of the way.

It remains to be seen if the "Owners" are truly jettisoning the shrub, imho...

sw

[Coffee Coyote]

6. one reason they won't...

He raises BIG money for the party, and that will allow them to overlook a garden of sins. Record-breaking money.

Nixon was always a dark, shadowy, and easy-to-hate figure. Self-destructive until the end.

Bush* seems to be too damn lucky, and it is my (our) hope it runs out. Soon. I sure as hell find him as easy to loathe as Nixon, but why middle America does not is another matter.

Really though, your reason is worth noting - it is usually the behind-the-scenes mundane things that do them in more often than not.

Thanks for the insight!

[DrBB]

5. I don't expect impeachment; I offer another example

It has long occured to me that two impeached presidents in a row might be more damage than our system could withstand.

I could stand it if Shrump weren't impeached. I'll take "severly damaged." Damage is good. Undermined credibility is good.

Rather than the parallel of Nixon, let us consider the parallel of Johnson.

Gulf of Tonkin (faked evidence for war) leading to grand neo-con style imperial adventure. Lies about costs of same in bodies and treasure. Massive disillusionment with his leadership.

We're nowhere near the same scale as Viet Nam, but then we've already DONE Viet Nam so the learning curve is shorter. Iraqnam is shaping up very nicely for the purpose, with the whole time-scale compressed about 100/1. All the same quotes, the same indigenous hatreds, the same kinds of un-reflective arrogant pricks in charge, guaranteeing that things will get worse rather than better. Keep digging that hole.

And Johnson burned to the ground and was smart enough to bow out of campaigning for a second term. Will Shrump? Probably not. He's got enough arrogance to overleap just about any humiliation. Will he be damaged enough that the GOP will WISH he had done the ol' discretion-the-better-part--of-valor thing and bowed out? That's what I'm hoping for. That, I think, is something we are entitled to hope for, even in light of history.

edit: clarification

[NewYorkerfromMass]

8. Let's hope the body count is 1/100th too

which means 550 dead should be enough. :-(

[Coffee Coyote]

11. 1 is too much

Though I may sound hopelessly cynical, I still hope against hope, and would be the FIRST to admit I am wrong if anything should come to pass contrary to my analysis.

That is why I roasted some people last night. They AREN'T willing to admit when they are wrong about their analyses and hopes. I used facts and history and all they made were assertions without evidence. I will rise or fall on my posts. Why won't others?

I see it as a matter of having the courage of my convictions. Ironic that the self-styled idealists of DU seem to lack it when the pressure is on. They just blast me with the same old tired rhetoric from their safe little corner.

NOTE: (This is NOT aimed at you, I just hit 'reply' and went into stream-of-consciousness mode) :-)

[DrBB]

17. So I cited history too. So where's your rebuttal?

Comin across a leetle strong here, Coyote. Not but what, as a sometime academic myself, I appreciate the attempt to inject some reality. But understand that DU functions as more than just an information exchange. People use it to get juiced up and exercise their emotions and (in a lot of cases) go back out into the frontlines feeling like there's some hope. Hope being, ahem, rather important.

Disillusionment--hope destroyed--is a debilitating condition, so yeah, let's keep 'em honest. But I hear a note of contempt in your posts. Where's that coming from?

[DrBB]

14. God yes. Or fewer, let's hope.

550 would be 550 too many.

I don't know if a pull-out is an option though. This isn't Viet Nam, after all. We're not taking on someone else's idiot imperial morass, we're creating one of our own. It really IS our responsibility for cleaning up this mess. I just don't think ShrumpCorp is capable of doing anything but pursuing the same logic that led them into this quagmire. For the Iraqis' sake as much as anyone's, we need to can this dimwit and his supremely-self-confident-in-their-ignorance administration.

[buddhamama]

10. he'll go down when we vote him out

which we will. he may not be impeached but he is sinking quickly.

i was kinda upset that more people didn't respond to the article i posted today about how deceived us on the economy-by withholding information and using selctive data(sound familiar).

i think it is an important issue that will resonate with the public,and speaks to Bush's lack of credibility.


the Repubs during Nixons term wanted him out.
the question is do the repubs of today want Bush out.
how much support will they give him in his campaign,and will they turn backs if situations don't cool down.

[Coffee Coyote]

13. do you have a link?

I am sorry I missed your article! I was at work all day, and have spent too much time between this, a whiny cat, and dinner since I got home, lol.

:hi: Buddhamama!

[buddhamama]

18. as a matter of fact i do

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=49626&mesg_id=49626&page=7

TahitiNut added some insight of his own

i can't comlain too much,it was viewed a bunch of times,but i was hoping for some serious discussion about it.

the war is a tricky issue for a lot of Americans,and for various reasons. But don't ya dare touch their pocketbooks and wallets.
really though,it plays into the war story because of the costs,of which our great great grandkids will still be paying off.

sounds as though you had a rough day,CC. here have some :donut: on me. :hi:

[Coffee Coyote]

21. mmm thanks!

Yeah, last day of the project tomorrow. Then I get serious with the moving. I will be scarce around here, much to the relief of my detractors, lol. :-)

I understand your frustration! I lowered myself a bit creating a quasi-flamebaiting thread title last night, because being earnest, serious, and well-meaning around here won't get any of us the discussions we deserve! So I blended a bit of the serious with the profane, just to see if the sucker floats. The results are mixed, like the method, haha...

I will read your thread, and if I have any new points to make I will add them. I do promise a CoyoteKick! :hi:

[buddhamama]

24. thanks

i read your thread this morning. it was well writteen and thought provoking as usual.and there was much that i agreed with you on.

we have a habit of rewarding the bad acts of our presidents and *cough cough* other statesman, not punishing them. sad. what will we say to the children :wow:

last day on the job and then packing up to go-Hooray!
make sure to check in when you can.

good vibes going out to you. :hi:

[BeFree]

12. Something sure smells good...

What is that?!?

It's fresh croutons!

Straight from the White House Kitchen!

They're making Bush Flavored Croutons! Mmmm...good.

These are the good old days.........




Nice try, Cafe Coyote

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[BeFree]

20. What?!?

What challenge? WTF? Should I put up my dukes? Or what?

Just because you may not like croutons?

For the first time ever on DU, I will use this...LMAO. Just for you Cafe Coyote. Just for you.

[Solomon]

25. I saw that last night too and I couldn't figure it out.

Why should someone appologize for being wrong, as you call it? I don't get it. Appologize in advance? Doesn't make sense. What's that got to do with anything? No. Hell no. I'm not appologizing to you. It will take up to five years from now to determine if we are right. Why should we talk appology now?

On the other hand, I accept your advance appology for being wrong. :)

[Coffee Coyote]

29. I was referring to a certain clique of spammers

People who waste our time and ENERGY endlessly predicting Bush's demise. "Bush is TOAST!!" Day in and day out. It's a bore, and they create a false sense of victory where it is unearned and unwarranted. They get well-meaning people's hopes up, only to set them up for letdown after letdown.

I see it like this. If you are going to post bullshit in here, at least have the good manners to apologize for wasting space, time, and our considerable finite resources to WIN this damn fight against Bush.

I just want them to apologize for being dumb sonsofbitches more than anything. Can't help it - I don't suffer fools gladly, and there are plenty in this thread already, like I expected.

Me? I don't expect I will need to apologize, but I will be big enough not to be too obnoxious when I am proven right.

It comes down to my offer showing that I can BACK UP what I say, and I have the courage of my convictions, with facts to back them up.

Can you say the same?

[BeFree]

32. I dread this....

Another fine writer showing how callous and insensitive one can be. It's a shame, such talent wasted on jacking one's self.


My mother is no bitch, so your comment "dumb sonsofbitches" , as you can see, plainly requires an apology, eh? Unless, of course, it was not directed at me?

Then you write: "I don't suffer fools gladly, and there are plenty in this thread already,". Awwwww. Having to put up with the great unwashed, are we? Like I say, what a waste of talent.

[Solomon]

22. Sorry Coffee Coyote. Watergate? I never liked that comparison

either because watergate pales in comparison to the crimes now being committed. The gross ethical conflicts of interest and everything else. Be that as it may, Bush will go down.

We have what none of the other scandals had - the internet. You, just like Bush and his cabal, have completely overlooked the factor of the internet. An instant mass communication device. For the first time. true democracy is possible. We might not have the Woodwards and Bernstein's, but we do have the internet.

The American people are more savvy than you give credit for. We know its far quicker, and easier, to just vote the asshole out of office, than impeach. The only reason to even consider impeachment, is if he wins a second term, which he won't, unless he cheats again. So when we express glee that the worm is turning, its not in terms of actually believing impeachment is the answer, but rather to put some perspective on how bad a crime he's getting away with. This damages him beyond repair in my book

So you can't rain on our parade no matter what you say. Besides, I know you feel the same way as we do and that you only provoke us so you can be reassured of what you already know. You want to be convinced of what you feel. Bush is going down. I said it when people were cheering the invasion, that all Iraq has to do to win, is not use wmds. From the moment Bush declared victory, he had already lost.

[Coffee Coyote]

28. hahahaha

Yes, the internet. Which spreads the propaganda, unfounded assertions, half-baked tinfoil theories, rumors, conjecture, and all other manners of BULLSHIT at the touch of the keyboard. You're soaking in it.

I am not here on to rain on anyone's fun. Your touchiness in that regard says more about the weaknesses in your argument than it does the strengths of my argument.

[Johnyawl]

26. A nice dose of realism, CC, however...

...you forgot to mention one important fact about Watergate: At that time the House and Senate were controlled by the Democrats. Had the Republicans controlled the legislature, as they did during the Grant & Hardy administrations, Nixon would have served out his second term, and retired. This administration is not going to be seriously investigated by this Congress. You can take that to the bank. And it follows, that if they're not investigated, nobody will be impeached, and nobody will be forced to resign.

The most we can hope for is that this scandal will develope legs, and along with a stagnate economy, sink the repugs in '04.

[Coffee Coyote]

30. John!

Ah yes. True about Congress. Plus, the recent spectre of Vietnam, and all those good things that made the early 70's, a um, colorful adventure. As I said, we may never have that confluence again. Or if we do, I want to pass on the bell-bottoms.

Nice thing about these discussions... when I omit salient facts, I can count on a fellow history junkie to fill the holes. Whew!

I will be back later with a brief DU mail on the weekend deal. :hi: