Appreciating Richard Nixon...

[MrScorpio]

Is like appreciating the broken leg you had last month instead of being depressed over your broken spine today.

Never was a fan of the guy.

[Joe Fields]

1. Well, I used to spit fire, when I talked of that man.

But now, he seems kind of tame, compared to the scorched earth administration we have now.

[Robeson]

2. Nope, no thanks. There's nothing about him I appreciate...

...CREEP is the only thing that comes to mind....

[Joe Fields]

3. What bothers me as much or more, is that he could've ended the war

in his first term, and instead used it to get re-elected. How many soldiers died for his politics?

[Aristus]

4. I sometimes think of that sweaty, awkward schlump and go "Eeew!"

But sometimes, too, I feel sorry for him.

As an amateur historian, I often described Nixon and LBJ as two sides of the same coin. Two immensely gifted men who were brought down by their own larger-than-life fallibilities. It's interesting that both of them went up against Kennedy's wit, polish and good looks, and ended up looking even more gauche and bumbling by comparison. Both tried hard to do good things for America, and both failed miserably because of their stony refusal to end an already-lost war. What makes Baby Bush so much worse is that he has done nothing to better America; he started an un-winnable war, has refused to end it, and had none of LBJ and Nixon's successes; LBJ's civil rights legislation and Nixon's environmental advances.

It's not that Bush makes Nixon look good; it's that Nixon makes Bush look so much worse.

[Nevernose]

5. Nixon: the last liberal president

It was during his administration that we got the EPA, the Dept. of Education, and the Dept. of Energy.

How fucking sad is it that RICHARD M. NIXON was the last liberal president? My father -- socialist, drafted-into-Vietnam, Nixon-hating extremist -- sometimes takes another drink, looks into my eyes, and says, "God forgive me, but some days I wish Nixon were still president. I was so young and so stupid back then, to think things couldn't get any worse. I feel so sorry for your kid, the kind of world she'll have to grow up in. We tried."

(Of course, this is recounting a CHEERFUL night at Nevernose's luxurious parental estate :evilgrin:)

Reminds me of the Chris Rock routine where he's talking about crackhead Marian Barry, and essentially poses the question: What kind of asshole do you have to be to make a crackhead look good?