Tricky Dick Nixon. Liberal, Conservative or Moderate?

[Pryderi]

Nixon also distinguished himself by these lefty actions:

* Saved America’s environment by creating the Environmental Protection Agency and Clean Air Act while approving the most sweeping environmental legislation in history.
* Simultaneously reformed welfare and brought in serious new civil-rights laws and agencies for minorities, women, the handicapped and children.
* Proclaimed the first official U.S. Earth Day/Earth Week in 1971.
* Totally reformed the government’s relationship with Native Americans, bringing new self-determination and civil rights to U.S. tribes while saving such Indian natural wonders as Pyramid Lake — the tribe even renamed its capital “Nixon.”
* Was even described as “the Abraham Lincoln of the Indian people.”
* Loved those Chinese communists.
* Spent more on social programs than defense!
* Fathered screaming ex-socialist lunatic Mojo Nixon.

There you go, hippies: Nixon was more liberal than Clinton.

Read more at Wonkette: http://wonkette.com/227457/richard-nixon-americas-greatest-liberal/#ixzz0kea0tMzy

[11 Bravo]

1. I can live with "Criminal".

[Pryderi]

3. ...and his policies as...?

[11 Bravo]

10. Let's start with Cambodia.

[EFerrari]

4. You're obviously much more of a gentleman than I am.

[MajorChode]

15. Certainly accurate, but less so than Raygun and both Bushes in the grand scheme

Nixon's most notorious crimes involved the cover-up of the Watergate break in, which he really didn't have a part other than ushering in the atmosphere of corruption that allowed it to happen, and taking tax advice from Agnew. Those things pale in comparison to the Repug presidents after him.

[EFerrari]

2. John Dean says *Nixon's aides* were progressive, not the big dick himself.

I hadn't thought of that.

[elleng]

7. I'd say moderate.

Dean said what? Aside from his psyche.

[EFerrari]

13. He said that, as far as he knows, Nixon left a lot of domestic stuff

to his goons, I mean, his aides. So, it isn't really clear to him, anyway, that Nixon was as progressive as he looks in retro.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Left of center

[DJ13]

6. In todays political climate he would be considered liberal

More liberal in many ways than even President Obama.

[Pryderi]

9. Frightening how far the spectrum has moved to the right, isn't it?

[DJ13]

11. Yeah, and sad too

Now when we desperately need more liberal ideas we have to deal with a government mired in conservatism.

[virgogal]

8. "I'm not a crook", That was it for me.

[walldude]

12. Actually he was just an asshole...

The things he did that look "liberal" now were just common sense back then. If you were a liberal in the 70's and have held true to your ideals than in todays environment you are considered a far left loony.

[karynnj]

25. I was liberal in the 60s and 70s and never shifted - and

I really don't think of myself as "far Left loony".

Most of the environmental things were pushed by a huge grassroots effort. In addition both houses of Congress were far more liberal. In 1980 many of the strongest liberal - McGovern, Birch Bayh, Culver, and others lost their Senate seats. I think many of the things that passed were signed into law by Nixon, but were the work of the Congress.

[bluestateguy]

14. He could be a Democrat today

and were it not for that whole Vietnam and Watergate thing, I could probly vote for him myself.

I might add that history basically vindicated Nixon's opposition to the foolish policy of forced busing too.

[EFerrari]

16. Nixon was a racist c word.

Have you ever listened to those tapes? It doesn't get worse than that.

[Ishoutandscream2]

27. And the Enemies' List

A frightening man, full of sickening and dangerous paranoia.

[saltpoint]

43. Agree -- it really doesn't get worse than the things that came out of

Nixon's mouth on those tapes.

It's beyond the far border of repulsion.

[Sebastian Doyle]

17. Lifelong member of the Bush Crime Family.

That's Nazi Grandpa Prescott Bush, who recruited Tricky Dick to run for Congress, playing with his hat.

Grandpa Bush also introduced Dick to his "golfing buddy", Dwight D. Eisenhower.... and the rest is history.

[Canuckistanian]

18. Well, he did create the EPA

And OSHA. And the Clean Air Act. And he ended the draft. AND he started the "Legacy of Parks" program.

Oh, and he DID declare himself a Keynesian with his deficit spending move.

Roe v. Wade happened during his presidency, and... oh, yes, he went to China. I'm not sure if THAT was a great move now, but, as they say, "Only Nixon...."

[Sebastian Doyle]

19. Yeah, but you know who did most of the foot work for that China thing?

Recognize the guy pictured here with Dick?

[Pryderi]

21. George the First was better than George the 2nd.

[Sebastian Doyle]

26. In what respect, Charlie?

Poppy Bush (three guesses where he got that name - and it ain't a nickname for "father") is one of the worst criminals in the history of this nation. Never convicted of anything, of course. But his list of "accomplishments" is staggering.

Let's put it this way.... when Nixon is heard on his infamous tapes making numerous references to "that Bay of Pigs thing" and often mentioning "the Texans" in association with that, who (and what) do you think is really being discussed?

It goes way beyond a failed coup in Cuba....

[Pryderi]

29. Sounds like you memorized Russ Baker's book.

hereyago: http://abovetopsecret.com/

[Sebastian Doyle]

30. Actually, I've never read it.

Though it is on my short list.... after I get through the stack of books I already have, that I haven't finished reading yet.

[Canuckistanian]

32. I'm not surprised

I consider Bush the Smarter to be one of the principal architects of the whole China "cheap-labor" scam that is now firmly-entrenched.

[Sebastian Doyle]

35. Yep, it's been the Bush Crime Family from the beginning.

Including Poppy, his brother Prescott Jr, and more recently the Carlyle Group.

"Prescott S. Bush, Jr. was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover and Yale University. He holds an honorary doctorate in law from Piedmont College. Prior to founding Prescott Bush Resources, Ltd. in 1985 as a business development consulting firm in Greenwich, CT, Mr. Bush had spent 9 years with Pan American World Airways and then 33 years with Johnson & Higgins, international insurance brokers, from which he retired as a Senior Vice President and Director in 1984.

"Mr. Bush has been engaged in business projects with China since 1983 and has advised such companies as Anheuser-Busch and ADM concerning their business development in China. He worked closely with Chinese conglomerates such as Cereal Oil Food Import/Export Corporation and Norinco. He is also a consultant for Wanxiang America. He has many friends in China. With Chinese and Japanese joint venturers, he developed the Shanghai International Golf and Country Club in Shanghai, China of which he is Vice Chairman. He is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Global Access, Incorporated, member of the International Advisory Board of the Culture and Civilization of China, member of the Advisory Committee of AmeriCares (international relief organization), director of Citizens Democracy Corps and of United Equity Holdings.

"Mr. Bush is a founding member of the U.S.-China Chamber of Commerce and Chairman of its Board of Directors. From 1989 through 1992, Mr. Bush was a member of the U.S. delegation on the U.S.-Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Committee. In addition to his work in China, Mr. Bush has done consulting work for Johnson & Higgins and for several Brazilian companies. He visits China 2-4 times a year."

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Prescott_Sheldon_Bush,_Jr.

[EFerrari]

36. And NAFTA. Here I've been blaming Bill Clinton for years

but when he took office, it was already well underway.

[Pryderi]

20. Are his policies more important than his personality?

[Canuckistanian]

33. Nope. Nixon was Looney Tunes.

But he had his moments.

[BunkerHill24]

22. Heck, even Archie Bunker finally gave up on "Richard E. Nixon"

Archie: "Aww, geez... if Nixon keeps goin' on like that, he won't have Archie Bunker to kick around anymore."

[pipoman]

23. My favorite Preident to collect!

[BeFree]

24. He was the best republican president, ever!!

Because he was the only one to resign.

Reagan should have. Same with the bushies. They should have been a quitter like Palin.

However, he did move left. But only because he had too. The Dems were going after him. Ahhh, the good old days, when a bad president had the wits to resign.

[Dr Morbius]

28. Mr. Lincoln was a Republican.

As was General Eisenhower and the first Mr. Roosevelt.

Mr. Nixon by today's standards was quite liberal, but by the standards of 1968, he was pretty conservative.

This nation has gone so far to the right that any historical rationality appears liberal by comparison. And that's the God-honest truth.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

31. Want to see something funny?

If your ever in Orange County check out the Nixon Birthplace in Yorba Linda, http://www.nixonlibraryfoundation.org/

What is particularly interesting is the fantasy projection and just plain bullshit that has gone in there over the last decade or so as they try to cast Nixon into a neocon for the contemporary republican audience. Be sure to visit the Domestic Affairs Gallery to see all the shit they just made up.

[UTUSN]

34. Know WHAT?!1 Dickey was BETTER than today's wingnuts. I never tot I'd say that. n/t

[EFerrari]

38. I know but you realize, we're aiming so low, we're lifting turf here. lol

[saltpoint]

59. LOL. Agree. On Nixon, I usually let Hunter Thompson in the

front door because he says things like:

- - -

"President Richard Nixon presented "that dark, venal and incurably violent side of the American character that almost every country in the world has learned to fear and despise."

- - -

[saltpoint]

37. He struck me as a delusional paranoid.

Not the sort of personality I customarily admire and respect in politics.

[UTUSN]

39. What counts is what's LEFT, carved in stone: Laws, policies, regulations, justices. n/t

[saltpoint]

41. Certainly it counts, as what remains always does, but again,

the psyche he appeared to represent is unsettling.

Watergate, and mostly its cover-up, unhinged Nixon in more than one way. We were not made better by having him fail so disastrously and for so many personal reasons.

[UTUSN]

47. Well, for starters, you aren't going to find anybody who has spent most of his life detesting NIXON

more than I do.

Yet, as the o.p. has pointed out, he promulgated more Lefty agenda bullet points than certainly all other Rethugs.

Now.

You're talking to somebody who SALIVATED, eating up the Watergate hearings.

Now. I detest (present tense) his DEEDS and his personality, but in my old age, that EPA stuff, and his old-fashinoned, DWEEB belief that he didn't destroy the tapes because he WAS PRESERVING THEM FOR HISTORY, is something. Do you get it? I/we ridiculed him for being ABSURD while he FUCKING MARCHED IN STEP to "Hail to the Chief."

Yet, he PLAYED THE PIANO (like HST). Playing the piano takes MENTAL powers.


Now.

Shrub (and his Poppy) understood ONLY self-enrichment. They would laugh at a geek like NIXON just as much as at any unselfish, public-servant DEM.

Now.

If NIXON were here today I would be opposing him to the end, the same as back then. But these PALIN-BACHMAN-Pat BUCHANAN-and ALL current Rethugs are WAY lost. Get it?!1

[saltpoint]

48. No, I don't get it. In fact, I don't really get anything.

I like Donald Duck squeeze toys, though.

They're pretty fun.

[UTUSN]

51. Fine. es-koo-sa-ME!1 n/t

[jaysunb]

52. Great post !

We're in the same club that lived every moment of Watergate, cheering for the downfall of the entire crew.
They'd infiltrated our movements, subverted the law to suppress the changing times and the coming of age of we so called, " baby boomer's." They were,all,our intellectual enemies. They were always suspects in the assassination our our hero's.

And Nixon was the head man.

I, like you having grow older (and hopefully a little wiser :))now have a totally altered view of Nixon and his Presidency.

Like Obama today, Nixon was a man of his times in many ways. And in retrospect he was very much a progressive.....for his time.

And as mentioned above, " I'd take Nixon over this current bunch, any day."

[Arkana]

40. I'm gonna go with moderate conservative.

In the mold of maybe an Evan Bayh or Olympia Snowe-style political philosophy.

Without the crippling paranoia that made him commit innumerable felonies, Nixon could easily have been one of our best Presidents.

[DefenseLawyer]

42. Corporate stooge n/t

[cali]

44. let's see: raging bigot. Cambodia. Watergate.

I hate revisionist history.

[KG]

45. more opportunist than ideologue.

[Captain Hilts]

46. I'm giving this thread a recommendation because folks need to know history better. nt

[Hepburn]

49. Crook....n/t

[saltpoint]

50. An assessment of Richard Nixon, IMO, cannot be made without a

considered evaluation of his "Southern Strategy" and what it has generated.

[Historic NY]

53. Crook...he was the head of CR(EE)P.

[nadinbrzezinski]

54. In his day conservative

these days down right pinko lefty... which only tells you how far to the right we've lurched.


Oh and in foreign affairs... don't get me started.

[Xolodno]

55. Eeeeshhhh!!!!!

Now there is a perplexing problem.....Nixon.

On one hand yeah, some of the domestic things he did just floor you....then again, perhaps thats why members of his own party were willing to give him the boot.

Then of course, his foreign policy....Cambodia & Vietnam vs. China and SALT 1. In his defense of the bad half of his foreign policy....this was the Cold War, doesn't make it right, but no sitting US President during this time always made good decisions, some worse than others...and some we didn't find out about untill much later. His language...yeah that was bad....but, playing Devils Advocate, this is off the heels of Civil Rights and the "N" word was used quite profusely and commonly.

Then of course Watergate....Yeah Nixon did seem to be a bit over paranoid...but I always wondered, was it him or some of the aides around him. He was in his second and final term, why should he give a rats ass what anyone with a D behind there name were going to try, he was done. Furthermore, if he really wanted to know what they were up to....all he had to do was ask. Loose lips were aplenty in politics back then. Makes no sense.

[Odin2005]

56. A deeply conflicted man eventually done in by his own paranoia.

[saltpoint]

57. I would say as conservative as possible, by choice and by strategy:

- - -

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/us/02dent.html

- - -

[DemocratSinceBirth]

58. You Left Out The Most Obvious Choce

Opportunist