― a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
He treated his wife miserably. I don't know much about presidential wives before Jackie O, but I figure Pat was the template for that awful scene that gets replayed over and over now of the wife standing by stone-faced as the husband publicly admits to whatever transgression he's committed (captured very well by Joan Allen in the Stone film).
― clemenza, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
How pathetic that the one president who needed wifely interaction preferred the warmth of Brezhnev and Chou En-Lai.
― a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
I believe that's the first time ever the phrase "the warmth of Brezhnev" was typed or uttered.
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:25 (1 year ago) Permalink
the quiet humor of Chernenko.
― a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
The Pillsbury Dough Boy cuddliness of Haldeman and Liddy.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
xp Well, he was pretty funny in the "Two Tribes" video...
― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
the mirth of Mao
― thick-necked and hateful (latebloomer), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
The lilting timbre of Kissinger.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 10 August 2011 02:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
the wife standing by stone-faced as the husband publicly admits to whatever transgression
No, she sat stonily by in the Checkers speech while he protested his innocence. (The cutaways to her in the chair are WTF)
― satan club sandwich (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 10 August 2011 13:22 (1 year ago) Permalink
Charles Colson, dead as a tree stump.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 22 April 2012 11:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
I was at a screening of All the President's Men last week. One of the funniest bits in the film is Jack Warden's exasperation when Redford asks him who Charles Colson is: "The most powerful man in the country is Richard Nixon--you've heard of him, right?"
― clemenza, Sunday, 22 April 2012 12:09 (1 year ago) Permalink
always find it amazing how he was cracking gags and swearing and such just minutes before giving his final televised broadcast from the WH
search also John Dean's "lying, vengeful testimony" (as Hunter Thompson called it)
― piscesx, Sunday, 22 April 2012 13:13 (1 year ago) Permalink
Nixon ordered it, Ron Rosenbaum sez.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 30 April 2012 13:08 (1 year ago) Permalink
after reading the older column he links to i kinda think rosenbaum's probably OTM on this one.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 30 April 2012 17:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
Don't think I watched any of this, although I have vague memories of it airing:
It's just out on DVD. Twelve hours long--Berlin Alexanderplatz for wild gossipy political horserace fiends like me. Pricey, though, so I'll wait it out a bit.
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 June 2012 03:25 (11 months ago) Permalink
Strange, the image seems to come and go.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075597/
― clemenza, Saturday, 9 June 2012 04:47 (11 months ago) Permalink
it's pretty soapy, tho Robards is great.
40th anniv of break-in imminent!
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 9 June 2012 05:58 (11 months ago) Permalink
There and back, and back again.
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/103940/watergate-richard-nixon
― clemenza, Tuesday, 12 June 2012 21:58 (11 months ago) Permalink
Both sides agree!
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/302288/blast-past-michael-potemra?toggle=y#comment-bar
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 12 June 2012 22:02 (11 months ago) Permalink
It was the NRO thing that alerted me to its re-release.
The movie ends with a Watergate-style major turning point, and the final shot is of an American flag briskly waving: as if to assure the 1977 TV audience that America is a great country that will always prevail over its evil Nixons, and that everything’s going to be just fine now that a really decent guy like Jimmy Carter is president.
I can think of one or two (or more) people on the political thread who'd be fine substituting Bush and Obama into that formulation.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 12 June 2012 22:11 (11 months ago) Permalink
not a particularly close parallel.
The WaPo had a party at the Watergate the other night, I kid you not. Oh, the irony of 2012 vs 1972 Bob Woodward.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/11/watergate-remembered-four-decades-later-at-washington-post-party.html
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 01:56 (11 months ago) Permalink
except that bush was worse than nixon and obama worse than carter! xpost
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 02:04 (11 months ago) Permalink
don't make me go to who might be worse than Nixon....
I think W:BCD might play a lot worse for me today after exposure to all the years of Oval Office tapes. There's no topping 'em, especially with broadcast-friendly dialogue.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 02:20 (11 months ago) Permalink
i'm sure this must have been in American papers but The Independent in the UK is doing an 'Untold Story' thing by WoodStein just in time for the 40th anniversary
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/special-report-watergate--the-untold-story-7844900.html
anyone ever rifle through the online Nixon tapes? i had no idea there was so much of it on the nethttp://whitehousetapes.net/transcript/nixon/i-want-brookings-institute-safe-cleaned-out
Nixon's whole bit on those about how everyone is too much of a 'nice guy' and needs to be more of a 'son of a bitch like me for a change' really is pretty vomit inducing.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 16:29 (11 months ago) Permalink
Woodstein were on Face the Nation on the weekend, talking about a shared byline they had in the Post last week (first in 30+ years). Haven't read the piece, but I gather the gist of it is that Watergate was much worse than anything that's ever been reported; that virtually from day one, a full-scale criminal operation was being conducted inside the White House. (Please resist dragging Obama into this.)
― clemenza, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 16:49 (11 months ago) Permalink
None of the info was new; what made it notable was Woodstein cobbling the info into a chronological narrative. I was surprised Woodward had it in him.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 16:54 (11 months ago) Permalink
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/woodward-and-bernstein-40-years-after-watergate-nixon-was-far-worse-than-we-thought/2012/06/08/gJQAlsi0NV_story.html
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 16:56 (11 months ago) Permalink
It's a measure of the enormity of the fallout from Watergate that the suffix "-gate" is by now well-understood to denote a scandal, not only in the USA, but almost worldwide, even in several different languages.
― Lee626, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 16:59 (11 months ago) Permalink
I did kind of suspect that, Alfred--even in the movie, they make it pretty clear that bad stuff started very early.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:02 (11 months ago) Permalink
i remember in school being surprised that it was the name of an actual building. i thought it was a metaphor from the beginning! as in some kind of dam or lock that had finally broken open.
― goole, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:02 (11 months ago) Permalink
It occurs to me that even before I get to Wrigley or Fenway (if I ever do), I ought to spend a night in the Watergate...Guessing it ain't cheap.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:05 (11 months ago) Permalink
is it a hotel? i thought it was an apt/office bldg
― goole, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:05 (11 months ago) Permalink
All three, I believe.
http://www.thewatergatehotel.com/
― clemenza, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:13 (11 months ago) Permalink
Correct. I think the five buildings each have different owners by now. Residental units mostly condos, but some are for rent.
― Lee626, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:20 (11 months ago) Permalink
In what may be the most ironic coincidence ever, the first burglary ever reported to police in the Watergate complex, in 1969, was of the residential unit owned by, of all people, Rose Mary Woods
(Nixon's secretary, who would later claim to have accidentally erased that infamous 18 1/2 minutes of a tape crucial to the investigation. Recent forensic examination of the tape shows it was erased in several sections separately.)
I can't think of anyone else whose most famous photo (by far) is in this pose:
― Lee626, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:35 (11 months ago) Permalink
clemenza, I suggest that rather than reserve a room you park across the street in a Gordon Liddy mustache and sit there for hours.
Those Plumbers were a sleazy bunch all right, former College Republican leaders. The ratfuckers hit all the Democrat campaigns in '72 except McGovern's, bcz they wanted him to get the nomination.
― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:43 (11 months ago) Permalink
Here's where I recommend Thomas Mallon's new novel.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:45 (11 months ago) Permalink
recommendation accepted. ding!
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:01 (11 months ago) Permalink
Happy 40th to the gang!
― clemenza, Sunday, 17 June 2012 15:40 (11 months ago) Permalink
Psyched!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/arts/television/robert-redford-to-produce-a-documentary-about-watergate.html
― piscesx, Sunday, 24 June 2012 02:02 (10 months ago) Permalink
Afaics, the major legacy of this scandal was a determination on the part of the power elite never to allow the media to be independent enough to pursue a story like this, if the elite prefer the story should not be pursued. An independent press is far too much of a danger to those who hold power to allow it to flourish for any reason.
― Aimless, Sunday, 24 June 2012 02:09 (10 months ago) Permalink
backing up to the Nixon pardon i recommend Barry Werth's short book 31 Days about the Ford transition. anyone reading this thread will eat it up
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Sunday, 24 June 2012 11:07 (10 months ago) Permalink
hell yes Nixon should have gone to jail; the next 25 years might've turned out differently but hey that's water(gate) under the bridge
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Sunday, 24 June 2012 11:18 (10 months ago) Permalink
Yes -- great book.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 24 June 2012 11:48 (10 months ago) Permalink
31 Days sounds great.
― piscesx, Sunday, 24 June 2012 13:00 (10 months ago) Permalink
i'm no nixon apologist but i gotta say, this is the most devastating end of a long wikipedia article i've ever come across:
Nixon believed that putting distance between himself and other people was necessary for him as he advanced in his political career and became president. Even Bebe Rebozo, by some accounts his closest friend, did not call him by his first name. Nixon stated of this, "Even with close friends. I don't believe in letting your hair down, confiding this and that and the other thing—saying, 'Gee, I couldn't sleep' ... I believe you should keep your troubles to yourself. That's just the way I am. Some people are different. Some people think it's good therapy to sit with a close friend and, you know, just spill your guts ... (and) reveal their inner psyche—whether they were breast-fed or bottle-fed. Not me. No way."(263) When told that most Americans, even at the end of his career, did not feel they knew him, Nixon replied, "Yeah, it's true. And it's not necessary for them to know."(263)
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 29 June 2012 01:16 (10 months ago) Permalink
After Richardson and Ruckelshaus refused to carry out Nixon’s order, the White House sent a car to the Justice Department to fetch Bork.
He met the car outside the department and found Nixon lawyers Leonard Garment and Fred Buzhardt in the passenger seats. Bork says he joked that he felt like he was being taken for a ride, as in a scene from a gangster movie, but that no one else laughed.
Shortly after he sent Cox a two-paragraph letter, he was taken in to see Nixon. Bork says the resignation and firings should have been called “The Saturday Night Involuntary Manslaughter” because Nixon didn’t plan the episode, but blundered into it.
It was in that conversation that Bork says Nixon for the first and only time offered up the next Supreme Court seat.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 February 2013 17:53 (2 months ago) Permalink
More excerpts from the Bork memoir.
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 March 2013 22:31 (2 months ago) Permalink
The War Powers Resolution, passed by Congress over the veto of Nixon in November 1973, expanded congressional control over the limits of presidential authority in the use of force abroad. Had the president asked for my advice, I would have suggested that instead of vetoing the Resolution, and thus giving it the dignity of a statute, Nixon should have returned the bill to Congress with a note saying he thanked them for their essay on his constitutional powers and, when he found time in his busy schedule, he would send them an essay of his own on his understanding of his constitutional powers. This would have treated the War Powers Resolution with the frivolous gesture it deserved.
― goole, Friday, 8 March 2013 17:12 (2 months ago) Permalink