For those who lived through Nixon:

[Bouncy Ball]

If you could, right now, would you trade the Nixon administration, circa 1970 or whatever, with the current administration?

(If that was your only choice, you can't pick the Clinton administration.)

[cyn2]

yes n/t

[genius]

106. I'll second that. But remember, he had a Dem Congress to deal with.

[Silverhair]

1. No. I consider Nixon to have been worse. NT

[Bouncy Ball]

2. Really?

How?

[Silverhair]

3. Hard to explain. I guess I will have to say that it is from the

gut and not strictly contolled by logic. Sorry I can't give a better answer.

[baldguy]

84. Nixon lied about a burglery...after the fact.

Bush lied to get us into a war. Over 1000 American soldiers dead, over 10000 injured. Over 100,000 Iraqis dead and who knows how many scarred for life.

PLUS the Bush regime is working hard to dismantle the Constitution and every social advance we've achieved in the 20th century.

Nixon was an arrogant bastard, Bush is the spawn of Satan.

[proud2BlibKansan]

89. Nixon lied about lots of things

But I do agree he was just an arrogant asshole. * is far far worse.

[Slickriddles]

99. Nixon Launched a secret war in Cambodia

Nixon was pretty awful. All that law and order crap. Silent majority yuck. On the bright side of the Nixon years we trashed Universities and threw bricks through bank windows and had massive anti-war demonstrations instead of getting outraged on DU.

[DFLforever]

4. Yes, because we were much better and more easily organized then

the press was more open and responsible a medium, people were more critical of government due to the Vietnam War, our Reps and Senators were more responsible to the people, and lastly, Nixon was not a right-wing fanatic! We didn't get one of those until Reagan.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. In a heartbeat.

Nixon was a devious, paranoid crook, but he wasn't a drooling, God-blasted monkey-child with delusions of empire. And compared to the Bush Reich, his administration was relatively liberal: they created the EPA and instituted price controls, for example. As far as evil guys go, Nixon was only a minor demon. Bush is freakin' Satan.

[housewolf]

22. I'll second that (or third or fourth it)

Not everything about the Nixon administration was horrible, they weren't intent on keeping the public dominated through fear and at least some of what the adnministration said was true. It had its dark side and illegalities, certainly, but I never had the feeling that they were working AGAINST the American people as I do with this administration.

I'd take it over this administration, if I could take the 1970's media along with it. And especially if I could take the anti-war movement with it, people idealistic enough to believe that they could change the world and did. I think that is missing today.

[CWebster]

72. very true

and Nixon was rightly despised as the crook he was. But the man actually exhibited some sort of conflicted inner life--whereas Bush is a total blank.

Bush is a total blank. The only emotional character he has is one of belligerence.

[Leilani]

6. In a heartbeat!

Nixon was liberal on domestic issues compared to today's Republican Party.

Compared to Shrub, he was a genius.

[tsuki]

7. Without a doubt, if we could have the same press corps that.

he dealt with. Strike that, I'd take him even with the sorry talking
heads we have now.

[MindPilot]

8. in a heartbeat

Nixon was greedy and self-deluded. That would be a big improvement over the stupid and evil we have now.

What I would REALLY like to trade is our current media for the one that existed during the Nixon adminstration.

[calimary]

90. Second that. In a HEARTBEAT! In HALF a heartbeat.

bush makes Nixon look like a Boy Scout. Besides, a few of the things Nixon did, like his foray into China, wound up being good ideas. And he knew his foreign policy - he knew enough not to turn his nose up at our allies and tell 'em "my way or the highway." A FAR cry from the reckless, spoiled twerp we have now. A VERY far cry.

Besides, Nixon finally got nailed, and had to face looming consequences - that drove him to jump before he was pushed. There was actually some "accountability," at least in that regard. Plus, many in his inner circle did face the consequences and went to prison. I doubt we'll EVER see that for cheney, rummy, libby, feith, wolfowitz, contradicta, alberto "torture's okay" gonzales, or any of the rest of these vermin. Plus, we did NOT have a fawning White House Press Corpse, and we had more Democrats in positions of power that really counted for something. The republi-CONS didn't control everything then, so at least there were some checks and balances. We do NOT have that now.

[blondeatlast]

94. What I wouldn't give for that.

Two upstart minor leaguers brought down the administration and Helen Thomas was front, center, and a major pain in the admin's rear.

[Bouncy Ball]

9. Wow

So bush out-nixoned Nixon, eh?

I was only a drooling thing in diapers then, so I was curious. I know I heard muttered curses about Nixon all my life from relatives so I was wondering how he compares now a la monkeything.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. Read John Dean's book, "Worse than Watergate."

John Dean knows better than anyone else what Nixon was like -- and he thinks Bush is WAAAY worse.

As I watched Nixon's resignation speech in August of '74, I was so delighted -- I thought the nastiest President ever had just been gotten rid of, and we'd never see a worse one. I even kept the TV I watched it on as a souvenir -- still have it; it still works. But oh sweet Jeebus, was I wrong. Nixon was an amateur.

[Just Me]

61. The whole Bush administration is much, MUCH worse than Nixon.

"Worse Than Watergate" is an excellent read.

[blondeatlast]

96. WtW was a marvelously good book.

Read like a good political thriller almost, ionly scarier because it's all true--and he had the citiations to prove it.

I recommend it to everyone I know.

[ginnyinWI]

13. Bush is far worse

he has a huge power structure backing him--that's the only reason he is still here at all. They weren't so organized back then, and I think Nixon, with all of his flaws, had better morals. And that is saying a lot. At least he seemed patriotic. Bush has no morality--his behavior is motivated by greed and lust for power.

[PlanetBev]

14. Richard Nixon was a pretty good statesman overseas

You didn't die of embarrassment when he traveled abroad.

Yeah, he was a paranoid snake, but I'd go out to Yorba Linda right now and dig him up, if I thought he could replace Bush.

[blondeatlast]

95. "Worse than Watergate," by John Dean, who was the chief WH counsel in

the Nixon administration (in the thick of Watergate) is a masterpiece on the subject. Dean didn't only live thru the debacle, he was right in the thick of it.

And he's a damn good writer (or his co-author, can't remember now, but it's a GREAT read).

[Slickriddles]

101. I wonder how many people here lived through Nixon.

I was in my late teens and I can't think of a political figure scarier to me than Nixon. The man had no scruples about anything. Read up on the SECRET bombing of Cambodia, or him secretly expanding the ground war into Cambodia. And the Watergate break-in!!! That's like Ukrainian in its fraudulency. Don't get me wrong George Bush is a major league screw-up with a demented blinded-by-the-flag-and-bible constituency, but it was Nixon who got that started.

Ps Bouncyball thanks for the question - it allows me to remember a lot of the good times back then.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

104. There is no comparison

There was a press corps that went straight for the jugular. Dan Rather got a zinger off on Nixon at a press conference that went down in history - remember "press conferences"?

This bunch of evil squatters in the White House are the worst ever. Without any hesitation - I've lived a long time and worked for some old-time Democrats, like Harry Truman's White House counsel - this bunch is the worst. The absolute worst, and they'll go down in history as the destructive, megalomaniacal, arrogant murderers and thieves that they are.

[Dr.Phool]

10. Nixon in a heartbeat

And I was at his 2nd inauguration with a bunch of Yippee's.

We threw over 15,000 dead rats at his motorcade. We spent a week building this big paper-mache float of a rat with Nixons head on it, that would fit over my volkswagon, and get it into the parade (They didn't let us). We called ourselves "Rats for Nixon".

[PlanetBev]

17. Hey, Dr., I'd love to have seen that rat float

1972 was the first time I was able to vote. I did me some protest marching too, that year.

[Mz Pip]

12. Unlike the Chimp

Nixon actually understood the concept of government as a safety net. Bush wants to eliminate the safety net unless it's faith based. Just pray and God will provide. Or not. Whatever. It's not Bush's problem.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[EC]

51. That could be because

of their family's and how they grew up. Nixon was not of privilage, Bush was. I doubt if Bush ever even dressed himself w/o a man-servant there to tell him how...

[Bouncy Ball]

15. This whole thread makes me feel like this:

:scared:

Because all my life I heard about that "dirty crook Nixon." I mean he was just the most AWFUL president ever.

And to hear that the one we have now is far, far, far worse is just...

:scared:

[DoYouEverWonder]

36. Read some of Nixon's books that he wrote

after he was president.

In regards to foreign policy and Israel he had some brilliant ideas.

His biggest problem was himself and his paranoia. If he didn't walk around with a chip on his shoulder bigger than a baseball stadium, he might have gone down as one of America's greatest presidents.

[Steely_Dan]

83. I Hate To Tell You This...

It is true that Nixon was a very hated man...most of it deserved. We must remember the time in which he served as well...that explains a little...

But more to the point....Nixon is not even in the same ballpark as Bush...As far as I'm concerned, Bush is BY FAR the worst president in my lifetime and perhaps of all time. The damage he can do to our country is immeasurable.

-Paige

[HuskiesHowls]

16. Damn Right I would!!!!! n/t

[PlanetBev]

18. Bush is the worst thing we could possibly have

He is a mindless, vacuous sock puppet, and a cruel theocrat.

With a cowardly, craven, press, we are fucked beyond our wildest nightmares.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. Yes, aside from the fact that I was

twenty years old then :-) , Nixon, despite his evil ways, was at least intelligent and accomplished some good things in foreign policy.

When Nixon came into office, it didn't feel like a sharp break with the past, and some of Nixon's proposals were actually quite liberal by present-day standards. He seemed more annoying than dangerous.

It's odd, but with only four TV channels, our mass media were more skeptical of the status quo then than they are now.

In contrast, when the Bushboy came into office, he began committing little outrages on a daily basis, and taken together, his proposals will eventually bring the U.S. down to Third World status.

[stopbush]

20. It's a tough question because their situations were unique.

Nixon was truly deranged and evil. But the free press was still the free press then and the radical republican right hadn't yet emerged. Remember, it was Republican Congressmen who told Nixon he was finished, not Dems. They couldn't support him on principle because he was a lying, self-centered, self-serving SOB. But I have no doubts that if Nixon had the bend-over press corps and the Xtian-fanatic RW Congress of *today* that he would have done serious damage to the Constitution and our form of governance. His enemies list would have extended across the globe, and he would have used the full power of the government to issue payback to his foes.

BUT - Nixon saw himself as a diplomat and was truly interested in leaving a positive mark on the world as a diplomat. He understood history and he didn't let his religion get in the way of his lucid moments. In a way, Nixon was more evil than bush because he had a brain, had a sense of compassion and was his own man, not a risible chimp with the arms of the handlers up his ass making him dance the corporate waltz. It's interesting that many of the programs that bush is trying to fuck were started by Tricky Dick.

I have NO doubt that if bush was dealing with the press and Congress of the early 70s that 1) we would never have been attacked on 9/11, 2) we would never have gone into Iraq and 3) the R's would have so loathed him and his blundering lying ass that he would have been pulled from the 04 ticket in a heartbeat.

I lived through Watergate. I loathed Nixon. I hate bush (and yes, it's hate. Look the word up in the dictionary).

[Bouncy Ball]

26. Why would I have to look up hate in the dictionary?

[stopbush]

27. Many DUers say that hate is too strong a word to apply to their

feelings for bush. I disagree:

Hate:
1 a : intense hostility and aversion usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury b : extreme dislike or antipathy : LOATHING <had a great hate of hard work>
2 : an object of hatred <a generation whose finest hate had been big business -- F. L. Paxson>

[Bouncy Ball]

29. LOL

Oh I have NO problem with it!

I HATE bush, HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM HATE HIM.

And no one's gonna bully me into saying "well I mean I strongly dislike him" NO, I HATE his ass.

[American Tragedy]

76. That's what frightens me most.

Is there a Barry Goldwater in this Congress, someone ready to storm into the Oval Office and warn the president that he won't be able to count on the Republican Senators to acquit him?

I don't think so.

[tritsofme]

21. Kent State is the only thing

that makes me reluctant to say Nixon.

Such a horrible horrible tragedy that was, four students dying for no good reason whatsoever.

I think the fact that I was young and idealistic back then and now that I am old and cynical is the only thing that makes me think more poorly of Nixon, if I was looking at it objectively I would probably say that Bush is worse.

[DoYouEverWonder]

37. Compare that to 9-11

while Bush sat on his hands waiting for the attacks to finish, while he knew 1000's of Americans were dying and I'll take Nixon any day.

At least Nixon didn't know that the National Guard had lost it and were killing students, until after it happened.

[yardwork]

68. Nixon was not entirely responsible for the shootings at Kent State

The governor of Ohio is the one who sent them, and the local government in Kent, OH requested them. The National Guard who started shooting were the ones directly responsible.

In contrast, I hold bush directly responsible for all the deaths in Iraq, for the torture in Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and who knows how many "secret locations" around the globe. I hold shrub responsible for 9/11, for destroying the environment, for so many many things.

Nixon did a LOT of bad things. He had the U.S. assassinate Allende. He lied about Vietnam and was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. Nixon was bad, but the shrub is even worse.

[blondeatlast]

97. Compared to the thousands of Iraqis and our own people?

In the unmitigated evil department, Nixon was a piker. And I'm (just barely) old enough to remember.

[NMDemDist2]

23. yes n't

[Dr Ron]

24. Worse Than Watergate

John Dean answered this with his book. In terms of secrecy and closed government, Bush is worse.

On foreign policy, Vietnam and Iraq have many similarities. However, Bush did lie his way into Iraq, while Nixon did inherit Vietnam.

On domestic economic policy, Nixon was not really very conservative in the sense that Bush follows the far right's agenda.

While Nixon played up the moral majority, it was more talk. He didn't let the religious right dictate policy the way Bush does.

It's hard to believe we have a President who is clearly worse than the Monster Milhouse. May he suffer the same fate (along with prior removal of his VP).

[EC]

25. Yes

Nixon was paranoid, * is a psycopath...

[Festivito]

42. That is the perception. Paranoid vs. Psycopath.

At least Nixon was deciding issues on his own, wrestling with his own heart.

Ruthlessness rules Bush, and he has rid his staff of those less ruthless. It seems, heart has no voice left, fearful to speak within a party of praised ruthless heartlessness.

I'd take a bumbling-by-comparison Nixon over a driven-by-unseen-forces Bush, any day.

[EC]

52. I think a person is paranoid

because they have a conscience. Psychopath's have no conscience.

[LandOLincoln]

28. Bush is far worse, for the reasons articulated so well in the other

responses to this thread.

Besides, from a purely personal standpoint, I was young and fulla juice back then, and fighting Tricky and his minions was a real rush most of the time. The Fibbies even tapped my phone for awhile, but that was a hoot & a half.

There were a lot of us, the press was reasonably honest, and history, at least for awhile, was on our side.

Too, global warming & peak oil weren't even gleams in Kissinger's eye, world population was about half what it is now, and did I mention that the MSM actually did its job most of the time?

Those were the days, my friend...wouldn't be young now for anything.

[EC]

50. It seems like any family that had

teenagers had their phones tapped. I know several of my friend back then had parents that worked at the Navy base (Great Lakes) had their phones tapped because all teenagers were considered subversives...

[two gun sid]

30. God, I cannot believe it...

but, Richard Milhouse Nixon was better than Bush. I feel sick to my stomach.

[Kool Kitty]

31. Yes, absolutely. No question. n/t

[TheWatcher]

32. The scary thing is that Nixon may seem like Clinton before these criminals

are done.

This is fast becoming the most corrupt administation in our history, and before they are done, they will probably achieve levels of corruption that would give a horse race to ANY government in history.

The worst these people are capable of just might be the end of humanity itself. At least any humanity that one might find inhabitable.

The worst has happened.

And it has happened HERE.

How we will survive it is what matters now.

On Edit: Nixon Administration Survivor :)

[yardwork]

69. What's even worse is that Clinton was sort of like Nixon, domestically

That's how far to the right the Democrats have allowed themselves to be pushed. Our last Democratic president was about as conservative as Nixon. Think about what that means!

[BrotherBuzz]

33. In a New York second....

and he drafted this sorry dumb ass, too!

[Redneck Socialist]

34. Only if I can get the Democratic congress that investigated the

bastard's ass too.

Chimpy is a hell of a lot worse than nixon, but if the pubs had controlled both houses of congress when tricky was around Watergate would have been quickly swept under the rug.

We are a lot worse off now because the pubs control everything.

[Bouncy Ball]

49. I totally agree.

And what I find interesting is that, despite all that power, all they can seem to do is bitch and moan about DEMOCRATS!!!! I mean, HELLO? How deluded are they?

They follow a scorched earth policy. They won't be happy until there isn't a Dem left in Congress.

No plane can fly with only one wing.

[union_maid]

35. Yup..Nixon in a heartbeat

Bush has accomplished the almost impossible feat of making Nixon look good. Nixon got people killed and so does Bush. We're even there.

Nixon's power trip was all about Nixon, though. He wasn't out to end democracy, just get around it for himself. And he was on the other side in the culture wars of the day, but he wasn't at work with the working person in the US. He wasn't even at war with the poor. He floated the idea of a negative income tax and a minimum income. He tried wage and price controls to stem inflation. It didn't work and and it turned out to be more wage and less price controls, but it was a shot at solving an economic problem.

[montana500]

38. Nixon was a good conservationist

nm

[RebelOne]

39. Yes, I'd take Nixon over Bush anytime.

[Vidar]

40. Nixon had many good points.

[leesa]

41. Nixon was nothing compared to this crime syndicate

They will do ANYTHING to remain in power. They are nothing more than murdering thugs.

[Nashyra]

44. Would rather have Nixon era

* is far more dangerous than Nixon because we no longer have a press that is hungry. They are only after the big bucks soundbite anchor type job. There are very few journalist's left, we need to clone Helen Thomas.

[blondeatlast]

98. The press of the Nixon era are the key to our dilemma now.

If we had those fearless, nasty bastids we'd be seeing a remarkable reduction in DU traffic, bless their hard working little hearts.

God, I miss Helen Thomas...

[Lerkfish]

43. yes, for this reason...

Even though Nixon was also a dickwad in many ways, he at least recognized the importance of diplomatic relations with allies and opened up relations with China at a critical time. Bush has completely abandoned diplomacy, and therefore, set diplomacy back centuries. Even if he gets booted, the next president will have so much remedial repair work to be done he has hamstrung the office of president in terms of foreign relations for several decades.

Nixon also did not appear to pushing a global domination agenda, just an anti-communist agenda. There is a difference.

[LiberalCat]

45. Definitely. n/t

[spanone]

46. Nixon was lovable compared to bush*. bush* is a worldwide threat.

Nixon was a petty thief in comparison.

[BurtWorm]

47. I'd go back to the Nixon era, when journalists had the guts to call him

on his shit. Or I'd import those journalists to these times, bypassing the intervening years when they learned to fear or love Republicans again.

[hvn_nbr_2]

48. Nixon was a high-integrity moderate, by comparison.

[sevendogs]

53. Without question

Absolutely, no question, not a doubt!!! And the night Nixon resigned, I went to my front door and screamed for joy in the dark street. I did the happy dance!!

I despair of our country now.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

54. No. Nixon was killing millions in SE Asia.

As loathsome as the halfwit-in-chief is, he has yet to match CrazyDick in sheer horror.

Not to say that he (Bush) has yet to exercise his full potential.

[Bouncy Ball]

55. Kicking this just for fun!

[Misskittycat]

56. Nixon. No contest. (eom)

[proud2BlibKansan]

57. Hell yes

As bad as Nixon was, we did accomplish some things while he was in office. The EPA, special ed law, re-opening trade with China.

* on the other hand is a one-issue prez. And his one issue - this damn war - is not being handled well at all.

So yes, bring Tricky Dick back. He is an infinitely better choice than dumbya.

[dobegrrrl]

58. Absolutely

without a doubt - there has been no more corrupt administration than bush II.

[elaineb]

59. What a depressing thread...

...to hear so many say that Nixon would be preferable to Bush.

I was only 10 years old during Watergate, but I remember that's when the word "crook" became part of the family vocabulary. And how can one begin to count the crooks in this current administraton?

I guess I came of political age during the Reagan era, and I wonder how all of you would answer the same question with Reagan substituted for Nixon? I can't think back on the Reagan years without a sick feeling in my stomach because of all the covert evil that Reagan was sponsoring in Central America. I can't see how our country can easily work off that black karma. Oh, there were plenty of other evil and self-centered policies of the Reagan administration, don't get me wrong, but what the government was doing in Central America makes me positively ill. Much like Bush's invasion of Iraq.

On the brighter side, think of how hard Nixon fell, and then think how much worse *'s fall is gonna be when it inevitably comes (I give it one more year, maybe two at the outside).

[Ravenseye]

60. The fall of Bush is not inevitable

I agree...this is a depressing thread. Woe be to us who long for Nixon.

Look at it this way though.

Nixon broke the law (Watergate, etc) and resigned before he was impeached.

Reagan broke the law (Iran Contra, etc) and was lightly reprimanded by congress.

Bush the Lesser broke the law (Election Rigging, Profiteering, Treason, etc)...he'll probably be put up on Mount Rushmore.

[elaineb]

63. No, not inevitable, but the odds are looking good.

Especially since (according to anecdotal reports from many DU members) not even Republicans are unfamiliar with the concept of election fraud now.

Remember "Let America Be America Again"? Well, I don't think America ever stopped being America. It's just that our mostly ill-educated citizenry has been continually lied to and misled by a devious Republican leadership and a boot-licking mainstream media. I don't believe for a minute that if the majority of citizens learn the truth that they won't upend the perpetrators of the Lie into the trashheap of history. It's just a question of whether and when they find this out. If those of us with our eyes wide open just keep the pressure on our representatives and the media, eventually they'll begin to do the jobs they're being paid to do, and when the general public learns the truth, we can just stand back and let them finish the job!

[Ravenseye]

64. I hope so but...

...wasn't the evidence against Reagan solid. Didn't the people know it. Didn't they say "Aw he's ok, he didn't mean it, he doesn't even remember doing it. Why impeach him."

They'll find a scapegoat, they'll spin their lies.

I wish in 40 years everyone remembers Bush as a terrible president. I'm afraid that people will still honor the son of a bitch.

[elaineb]

66. I guess you have a point if we're talking about Bush as an individual

...but I guess I've been arguing with the whole administration in mind (and the whole Republican Party, as well--useful idiots, they're sadly likely to go down with the small group of opportunists that many of them philosophically disagree with).

I'm one of those benighted fools who thinks that Bush is basically a puppet for a big ol' cabal of puppetmasters, so my hope is not so much that he takes the fall as that his whole administration and his unseen corporate backers get hauled over the coals for what they've done to this country and the poor innocent people abroad who've had to suffer for our nation's collective stupidity. I don't care if Bush personally takes the fall, as long as he and his backers are kicked out and never hold office again. I think history will eventually show people how shameful and corrupt the Bush administration was, just as it will for Reagan. I know it's hard waiting for that day, but I'm sure it will eventually arrive. Maybe not even in our lifetimes, but then the justice and better world we're all fighting for probably won't arrive until long after we're gone either. Patience and good faith, friend!

[Bouncy Ball]

82. You reflect my thoughts exactly

it IS a depressing thread and I was wondering how the question would turn out if it were Reagan, but considering so many people said they would take Nixon over bush, I am assuming they would all take Reagan over him, too.

[prairierose]

62. Nixon, in a heartbeat....

he may have been paranoid and not very nice but he still lived in the real world. He didn't create a fantasy world to inhabit. He was also really quite progressive(compared to *) in terms of domestic legislation.

I never thought I would see the day that Nixon would become a posterboy for sanity but it seems he has.

Yes, he was a dirty rotten crook but he was a piker compared to this evil bunch.

And we had real media then not corporate whores who get all their "news" from the RNC.

[WillyT]

65. Despite All His Other Failings, Nixon WAS A Grown-Up !!!

A paranoid, criminal, son-of-a-bitch... but a grown-up one.

OTOH - Georgie-Boy, and apparently a large part of the American Citizenry, had their growth stunted some time ago.

They are the new Ugly Americans, they are the new American embarrassment, and they are the new danger to our country, our species, and the entire fucking world!!!

:grr::nuke::grr:

[yardwork]

67. Oh yes.

Bad as it was, this is worse.

[MADem]

70. Only with hindsight intact

What Nixon's crew did, the lying, the cheating, the stealing, the covering up, is exactly what the current regime is doing. The only difference is that they learned from the mistakes of DickCo, and they are much better at enforcing discipline and covering their tracks. It's the same corruption, just better executed....

[CWebster]

71. Yes.

Because at least there was an opposing force.

[American Tragedy]

73. I didn't live through Nixon, but both of my parents did and they say yes

As a history student who researched Richard Nixon extensively, I tend to agree.

Even George McGovern and Hunter S. Thompson have said that the Bush administration is significantly worse than Nixon's. I'll bet they never thought they would live to say something like that.

[VOX]

74. Yes, gimme Nixon. At least Congress was Democratic then, and the media...

has the brass to come down hard on the White House criminiality.

Today, there are no substantial checks and balances -- it's just open-field running for the right wing.

[Jim__]

75. I didn't like Nixon

He was a very dangerous man. BUT he had come up through Congress, the vice presidency, and he studied and understood things about the world.

Bush is an ignorant fool with no understanding. He has control of the most powerful arsenal on earth. He's already made one catastrophic blunder - Iraq. And, he still seems oblivious to that fact. There is no limit to the damage this fool can do.

[Piperay]

77. Nixon definitely

Nixon was smart, he wasn't an idiot like chimp also he wasn't some whacked out fundie who want to bring about 'the rapture' like chimp does. x(

[DoobieToo]

78. Didn't Nixon give us the EPA?

[Disturbed]

79. Fear and Loathing

I felt both Fear and Loathing with Nixon and Raygun but the degree of this is much higher with the Bush Junta.

[Piperay]

80. YES & ironically

the chimp regime is out to destroy it. x(

[LevelB]

92. The EPA was created in 1972

when Nixon was president.

This was not done because he loved the environment. The Agency was created because industry feared a crazy-quilt of environmental regulations from individual states and local governments, and wanted a single set of rules. Back then, industry was more or less OK with regulation - they just wanted to know what they were dealing with.

And this is not said to disparage the environmental movement back then - their overwhelming pressure is what got industry (and local governments) worried in the first place.

Many regulatory agencies were created for this reason - to allow industry to operate with a uniform set of rules.

I truly believe that industry will regret that many of these are now being rolled back. When the backlash comes (and it will, eventually) the regulations will be even more strict.

B.

[spooky3]

81. yes

[Steely_Dan]

85. A Nixon Story

Little doubt in my mind....as bad a Dick Nixon was...there is no comparison.

I do remember a story I heard...I believe it's true.

One night during the height of the protests against the Viet Nam war, Nixon left the white house without the knowledge of the Secret Service (or anyone else for that matter)and went down to the Lincoln Memorial. There were many students at a sit in there protesting with candles and signs and all... The story implies that Nixon went down there to face the young protesters and try to reason with them about what he was doing in Viet Nam...The protesters spoke with him and he spoke to them...he turned and walked back to the White House.

I find this somewhat sad...and it says something about Nixon that Bush could never achieve. Nixon hated Nixon...he was his own worst enemy...He craved approval and hated the fact that others would disagree with him.

Nixon's, with all his faults and corruption, made a gesture (perhaps a self-serving one) by visiting the Memorial to confront those that hated him....I gotta give him courage for that. Nixon was a man...currently a child occupies the Oval Office.

-Paige

[Bouncy Ball]

87. Great comparison

this "president" makes me hang my head in shame wheneever I think of the rest of the world watching him. Ug.

[0007]

86. Even Steven! Six Two and Even - same bunch of convicts

with Henry A. Kissinger leading the pack.

How can ya give water a different name just because it comes from a different place.

[Warren DeMontague]

88. The difference between that rotten, corrupt administration and this one

isn't so much "who is worse". They each would and will get away with exactly as much as they are able to. In fact, the same cadre of goons, more or less, or at least their ideological grandkids, have been skulking around GOP basements for over 40 years.. It's not too much of a stretch to get from Chuck Colson and Gordo Liddy to Ollie North, Lee Atwater, James Baker and Karl Rove.

Rather, what is strikingly different now is that the American People are totally fuckin' narcotized and sedated by a vapid consumer culture filled with nonsense and meaningless celebrity and bling-bling-crap-worship... there are fifty billion more bright, shiny, buzzing and whizzing things to keep the primate masses distracted.. And we've got prozac, zoloft, wellbutrin and a million different kinds of high-fructose corn syrup laden hydrogenated shit to keep the corporate drones complacent in their chemically dulled stupor.

However, this all pales in comparison to the big glaring difference between the current era and the Nixon one-- the media, and their balls.. Or lack thereof. Now the "media" (if you want to call it that; I call it a corporate noise and distraction machine) is owned by about 3 or 4 companies, none of whom have any interest whatsoever in inciting people to think, question, analyze and interact with their political world. (No, if you're gonna think about anything, it should be whether or not Scott Peterson's watching of a porn channel was a tacit admission of guilt.) Watergate could only develop into an administration-toppling scandal with the help of an actively engaged population who gave a shit, and an aggressive media to whom the words journalistic integrity still meant something.

I fear, these days, we have neither.

[housewolf]

91. You said it right...

Those are the differences, right there.

[blondeatlast]

93. Yes; he had an understanding of the importance of diplomacy and

created the EPA.

He was a crook, but compared to the BFEE, he was an upstart.

[hollowdweller]

100. I just wish we had the media we had back then and the populace more libera

[dbeach]

102. Tricky Dicky I was a liberal

compared to fascist bushfraud.
nixon was ok on environmental laws and did not mess with SS..he did end VN far too late but VN did de-escalate in 1972...Most deaths in VN was in 1968 when LBJ was still Pres.
bush ain't even the Pres..stole 2 and gets a media pass and a future get out of jail card{which God willing bush will need}
Tricky Dicky II..cheney is much more dangerous and has potential for huge criminal activities..Myth about cheney is he is intelligent...not true according to Rolling Stone interview..sneakier than bush and also faked his way through bout 3 yrs at Yale before heading to U Wyoming for an easy BA degree then on to grad school there to keep that 2-S deferrment..

[Individualist]

103. Absolutely

I was 21 when Nixon resigned. He looks like a boy scout in comparison with the criminals now occupying the White House.

[earthtime]

105. 18 in '72, take Nixon back anyday but still be blue...

...and Rummey was there 2.

[eridani]

107. Not just yes, but FUCK YES!

Vietnam sucked, and he was a major contributor to that, but he advocated guaranteed income, universal health care (lost on those), the EPA and recognizing China (won those).