Same story all over again. Trapped rats, etc.

[ginnyinWI]

Richard Nixon on August 15, 1973:


justifying secrecy:

Each day, a President of the United States is required to make difficult decisions on grave issues. It is absolutely necessary, if the President is to be able to do his job as the country expects, that he be able to talk openly and candidly with his advisers about issues and individuals. This kind of frank discussion is only possible when those who take part in it know that what they say is in strictest confidence.

If I were to make public these tapes, containing as they do blunt and candid remarks on many different subjects, the confidentiality of the Office of the President would always be suspect from now on. It would make no difference whether it was to serve the interests of a court, of a Senate committee, or the President himself—the same damage would be done to the principle, and that damage would be irreparable.

...and on how this pesky watergate investigation is bad for America:

After 12 weeks and 2 million words of televised testimony, we have reached a point at which a continued, backward-looking obsession with Watergate is causing this Nation to neglect matters of far greater importance to all of the American people.

We must not stay so mired in Watergate that we fail to respond to challenges of surpassing importance to America and the world. We cannot let an obsession with the past destroy our hopes for the future.

This is Nixon desperately spinning, trying to get past his lies and crimes. He accuses the Congress of being distracted from the important issues of the day as it focuses on his crimes. Not unlike the current occupant. This is all so familiar. What do they do, go back and re-read all of this old stuff and take notes? Or is it just the way the arrogance of power plays out in some people. Nixon at least had the decency to resign.

much more at: http://www.watergate.info/nixon/73-08-15watergate-speech.shtml

[fasttense]

1. Nixon and the hoodlums who surrounded him didn't get

punished, so they are back again.

[ginnyinWI]

2. well that might be part of it, but

I don't think a criminal ever really thinks he will be caught. If Nixon had been punished more severely (and losing the presidency was a punishment), Bush would have thought he was more clever than old Nixon. Don't keep tapes, and keep all papers classified and secret.

Also, these kinds of people (presidents, CEO's) are surrounded by yes-men who daily reinforce their own sense of power and brilliance. They get so full of themselves that they never believe something is their own fault--it's always somebody or something else. Nixon always threw the blame onto somebody else.