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Topic: Is Bush worse than Nixon?
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oldgoat
Moderator
Babbler # 1130
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posted 08 April 2003 03:31 PM
It's a tough comparison to make. I agree about the demigoguery and the 50% (minimum) IQ point spread. I spent my formative years seeing him as sort of a satan, but perhaps have mellowed a bit since those days of my youth. I should add that the fact that he's dead really helps. It's a state which, as they say, becomes him. I see Tricky Dick as a more complex person now. He really understood the foriegn policy of his day as much as any of his contemporaries, but he was more of a Bizmarck or a Metternich, (the foriegn policy geniuses of their day) at a time when the world needs Lester Pearson's. (our late foriegn policy genius) Nixon was never anyones stooge. He didn't mind returning favours to well heeled Republican supporters, but it was his patronage to give. With Duya, others are pulling the strings, and his balls are in someone elses pocket. (thanks to LBJ for that line) There was a bit of an element of the Greek tragedy in Dick. I think he often meant well, and had greatness within him, certainly a fine mind, but he was cursed with self destructive personality traits which ensured he would never rise above, and would ultimately be defeated by his own small minded and bitter side. Bush, on the other hand is just a pompous vain little man who stumbled into a job that's too big for him during times that eclipse his meagre abilities. Another difference is that I'll NEVER write stuff like that about Bush no matter how dead he gets.
From: The 10th circle | Registered: Jul 2001
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 08 April 2003 05:44 PM
All of that about Nixon, and more (oldgoat, how dare you bring a tear to my eye on the topic of Tricky Dick, and yet you did). The sentimentality was utterly sickening, and to me, Nixon's style helped to turn U.S. popular political culture in the direction so many of us find frustrating now. Can anyone get elected to anything in the U.S. now without making a profession of wearing his heart on his sleeve? What happens to cool USAians? Where do they go? Nixon had his Kissinger, of course, and to moi, Dr K remains the personification of evil. Even so, I agree with those above who grant that Nixon was no one's puppet. Whereas: Bush is a cipher. Cheneyfeld are the president. Put the whole interest-conflicted bunch of Bushies together, and they are, as albireo observes, at one and the same time less interesting but more evil than the serious Machiavels of a generation ago. The world is being run by twerps. Blatantly crooked twerps. For some reason, I find this even more galling than listening to Henry Kissinger preen -- and I tell you, I detested and still detest Henry Kissinger with the purest of passion.
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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