One of the drawbacks to having a very low posting frequency as of late is that I have not put out any top 10 lists. In the car on the way home a couple days ago, I got myself thinking, what would be a good top 10 list? Then this story broke out...those dirty politicians. Twitter has probably ruined so many more careers that we don't know about (not just Anthony Weiner), not because of the website, but because of the idiots who post there and the garbage they are posting for the world to see. Anthony Weiner can now be included in that category (although he is currently resisting calls for him to resign).
Anyway, the whole point of this is that I'm not doing a top 10 right now, but to sort of get me back in the mood, here's a short list of some of my takes on some of the most famous political scandals in recent history (I can't wait to read Kent's comments on this one :-))
Iran Contra Affair
Sell arms to Iran in return for the release of American hostages in Lebanon and use the proceeds to fund the Nicaraguan Contras who were opposing the communist Sandinista regime in that country. That was the charge made against the Ronald Reagan administration and Colonel Oliver North. However, there was no evidence to suggest that Reagan knew about an arms-for-hostages scheme. Ultimate what this turned into was Democrats (who were slowly returning to majorities after getting housed in 1980) trying to discredit the man who tried to bring sensibility to government in the 1980s through simplifying the tax code and defeating the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Democrats were resentful that Reagan was not only successful, but also popular. Yes, Kent, the Iran Contra affair was nothing more than Democrats grasping at straws to bring down a successful Republican president. Now, this was a scandal in the sense that Oliver North probably knew more than he was willing to let on about arms-for-hostages, and his military career effectively ended as a result. However, all throughout late 1986 and early 1987 (despite the fact that the Dems had already taken back the Senate), the Democrats tried to bring him down, but to no avail.
The Bill Clinton Presidency
Anthony Weiner and Slick Willie...two peas in a pod? Perhaps. Bill Clinton was the White House's resident Casinova. There was Gennifer, Juanita, Paula, and of course Monica. Ah, but sexgate was just the first thing. There was Whitewater, the land deal in Arkansas gone bad that landed Clinton's old chums Jim and Susan McDougal in jail as well as Jim Guy Tucker, the former governor of Arkansas. Then there was Travelgate, when Hillary fired the entire staff of the White House travel office for reasons unknown. Then there was Filegate, when (allegedly) the president and his cronies used information on government employees' FBI files as blackmail against them. Eventually, Clinton became only the 2nd president in history to get impeached (after Andrew Johnson in 1868). The official charges were perjury in the Monica Lewisky case and obstruction of justice. The Republican prosecution team mismanaged the case from the start and it never stood a chance to earn a conviction in the Senate. Despite all of these charges, Clinton's popularity never wavered throughout his 8 years in office. Now, his wife is Secretary of State, otherwise known as Barack Obama's olive branch for the primary fight in 2008. Bill gets a Manhattan apartment, Hillary gets a free trip to Nigeria...
Watergate
If Richard Nixon had only come clean from the get go and said that it was dudes from his CREEP (Committee to Reelect the President) that sacked the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, there would have been no "I'm not a crook," no claims of executive privilege, Saturday Night Massacre, no resignation, and no Gerald Ford. Instead, he was so worried about saving face that he became the only president to resign in the middle of his term. Had he not, he would have most certainly been impeached, and more than likely convicted. He was facing near super-majorities of Democrats in both houses of Congress that were out for blood. The ironic thing was that Watergate had no impact on the 1972 election. All Henry Kissinger had to say was "Peace is at hand." Done. Nixon crushed McGovern, losing only McGovern's home state of Massachusetts. As soon as it became evident that Nixon had something to hide, then all bets were off.
You forgot the time that the Supreme Court hijacked a presidential election and appointed George W. Bush dictator.
ReplyDeleteAnd all of that is fine. Except that Reagan wasn't a successful president, and he didn't defeat the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev did. The only thing Reagan did was explode the defense budget (and none of the missiles he was convinced were incoming), helping lead us to the fiscal mess in which we find ourselves today. At least he learned from Nixon not to document all the illegal stuff Republicans like to do when they're in office.
So I was reflecting on this, and something occurred to me. Democratic scandals are more often than not sex scandals. They don't steal elections (W.), plan and enact political espionage (Nixon), negotiate with and then fund terrorists (Reagan), go on vacation while a great American city drowns (W.), curtail civil liberties (W. and, if you wanna go back far enough, the first Republican - Lincoln), pardon public enemy #1 (Ford), deceive the country in order to blunder into an unjust war of vendetta (W.), recklessly build the military industrial complex all while being inable to defend the country (all of the above, with the last part falling squarely on W.), etc. Democrats just like to get their dicks wet (though Anthony Weiner apparently just needs Twitter to masturbate, certainly punishable by death in a Christian nation such as ours). Don't get me wrong, Republicans get their dicks caught in the Appalachian Trail, too, but usually it's with a dude (another characteristic of Republicans: they're often the most hypocritical people you've never met. They'll rail against homosexuals and then caught with a Rentboy.).
ReplyDeleteBut back to the original point: Democratic scandals make people question Democrats personal integrity. Republican scandals make people question the NATION'S integrity. Which is exactly their goal. Since the 1960s, the Republican platform has been that government is corrupt and ineffective. And since the 1960s, every time they've gotten into power, they do their damnedest to perpetuate that claim in a nefarious attempt to discredit the government of the United States of America. Most conservatives call them "patriots," but there's a different word for that behavior: subversive.