That was how they got Nixon. And make no mistake about it, that was a coup.
Yup, Nixon walked into it... but if had not been such a paranoid poor-communicator, he would have walked out of it. But they turned the little lawyers, accountants and minions and forced Nixon into a corner. With the help of a newly-empowered activist media. Nixon was a brilliant foreign policy President. Had a great mind. Was incredibly qualified for the office. But was a paranoid moron who just could not connect to the American People like Kennedy or Reagan or Trump. Nixon could have skated. But his personality and his incompetence as a communicator made that impossible. (BTW, when he wanted to, he could give a great speech. But he was always that semi-creepy guy who you just could not relate to.) And he was addicted to backroom and, admittedly, underhanded BS.
And they tried it with Reagan. But he understood communications. And had an unbelieveable ability to connect with Americans and to understand how to talk with them. Not at them. Not to them. With them. When it came to Iran Contra (which was the attempt to bring him down) after his initial statement "We did NOT trade arms for hostages..." Things started to go bad fast. But he came back on the air a few weeks later and talked to the American people and said "When I said we did not trade arms for hostages, I thought in my heart that it was true. But it was not.... " (I paraphrase). And that he would get to the bottom of it. It was a masterful mea-culpa of sorts. And it was heart-felt. Even though there was some real 'Reagan the actor' going on. So while the hearings through the summer of '87 were painful for the country and the administration and for Reagan, they left Reagan's reputation and presidency intact. The left were DESPERATE to get him. But the American people will forgive mistakes. Forgive errors. Forgive transgressions.
Except lying.
It's one of the reasons Clinton was such an idiot and why his legacy will always be one of getting blown by an intern. And "Depends what the definition of 'is' is. If Slick Willy had been up front and said that "In a moment of weakness I did something I never should have done..." your average bubba would have been 'Man, that dude got a hummer in the Oval office! Yea man!" He would have erased all the hearings and impeachment that followed. Though his presidency survived, it put the nail in Al Gore's WH run. It also resulted in the "Deal with the Devil" in which Hillary was promised that if she "Stood by her Man" she would be President. But the far left (under Howard Dean) put the kaibosh in that in 2008. And Trump blew her out of the water in 2016. Because noone liked Hillary. She was fake. Nasty. Unrelatable. Ambitious to the point of being obvious. And could not in the slightest connect with anyone but the uber, uber left. And even they didn't like her. The Democrats knew this and so helped to ensure Trump won the primaries, because he was judged the absolutely LEAST likely person who could get elected President. Yeah, except Hillary.
Since the Clinton Impeachment, BTW, the left has been obsessed with impeaching every Republican. It's become a Tit for Tat... we are going to get you.
Anyway... rolling up the minions does two things. Maybe gets to the top. But I doubt it. But it does send a message to future minions that you best not be minions and be the ones with no chair when the music stops.
ASGH? Maybe. In all likelihood... probably. But dumping the documents and shining the spotlights will be almost as bad. And with the advent of social media, the harried and outdated 'mainstream' press will simply be shown to be even more worthless, biased and outdated. Is there any wonder Newsmax and Breitbart are on the ascent when CNN brings in fewer viewers in primetime than re-runs of Law and Order or Gunsmoke?
Shit 'is' happening. Oh and this is the time to do it. Slow summer news time. Between 4th of July and Labor Day is when 'nothing' happens. So it's the time to air the scandals, hold the hearings, bring out the dirty laundry. Because it's all done without competing with the 'news' that starts happening again after Labor Day.
We'll see. Note that they dumped tons of MLK assassination documents today. Distraction? Maybe. More likely a chance to show what the FBI and the Johnson Administration were doing when MLK turned on Johnson (who passed the Civil Rights Act) over Vietnam. After MLK joined the Anti-War chorus, Johnson wanted him silenced. Because he was going to take a big voting block with them... by pointing out that the rural and urban black populations were being dis-proportionatly drafted and killed in Vietnam. No College Deferments and no "Fortunate Son" phone calls for the black kids. So be interesting to see what turns up in those documents...
Well, my cigar is almost out. Time to stop typing.
Sirhr
, fortunately Cloud's turned out to be something else and she's alive and well.
