Posted on 06/01/2005 4:57:54 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
Re: The "news" that former FBI agent Mark Felt broke the law, broke his code of ethics, broke his oath and was the main source for Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's articles that helped depose Richard Nixon, a few thoughts.
Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POW's, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Administration. Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?
Oh, now I remember. He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office and keep his agenda of peace going. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace. And he succeeded.
That is his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, conniving, covering up peacemaker. He was not a lying, conniving drug addict like JFK, a lying, conniving war starter like LBJ, a lying, conniving seducer like Clinton -- a lying, conniving peacemaker. That is Nixon's kharma.
When his enemies brought him down, and they had been laying for him since he proved that Alger Hiss was a traitor, since Alger Hiss was their fair-haired boy, this is what they bought for themselves in the Kharma Supermarket that is life:
1.) The defeat of the South Vietnamese government with decades of death and hardship for the people of Vietnam.
2.) The assumption of power in Cambodia by the bloodiest government of all time, the Khmer Rouge, who killed a third of their own people, often by making children beat their own parents to death. No one doubts RN would never have let this happen.
So, this is the great boast of the enemies of Richard Nixon, including Mark Felt: they made the conditions necessary for the Cambodian genocide. If there is such a thing as kharma, if there is such a thing as justice in this life of the next, Mark Felt has bought himself the worst future of any man on this earth. And Bob Woodward is right behind him, with Ben Bradlee bringing up the rear. Out of their smug arrogance and contempt, they hatched the worst nightmare imaginable: genocide. I hope they are happy now -- because their future looks pretty bleak to me.
Ben Stein is a writer, actor, economist, and lawyer in Beverly Hills and Malibu, and author of "Ben Stein's Diary" each month in The American Spectator. Click here to subscribe.
Some may agree or disagree but what Ben does do is get us to thinking of what it is that we believe in and if anyone should have an opinion of these event's it would be of our friend Ben.
Enjoy.
I often ask the Nixon bashers what he did wrong-the answer is invariably "a burglary and some kind of illegal campaign practice". That's it. If you ask if he was a good guy or bad guy, they can talk for hours, but factually, the cupboard is bare.
Thanks for the Stein post. Ben is one of my favorites. As to this article, you could tell he was a little p*ssed off--as he should be. I share his karmic wish...
Well, the China and EPA things I would count as black spots. That and the HMO Act which he cosponsored along with Teddy the Swimmer.
Ben Stein packs a powerful punch.
Wasn't he a speechwriter for Nixon and/or Reagan?
this is a good article.
Yep - for Nixon
Two minutes... what took you so long? J/K. FReepers are awesomely knowledgeable.
He may have made certain subsequent Presidents more prone to keeping fewer records (and recordings) of Oval Office events....but if the Clinton Administration is any barometer....the operation of a criminal enterprise out of the Oval Office had actually been perfected, post Watergate,....not erradicated.
And if this was about abuse of power in the Office of the Preidency...then, again, Nixon was a piker when stacked up against his predecessor.
If this was about Nixon, as a person, and deposing him as President...well then, Woodward and Bernstein, hand in hand with Feldt, should take a bow....
And then they should survey the legacy of their toppling of Nixon:
Pressures brought to bear in Washington detracted from Nixon's ability to obtain a better peace at the end of the Kennedy/Johnson war in Southeast Asia....and the rest of the dominoes fell with the rise of the Pathet Lao and Kmeher Rouge.
(The Plain of Jars would more than likely be remembered differently today had Nixon not been hounded from office.)
There is no way Gerry Ford (a mere caretaker for the end of Nixon's term, but a sentimental favorite President of mine for stepping in to steer the nation through that turbulent time. He did it abely, if not well) would ever have run for President except from the office of the President....and so, Carter was ushered in as President....a man who otherwise would have been a footnote in the history books of Georgia as just one more mediocre former Governor set the stage for:
The Islamic revolution in Iran
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (with its "domino effect" in the rise of the Taliban)
The Camp David accords that were direct causation of the assasination of Anwar Sadat
The ceding of the Panama Canal to the Chinese! (If it was only about lease payments to the Panamanian government, then why didn't we offer that, as opposed to giving control of the canal away? Only Carter could say!)
Then there was hyper inflation and stagnant economy of the late 70's....concurrent (not necessarily for reasons of causation, although it is possibly linked) with the draw down in America's armed forces.
("All for the want of a nail on the shoe of a horse", as the rhyme goes....)
And so, let us take pause to cheer these champions of America....those who were the catalysts of such earth shattering change for the worse that brought us through tumult to a time when, not tens, but hundreds of FBI files could find their way mysteriously to the office of the Preisident...and nothing is said in the press, for this is not Nixon...and to a time when criminal enterprises and purjury are commonplace in the Oval Office...but these do not "rise to the level of impeachment".
Yes...a true man of greatmess is Mr. Feldt.
He should rank right up there with Gavrilo Princip, in history, for all of the supposed change and good was accomplished by his famous act.
Thanks for posting this excellent piece.
You are most welcome and I am sure Ben's appreciates your high regards to his writing!
The father of modern day affirmative action quotas, price fixing, pure keynesian economics, growth of government, the taking us off the gold standard, etc.
Michael Moore (who I loathe) is at least honest enough to admit that Nixon was more liberal in policy then every single president who came after him.
PING
One of Ben's best offerings to date. I know that many of my Freeper friends share my respect for Ben and his magnificent essays.
So with no further yakking, enjoy.
Richard Nixon? Well, I respect Ben Stein's opinion sufficiently that I'll have to give "peacemaker by any means" Richard Nixon some thought.
Nixon was a great president. He cracked down on the communist Viet Cong in Cambodia and opened up relations with China.
Ironically, Carl Bernstein was a classmate of Ben's in a Maryland high school (as were Goldie Hawn and Sylvester Stallone).
Leni
Ben's always a delight to read, but Nixon was a crook.
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