Stein gives Nixon too much credit. He was no statesman, but a Machiavellian. The liberals hated him, but he was not an effective opponent of the liberals, nor did he try to be.
Almost all serious conservatives at the time -- at least, before Watergate -- had a low opinion of the man and of the president.
What's wrong with Watergate is not its ultimate outcome (RN's resignation), but the hypocrisy of the liberals.
One can take the position that all presidents, including Nixon, should get away with what Nixon did not get away with. Or one can say that any president who did what Nixon did should be forced to resign.
RN does have one excuse, however: He was a wartime president face with leftist sedition. Rather that try to blame Mark Felt for the loss of Vietnam, let alone claim that RN was an excellent president, Stein should focus on the possible extenuating circumstances for Watergate.
My view on Mark Felt: Some on the right have condemned him too hastily. It's too easy to assume that his motives were personal, when there is no proof of this. It's also too easy to say that he should just have gone to the prosecutor. The law is a slow, dumb process. If there was really a cancer in the executive branch, I for one would justify "Throat's" cooperation with the media, which can be much more effective than the law.
Finally, Stein should have given Felt the badge of honor he certainly deserves: Authorizing break-ins to protect Americans from the terrorist Weather Underground. He paid a heavy personal and legal price for this, and hundreds of FBI agents turned out to demonstrate in his favor. For this alone, an American patriot. I doubt there are any major figures in today's FBI who have the guts ...
Bump.
Interesting post. The disgrace of Nixon is that he would not fight leftist ideas with conservative ideas, but rather resorted to fraud and force.... he was too lazy to educate the American people and/or spend political capital. Resorting to illegal means to fight the left made the crime of Watergate the cause celebre of the left for a generation.
I am perfectly aware that Nixon knew nothing of the break-in prior to the break-in, but he was the captain of the ship.