Replies

I like Ben Stein and loyalty is a good thing but loyalty to Nixon is misplaced. I can guarantee that Nixon would not have returned the loyalty to Stein. Not to mention Nixon's Jew hating remarks and his saving of Israel would not have been necessary if he had not withheld arms in the early days of the 1973 war. It is nice that he finally did come through but if he came through a week earlier thousands of lives would have been saved.

However, riddle me this Stein. Did Nixon not realize that his peace in Viet Nam was bound to fall apart in time? Was his phased pull out from Nam timed to coincide with his reelection? He wanted to make sure Viet Nam fell after his reelection so he timed it. Unfortunately that timing cost the lives of thousands of Americans. He basically spent their lives on his reelection. Frankly he was more deserving of impeachment for that than for Watergate.

Let's not forget Nixon gave us the first racial quotas, wage and price controls, and a huge growth of government (the EPA started in his Administration). We expect Democrats and liberals to recognize that Clinton was a crumb and we should be honest enough to do the same with Nixon.

I don't know what Mr. Stein thinks, but if you look at the George Neumayr article, he points out that Nixon's poor behavior is no excuse for his critics to act the same way. If the ends don't justify the means, the ends don't justify the means.

A strategic retreat is the most difficult of all military manoeuvres. Withdrawal from Vietnam, without inflaming 30-40% of U.S. domestic opinion, or paying heed to the interests of the South Vietnamese allies, was not possible in any shorter period of time than that in which Nixon managed it. Few others could (Humphrey, McGovern) or would (Reagan) have done it. As recently as July of 2004, not less than George McGovern expressed his strongly admiring opinion of Nixon's skill in this achievement. Stein was absolutely correct in his assessments and any who were around at the time would agree that Nixon, who endured intense media hysteria over the Xmas Bombing of 1972 (public support was 70%), know that, had he remained in office, he would never have allowed the Cambodian Communist massacre that Nixon's opponents brought about. Those who opposed the policies Nixon pursued were soundly rejected by what is still the largest electoral majority in any presidential election in U.S. history (more than 13 million votes), and the coup that led to this popularly elected leader being ousted led directly to the Cambodian genocide.