John Dean: From Nixon to Bush to Giuliani

The Nation Magazine ^ | 9/28/07 | John Wiener

[penowa]

And how does Bush compare with the Republicans seeking to succeed him? "If a Rudy Giuliani were to be elected," Dean said, "he would go even farther than Cheney and Bush in their worst moments."

What about the rest of the pack? "I'm very concerned about the current attitude in the Republican party," he said. "However there are candidates on the Republican side who are not quite as frightening as Giuliani." When I asked who he had in mind, he laughed and said "Ron Paul." He conceded that "there's no chance he's going to be president."

Dean's new book is "Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches." It's a massively documented and thorough indictment, arguing that, over the last 30 years, Republicans have broken or ignored laws, rules, and the Constitution. He's especially critical of the growth of presidential power under Bush II, and what he calls the "corruption" of the courts by "radical conservatives."

I asked Dean to imagine the moment when Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009, presumably to be replaced by a Democrat, presumably Hillary -- will it then be possible to say "our long national nightmare is over"? Dean replied with one word: "Yes."

[penowa]

I thought this interview was hilarious. The "Independent" John Dean, thinks "our long national nightmare" of executive power abusers from Nixon, to the even worse, George Bush, would end if we only elect that open and honest Hillary Clinton. LOL! He may be right that Giuliani would be worse than Nixon, but there is very little else correct in here.

[Paladin2]

John Dean? F ‘em. He’s retarded.

[NeoCaveman]

Hmmm, maybe I’ve been too hard on Rudy....

[pieceofthepuzzle]

John Dean is an anti-patriot who never should have been part of government. The intelligence community would serve the nation well to determine where his loyalties are, and why they are there. Something is amiss.

[Paladin2]

And here I thought the meme was:

Mo's a Ho'

[bill1952]

I’m sorry, I must be confused.

Is this from the criminal John Dean?
The felon John Dean?

[nikos1121]

This is guy is the worst. He’s the best example of a do nothing bureaucrat. Why Nixon hired him I will never know. His wife was the smart one, leaving his @ss after the watergate hearings. There is nothing this turn coat has to say that amounts to anything sigficant.

nick

[guinnessman]

LOL!

My thoughts exactly.

I think I’ll need to give him a second look.

[TrueKnightGalahad]

OUCH! I can't imagine too many things worse for a Ron Paul supporter than a back-handed endorsement from John "The Rat with a Ho'wife" Dean. Maybe some of the RP supporters here will wake up when they see the kind of fellow-travelers RP attracts.

[Uri’el-2012]

John Dean isn't he the guy who hired the Watergate Plumbers
to retrieve the photos of his wife, the $1000 a night hooker,
from the DNC entertainment files ?

[penowa]

"Maybe some of the RP supporters here will wake up when they see the kind of fellow-travelers RP attracts."

You KNOW that John Dean would embrace anyone who makes the Republican party look outrageously awful. He will never get over that many Republicans still hold him accountable for what happened to the party after Nixon. Not that the creep doesn't deserve it, but there was plenty of blame to go around - like what Hillary should have received if what is known now had been known then.

[guinnessman]

Yes

Is Liddy a Rudy backer?

I’ll bet he is now.

[Uri’el-2012]

Sorry ,

I have not listened to Liddy in years.

[GOP_Lady]

FYI ... John Dean is a friend of Keith Olberman.

[FFranco]

By ratting out Nixon the way he did, John Dean betrayed his President, his Party and his Nation. He is a traitor, pure and simple.

[penowa]

"FYI ... John Dean is a friend of Keith Olberman."

He's a friend of anyone who hates Republicans.

[penowa]

"He is a traitor, pure and simple."

I was anything but a Nixon fan because he was a long, long way from being conservative, but you'll get no argument from me on how you described Dean.

[SuziQ]

and what he calls the "corruption" of the courts by "radical conservatives."

So I guess John Dean thinks that all of the legislating from the bench that had been going on for the previous 30 years was just fine and dandy, but any attempt to roll some of that back is 'corruption'.

Riiight.

[mak5]

John Dean? The guy who was hired because he went to prep school with Barry Goldwater’s son? The guy who was in charge of the Watergate operation? The one who was in charge of investigating Watergate and surprised President Nixon by running a coverup? The one that went to prison? Yeah, his opinion is worth a lot.

[penowa]

One of the things that surprised me about this is why he didn't think "our long national nightmare" ended when Bill Clinton was elected. Maybe it was temporarily suspended for 8 yrs. only to return for 8 more. But Hillary is the real fix. Yeah, right. This guy is such an idiot besides a p.o.s. it's really amazing.

I'm certainly not going to read his worthless book, but wasn't Bill Clinton's presidency included in that 30 yrs. the book documents as our downward spiral? I hope Dean's on Soros' payroll because I can't imagine anybody else is paying for his lousy opinions.