LBJ bugged Goldwater -- I recall that E. Howard Hunt testified that he, at the time a CIA man, did some of the bugging. Hoover is alleged to have said his people also bugged Goldwater because, you do what the President of the United States tells you to do. I do remember that LBJ and Hoover were neighbors (when LBJ was in the Senate) and friends.
Well, by golly, LBJ never tried no criminal cover ups. No sir. HE DIDN'T HAVE TO. The press did it for him. They never said a damn thing about it. And what of RFK's bugging shenanigans?
Nixon’s people were caught. All the difference in the world and all the difference there needs to be for someone like perlstein to keep fixating on it.