Posted on 06/20/2002 10:28:50 AM PDT by TLBSHOW
Wallowing in Watergate for 30 Years
June 17th marked the 30th anniversary of the most famous third-rate burglary in American history. Watergate is a story that will never cease to quench the thirst of liberal reporters hell bent on exhuming Richard Nixon and trying his remains for treason. The media has a renewed interest in who Deep Throat is, speculating on usual suspects like Alexander Haig and unusual suspects like Pat Buchanan.
Through this entire hullabaloo, there has not been much discussion on anther intriguing question: Who is the more honorable man—John Dean or G. Gordon Liddy? Dean, of course, was President Nixon’s counsel during the Watergate period. He snitched on the president to avoid a harsh prison sentence. Liddy was one of the Watergate burglars who refused to incriminate his associates; consequently, he spent many years in the slammer.
Whom should we admire most (or revile least)—Liddy or Dean? Most conservatives instinctively support Liddy. Liddy is a man’s man, a loyal friend-to-the-end, one who could be counted on to take the hit to save a friend in trouble. He neither apologized for his participation in Watergate nor did he condemn his colleagues. During his 1973 trial, Liddy famously proclaimed, “My father didn’t raise a rat and a snitch.”
Most liberals view John Dean as a brave whistleblower who revealed the sordid details of a corrupt White House in order that such travesties would never be repeated. They believe that Dean’s contrition for wrongdoing was real and that his Congressional testimony was in the best interests of the United States. Liberals particularly admire Dean’s admonition to Nixon that Watergate was causing “a cancer on the presidency.”
Though both of these men were guilty of committing crimes, they could not be more different. They are great symbols of the two types of men that are at the heart of today’s battle for true manhood. John Dean is the “sensitive ‘90s guy”—the sanctimonious, whiny, guilt-ridden weasel. When the going gets tough, the John Deans of the world look for a way out and end up hiding under the bed. Then they rationalize their actions as being courageous and proclaim that they are serving the greater good.
Liddy, on the other hand, is a throwback to John Wayne. A Liddy Man takes responsibility for his actions, is logical, reasonable, and would rather experience suffering himself than impose it on others. He values loyalty above all else and is exactly the type of guy you want to be in your foxhole.
In the 1991 book Silent Coup, G. Gordon Liddy accused John Dean of being the mastermind behind Watergate. Liddy alleged that Dean ordered the break-in to retrieve information that linked Dean’s girlfriend to a Washington prostitution ring. For this accusation, Dean sued Liddy, but in early 2001, the case was dismissed. Liddy proclaimed on the witness stand, “Sir, as I have said before and I will repeat until my dying day, [Dean] is a serial perjurer.”
Liddy was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his Watergate crimes; he served four years before his sentence was commuted. To this day, Liddy has a view of Dean that is similar to the way that John Wayne men look at sensitive ‘90s guys. When asked whether he considered killing Dean, Liddy replied,
"The answer is: I wouldn't consider him worth the quarter it would cost to buy the cartridge that would propel the bullet to kill him with."
Hitler Miniseries
Next year, CBS will air a miniseries based on Ira Kershaw’s best-selling book Hitler, 1889-1936: Hubris. The four-part series will explore Hitler’s early years, his rise to power, and the sociopolitical environment that permitted his ascension to Fuhrer of the German Reich.
Executive Producer Ed Gernon has said:
”We didn't want to go the popular literature route (about Hitler). We want to do a work that is very dangerous and indeed daring. It's an extraordinarily brave take that CBS has allowed us to do…Part of the story is a society that conspired to make (Hitler) possible -- and then stood back and did nothing to stop him. He was a man underestimated by everyone, (particularly) those who tried to use him.”
It took a great deal of cajoling to get Kershaw to agree to his book being used as the main source material for the primetime television special. In fact, Kershaw would only agree to do so if the portrayal of Hitler was historically accurate and not simply a Hollywood caricature. Gernon insists that, “We're going to put the story up on its feet and let the audience judge him.”
I have read Kershaw’s follow-up Hitler biography, Hitler, 1936-1945: Nemesis as well as his intriguing The Hitler Myth, which explored the psychology of the Fuhrer Cult. Kerhsaw’s groundbreaking books build on William Shirer’s seminal work in The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. If the miniseries lives up to this high quality research, we are all in for a rare treat.
But the question remains: Will this miniseries ever be produced? And if it is, will it maintain its historical integrity when the politically correct crowd exerts its influence?
As Gernon says, he is attempting to tell the true story of an antihero. To that end, he will be exploring the personal qualities that helped explain Hitler’s extraordinary political success. The truth is that many American men strive for some of these same personal qualities—an unbreakable will, supreme confidence, admiration by colleagues, etc.
The problem is that it makes many liberals—and quite a few conservatives—become uncomfortable when anything is said about Hitler that is not associated with his anti-Semitism and support of mass genocide. In fact, when anyone says anything, he is accused of being a Nazi. Witness the furor that erupted when Pat Buchanan suggested that Hitler had powerful leadership qualities. Why was that so outrageous? A man can be evil and also possess great leadership qualities.
Political correctness has made it uncomfortable for people to examine the true historical record. Three cheers to CBS and Ira Kershaw for having the guts to pursue this project. Let’s hope that the Anti-Defamation League and the People for the American Way don’t try to shut it down before it has even begun. World history ought not be politically cleansed. As Sun Tzu said:
Know thy enemy and know thyself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril.
Liddy is a man who served his time and returned to a place of honor after prison. Dean is a weasel. Nixon built a larger federal government.
It's not outragous.. Adolph Hitler was a brilliant man, a genius who rose from street painting to almost controlling planet earth. Read his book and you will be amazed to see his ideas, written in the 30's repackaged and resold as "new" even to this day. (by BOTH the left and the right.)
Unfortuantely for the world, Hitler was also hoplessly corrupt and evil. For that reason he had to be taken out and will forever stand as the poster boy of what not to do with regard to an all powerful government and placing too much trust and authority in one man.
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