Clinton's Retrospective Job Approval at 51%

Gallup News Service ^ | 4/7/02 | Frank Newport

[I. M. Trenchant]

The fact is that Nixon exploited his electoral victory of 1972 as much as was possible. The media and Congress were hysterical when Nixon unleashed the USAF during the Christmas bombing of 1972. He could not have gone beyond what he did. As it was, Congress cut off virtually all funding for the Vietnam War. Congressional determination to nail Nixon over 'Watergate' was directed as much against Nixon's threat to renew the Xmas bombing as anything else. The introduction of liberal policies by GOP presidents is not peculiar to Nixon, and the suggestion that Nixon was not a conservative is ludicrous. Read The Real War and you will find that it was Reagan's playbook for the entire 8 years of his presidency. Also, read Larry Berman's recent book if you have any doubt that liberals aren't still hysterical about the degree to which Nixon intended to use his 1972 electoral victory to repeat the Xmas bombing as often as necessary -- and he would have done so if 'Watergate' hadn't overtaken his administration.

[NYpeanut]

Hopefully, more women will realize that thinking doesn't give them wrinkles, and they will decide they have had enough smacking around from the scumbag Democrats with all their phoney baloney con jobs that women seem to fall for in far greater numbers than men.

Let's change that to seemed, now that the average man remembers the rapist more fondly than the average woman. I'll be waiting for that tiresome idiot to post his colored map of gender voting patterns now.

[I. M. Trenchant]

I'm probably older than most of the rest who have contributed to this thread, and for this reason, I think 'Nixon Is The One', meaning that, in 50 years, I believe historians will rank Nixon as the greatest U.S. president of the last half of the 20th century. Ike's capture of the White House for the GOP in 1952 was a purely personal victory, but Nixon's capture of the Oval Office in 1968, and more particularly in 1972, shaped the electoral strategy that was used by all succeeding GOP presidents. Nixon was the political 'father' and mentor to the presidential careers of Ford, Reagan and Bush I.

The task that confrontd Nixon, as a wartime president, with the nation in a state of chaos, was much more daunting than any faced by succeeeding GOP presidents. Nixon established the framework of negotiation with U.S. adversaries that brought an end to the Cold War. Before Nixon, no such international machinery had existed since the end of WWII. As the 'good Democrat' Moynihan put it: Nixon presided with a calm and poise that carried the nation through what was close to being a second U.S. Civil War.

Even when plagued by 'Watergate' in October of 1973, it was Nixon who over-ruled his weak-kneed Secretaries of Defense and State, and demanded that the re-supply of Israel during the Yom Kippur War be expedited. If it had not been, Israel would quite possibly have been annihilated. Most youngsters probably don't recall it, but in 1973, the Israeli Premier Golda Meier was quoted as saying "God bless President Nixon" for his standing tall and declaring a Red Alert during the Yom Kippur War, and in 1974, Nixon was paraded through the streets of Cairo in an open car to the cheers of millions of Arabs -- a dual achievement that is almost incredible by current standards.

Of course Jimmie Carter shamelessly accepts credit for the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement, but history shows that this is something that would never have occurred if Nixon hadn't shown the way. Nixon was not only a political genius, but a global strategist second to none in U.S. history.

[DeaconRed]

"this means 51% of American are MORONS"

Now you see what we are up against! ! ! ! !

[RJCogburn]

Nixon imposed wage and price controls, the antithesis of a free society. For that reason alone, he deserves to be next to the bottom, missing the very bottom only because of the presence of Clinton and LBJ.

[RJCogburn]

Clinton's post-presidency legacy building appears to be failing. Too bad.

Bump your comment that is right to the point and smile producing as the sun comes up.

[johnny7]

Sad but true. Don't forget who won the popular vote in 2000.

A box of rocks is smarter than Algore but a mojority of American voters prefered him over G. W. Bush.

The blacks, elderly, hispanics and most women would vote for a corpse rather than a Republican.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Did Reagans approval rating go up after he was shot? I don't know, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[anniegetyourgun]

I agree with most assessments here (including yours) about past presidents. However, I have to hand it to JFK for cutting taxes - particularly since we will probably never see it again from a DEM for all time and eternity forward.

[anniegetyourgun]

I understand the DEMS are running a corpse in 2004.

[Pharmboy]

Sorry about the repeat, Annie. I searched on the word "Gallup" and it didn't turn up; it was a headline word on the story I posted. I should've searched "Clinton" additionally.

[Howlin]

Expect the Clinton spin machine to gear up; he won't take this sitting down, believe me!

[anniegetyourgun]

I think the search function is less than perfect!

[F16Fighter]

"History will rank Clinton...among other self-indulgent dictators such as Nero and Idi Amin."

I would add to the list Caligula, Pol Pot, and Barbara Walters...

[I. M. Trenchant]

Your post has few words, as befits few thoughts. Wage-and-rice controls were absolutely essential and were recommended by and agreed to by every responsible constituency in the U.S. (GOP) administration at the time they were implemented. They outflanked the unions and Congress, were highly effective in achieving the short-term goals they were intended to address, and were widely popular with the U.S. public, notwithstanding the treasonous suspension of support for for a GOP president by the likes of Junior Buckley. Wartime requires ad hoc measures. A repeat of the Arab oil embargo in the months or years ahead -- especially if it is selective against the U.S. -- will provide a good case in point. Nixon didn't do it because he wanted to do it, but because it was necessary in order to check inflation, which it did, by 50%, thereby avoiding the 20% interest rates of the Carter administration.

[RJCogburn]

Nixon didn't do it because he wanted to do it, but because it was necessary

"Help. Stop me before I act contrary to the very foundation of a free society" or, "I had to destroy freedom to save it."

Tired and worn out justifications by the sycophant crowd, or....change 'Nixon' to 'Clinton' and the issue to one of WJC's 'popular with the public' dancesteps.

[I. M. Trenchant]

Rhetoric-based opinion, which appears to be your only form of expression, cannot substitute for fact-based opinion. Generally, rhetoric is little more than an excuse for adopting a few simple-minded pieties as substitutes for human thought. Cheers.