Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Ben is a funny guy, but 2, I never thought of Nixon as a peacemaker. On the other hand the opening the door to China thing was a big step. and re. non-military issues, My most nazi-like partner read a bio on Nixon and came away hating him since he seemed more liberal than even the Dems now.
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Don't get me wrong -- on the merits, a lot of what Nixon did made sense. He did the right thing with China, handled the Mideast as well as could be expected, negotiated the SALT and ABM treaties, etc. His domestic agenda was fairly liberal (other than on "law and order" issues and busing). He was a smart guy with a lot of good instincts.
He was also a deeply flawed person. He had a streak of petty cruelty (read some of the transcripts of the White House tapes), as well as an amoral side that allowed him to justify to himself that his noble ends justified whatever means were necessary.
I have no problem with Nixon apologists who stick to accentuating his positives, but for someone like Ben Stein to say that the only bad thing the man did was to lie about a break-in is simply absurd. And I suspect that there are a few Ben Stein quotes in the Woodward and Bernstein follow-up to All The President's Men (After the Fall? I forget the title) from 1974 that are a bit different than his tune now. Even Pat Buchanan was outraged by his boss back then after the smoking gun tape was released.
