It seems a little history refresher is in order, with Republicans so desperately trying to smear Obama with the crimes of yet another Republican President. Under no circumstances is President Obama anything like Nixon. In order to believe that, a person must erase the stunningly craven facts of Nixon’s abuse of power.
Nixon employed “dirty tricks” and political spying to aid him in his 1972 re-election. These efforts were aimed against Democrats, and led to the Watergate break-in and efforts to bug the Democratic National Committee’s offices. Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell (his Eric Holder) “controlled a secret fund which financed political spying and dirty tricks targeting Democratic presidential candidates, ” per the History Place.
Then we got the cover-up for break-in and other White House sanctioned illegal activities, including hush money paid by Nixon to his government henchmen, as testified to by John Dean. Via the History Place:
March and April of 1973 saw the start of the unraveling of the coverup. On March 23, one of the five burglars convicted after the Watergate break-in, James W. McCord, informed U.S. District Judge John J. Sirica that he was being pressured to remain silent. On April 20, acting FBI Director L. Patrick Gray resigned after admitting he had destroyed Watergate evidence under pressure from Nixon aides. Ten days later, four of Nixon’s top officials resigned: Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman; Domestic Affairs Assistant John Ehrlichman; Attorney General Richard Kleindienst; and Presidential Counsel John Dean.
During the ensuing investigation, the tapes were revealed. Nixon was caught on tape directing his chief domestic policy adviser to audit potential Democratic rivals. (You can see how that differs quite a bit from the IRS asking the huge influx of conservative “nonprofits” for proof that they are, indeed, nonprofits, especially when they have been campaigning for Mitt Romney or busted aiding Republicans illegally.)
The Christian Science Monitor on the Nixon tapes:
In a taped conversation on Sept. 8, 1971, Nixon tells his chief domestic policy adviser, John Ehrlichman, to direct the IRS to audit potential Democratic rivals, including Sens. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, and Edmund Muskie of Maine.“Are we going after their tax returns? I … you know what I mean? There’s a lot of gold in them thar hills,” Nixon said.
Also on the tapes, Nixon is heard organizing hush money for the burglars:
“We could get that. On the money, if you need the money you could get that. You could get a million dollars. You could get it in cash. I know where it could be gotten. It is not easy, but it could be done. But the question is, Who would handle it? Any ideas on that?” — Nixon to John Dean, March 21, 1973.
Furthermore, in the articles of impeachment for former President Nixon, they mention his abuse of the IRS, CIA, FBI and more among “abuse of power” an “high crimes and misdemeanors”. See, he didn’t just target “enemies”; he got personal information and used it against them:
“He has, acting personally and through his subordinated and agents, endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns for purposes not authorized by law, and to cause, in violation of the constitutional rights of citizens, income tax audits or other income tax investigation to be initiated or conducted in a discriminatory manner.”
Also, a real smoking gun shows that the target was actually involved in the illegal activities and/or coverup, however Obama has already said that if the IRS did target conservatives, it was “outrageous” and any Internal Revenue Service employees involved would be held accountable:
On August 5, 1974, the long sought after audio tapes provided the “smoking gun” which revealed President Nixon had been deeply involved in the coverup and had ordered Haldeman to halt the FBI investigation just six days after the Watergate break-in.”…call the FBI and say that we wish, for the country, don’t go any further into this case, period…” — Nixon to Haldeman, June 23, 1972.
And by the way, impeachment proceedings only began in the House of Representatives after the “Saturday Night Massacre”, when Nixon attempted to fire Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox.
There’s much more — Nixon’s crimes were breathtaking in their hubris — but this should suffice to point out the vast differences between Nixon and any other President, let alone Obama.
What Republicans are trying to do is force Obama into proving a negative. They accuse him of coordinating the IRS “scandal”, the press runs with it, and Obama is supposed to prove this isn’t true. But Republicans haven’t proven it is true. In fact, when they try it’s a big giant fail that results in egg on their faces. This is the old “When did you stop beating your wife” trick question. It’s all about the smear, meant to disempower this President.
When Republicans aren’t calling a tornado Obama’s “Katrina”, they are calling any “scandal” they can whip up Obama’s “Watergate”. To thinking people, this is an admission that two of the GOP’s rather recent presidents were so bad that all it takes is attaching their name to a current president and their polls will drop — why else would they be so desperate to smear a Democrat with the crimes and ineptitude of theirs?
But with Republicans refusing to legislate, we are all stuck sifting through their hysterical dramas, as they cry fire in a crowded theater to distract the people from their own failures.
Republicans view every lost election as “persecution” and promptly set about accusing the other side of doing what they have been found guilty of doing. While their identification as victims is annoying, given that they are actually most often the perpetrators of victimizing others, this is not a winning strategy for a national party. The party of losers and whiners doesn’t have a great ring to it. Mitt Romney didn’t lose because Obama is Nixon. Mitt Romney lost because he was a bad candidate, he didn’t stand for anything but what the money men wanted him to, and he got busted on tape saying some insultingly condescending things about 47% of Americans.
If Republicans want to blame Obama for their own failures instead of actually rebranding their party and standing for something real, please proceed.
Note: The History Place describes itself as “a private, independent, Internet-only publication based in the Boston area that is not affiliated with any political group or organization.”
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