Nixon's the One

[Gordon Fitch]

Rob:
> >Yeah, but Nixon did what he had to do in light of the times.  Any
> >poll-watching dork could have done most of it - indeed, would have.
> >Watergate saved the bastard!  If his tenure had survived the 1973-4
> >downturn, what standing he has in the eyes of yer average lefty
> >nostalgia-buff would be very different.

Peter K.:
> I was very surprised to learn about the good things Nixon had done -
> or was forced to do. Still, I associate him with COINTELPRO
> and the Vietnam War and the Republicans' "southern strategy."
> He was also anti-semitic from what I understand.  ...

It may be that Nixon heartily agreed with Welfare-state 
practices accompanied by a repression of dissidence at home, 
and imperialism abroad.  One can hardly say there is some 
fundamental contradiction between the three, as the ghost 
of Bismarck could tell you.