Op-ed "Treason of Mr Nixon" from 30 yrs ago--deja vu all over again

[berry]

This 30-year old article by a respected historian says nothing new, but it is remarkable how many of Nixon's sins are identical to W*'s. This was an eloquent plea to impeach Nixon--and not for petty crimes, but for treason.

The war Commager refers to here is, I think, the attack on Cambodia (though he certainly did not approve of the handling of the whole Vietnam war). In the long list of crimes in the 4th paragraph I'm posting, there are only one or two that Bush* isn't YET known to be guilty of. And then, Bush* has added his own election crimes.

Of course Cheney isn't like Agnew--he is the author of much of the WH policy. So jettisoning him would only work if the policies and methods were also abandonned. Very unlikely, I should think.

http://old.valleyadvocate.com/25th/archives/treason_of_nixon.html

The Treason of Mr. Nixon

By Henry Steele Commager

originally published on Oct. 30, 1973

<<The important thing is that we do not allow ourselves to be distracted by the Agnew sideshow, but continue to concentrate our attention on the Nixon main tent. For it is Nixon, not Agnew, who has threatened and continues to threaten the integrity of our political and constitutional system.

It is Nixon who has flouted and contemned the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

It is Nixon who has waged war against a nation with whom we had no quarrel, a war which violates the constitution, the laws of the United Nation, and international law -- and then lied about it -- - and who justifies the lies.

It is Nixon who has challenged the fundamental doctrine of the separation of powers and made a bid for executive supremacy; Nixon who has usurped the war-making powers confided by the Constitution to the Congress; Nixon who has denied to the Senate information it needs -- - and to which it is constitutionally entitled for the conduct of foreign relations; Nixon who has substituted Executive Agreements for Treaties, thus circumventing the requirement of Senatorial ratification; Nixon who covers much of domestic and of foreign policy with the mantle of secrecy; Nixon who has systematically corrupted the electoral processes, thus betraying democracy itself; Nixon who has challenged the legislative power over the purse -- - thus challenging principles and practices with three hundred years of authority behind them; Nixon who has flouted the guarantees of the Bill of Rights in a dozen areas -- -- in the guarantees of freedom of press (by attempting to impose prior censorship on the New York Times and the Washington Post), in the denial of freedom of assembly and petition (in the mass arrests in Washington at the time of the strike against Cambodia), in the authorization of illegal wire-tapping, in the resort to not a bag but a veritable Niagara of dirty tricks; in the use of provocative agents to persuade their victims to commit crimes; in the overt violation of laws governing the financing of elections; and in half dozen other areas.>>

Just thought you'd like to read this. (Commager was the author of my high school American History text--long ago. I don't remember where he taught, but he was a scholar, professor. And not the out-on-the-barricades type in general.)