- Peace Garden: Watergate Proves That Even Presidents Will Break Laws To Achieve Goals

Watergate Proves That Even Presidents Will Break Laws To Achieve Goals

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Jason Leopold writes about the Nixon-Bush similarities:

"Tuesday’s revelation that W. Mark Felt, the former number two man at the FBI, was the anonymous source known as Deep Throat, who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein unravel the Watergate scandal in the pages of the Washington Post 30 years ago should be seen as an important reminder that even the leader of the free world can be devious, corrupt and dishonest.
Some things never change.
The parallels between the Bush and Nixon administrations are eerily familiar. Both bullied the press, were/are highly secretive, obsessed over leaks, engage(d) in massive cover-ups and quickly branded aides as disloyal if they dared to raise questions about the President’s policies."

I applaud Felt for his actions as Deep Throat. I wouldn't go so far as to call him a hero as some are doing - I question some of his other actions in the name of nationalism and patriotism. But I thank him for exposing Tricky. Where is today's Deep Throat? We need him/her now.

"One of the key figures during Watergate made a compelling case a couple of years ago for impeachment if President Bush intentionally misled Congress and the public into backing a war against Iraq.
"To put it bluntly, if Bush has taken Congress and the nation into war based on bogus information, he is cooked," wrote John Dean, President Richard Nixon’s former counsel, in a June 6, 2003 column for findlaw.com. "Manipulation or deliberate misuse of national security intelligence data, if proven, could be "a high crime" under the Constitution’s impeachment clause. It would also be a violation of federal criminal law, including the broad federal anti-conspiracy statute, which renders it a felony "to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose."
Dean said that statements made by presidents that pertain to national security issues are supposed to be held to a higher standard of truthfulness.
"A president cannot stretch, twist or distort facts and get away with it. President Lyndon Johnson’s distortions of the truth about Vietnam forced him to stand down from reelection. President Richard Nixon’s false statements about Watergate forced his resignation."

Well if Dean has seen the light, what's wrong with everyone else? Come on America, wake up. Watergate was nothing compared to what is going on today.



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