Nixon // Current TV

Food Stamp President

Food Stamp President

Why doesn’t someone just come out and call Newt Gingrich out? When Newt called President Obama the ‘food stamp’ President what he was really doing was slamming the President for having been ‘poor’! He was making an inside joke as to why Obama is not ‘fit’ to be President, in Newt’s mind (world), Obama is just not one of the ‘good ole’ boys’, he was not privy to an elite and preppy upbringing, he didn’t mingle and rub noses w/the ‘1%’ as a child. Newt really wanted to say that Obama was born on the wrong side of the tracks, but he knew that would be a little too racially charged so he toned it back a bit, the meaning, however, is still the same.

Saying that ‘more people than ever are on food stamps under Obama …’ was his out and he calculated that, Newt is Macovellian in that way. He knew that w/the ‘1%’ they would understand his lingo and snicker and w/the other ‘99%’ they would accept his follow-up definition, as he knew that he would need to clarify at some point. Let’s just call a spade a spade!

Newt is known for his dirty tricks, in the ‘90’s Newt was fined over $300k for ethics violations in the House while he was Speaker of the House, and remember that this was under a REPUBLICAN Congress! Newt has found that it is easy to retell his story if he waits a few years ~ the public at large seem to have a short memory and a shorter attention span ~ and simply changes the parts of his history that he does like, or at least the parts that he finds most hindering in his ongoing quest for power.
Newt is not using Reagan as an example that is a travesty to the integrity of Ronald Reagan. Newt is using Nixon as a model. Nixon lost to JFK in 1960 despite his (Nixon’s) dirty politics, and then came back several years later in 1974 to beat McGovern for the Presidency. In that 14 year span people seemed to forget the kind of person that Nixon was so when he played the ‘dirty politics’ card in 1974 it worked. That is Newt’s model ~ Newt, who left the House of Representatives in disgrace, much the same as Nixon left the White House in disgrace.Food Stamp President Why doesn’t someone just come out and call Newt Gingrich... more

politicalair
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Newstalgia Reference Room - George McGovern: Dissent In 1969.

And on top of everything else, MyLai.

Gordonskene
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6 months ago
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Frost/Nixon: The rehabilitation of Tricky Dick and what it says about the soul of modern America

The answer, then, to why Nixon, why now, seems fairly obvious: His presidency, as... more

hoosierdaddy
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6 months ago
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'Worst Emergency Since the Cuban Missile Crisis. . .Honest!'

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain . . . .

Gordonskene
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6 months ago
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November 17, 1973 - Crooks And Liars (The Namesake).

And who could ever forget "I am not a crook!".

Gordonskene
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6 months ago
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November 8, 1974 - Hunger, Sweeps And Pardons.

Another crazy week in history.

Gordonskene
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7 months ago
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San Francisco Chronicle calls Obama Nixonian

SF Chronicle: He’s Nixonian
October 26, 2011 by Don Surber

The San Francisco Chronicle took on President Obama in an editorial today: “Obama White House on press access: a Nixonian quality.” To be sure, this is self-serving — the Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci almost was kicked out of the press pool in April after she pulled out a small video camera while riding in the presidential vanguard to film some protesters interrupting an Obama fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel. How dare a reporter record the news. How delicious it is to see the hometown newspaper of Looneytunesville call Obama Nixonian.

From the editorial:
The Obama White House’s restrictions on media access to its fund-raising events makes a mockery of its claim to be the most transparent administration in history.

If anything, there is almost a Nixonian quality to the level of control, paranoia – and lack of credibility – this White House has demonstrated on the issue of media access to President Obama’s fundraisers.

Bay Area reporters will not be allowed inside the W Hotel today when the president meets with hundreds of contributors paying $7,500 or more to attend. Only Washington-based journalists were allowed in the pool – continuing a disturbing trend by this White House to severely limit access to fundraisers. Even former President George W. Bush, hardly a champion of transparency, allowed local reporters to cover his fund-raising events.

“Even former President George W. Bush”? Why the dig at a president who was pretty press friendly. As were Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41 and Clinton. Most politicians are pretty friendly with the press because most politicians like people. And in defense of Nixon (never thought I would write that) he faced a press that was still enamored of the Family Kennedy (as did LBJ, who in retrospect was treated as a hayseed by the White House press although most of Washington knew he was anything but).

But what is Barack Obama’s problem? He enjoys the most fawning press coverage in 50 years. The possibility that he is just a jerk enters my mind.
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/45099SF Chronicle: He’s Nixonian October 26, 2011 by Don Surber The San... more

congoboy
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7 months ago
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12 comments

Republicans Praise Nixon Administration For Allowing Qaddafi To Rule Libya So He Could One Day Be Overthrown

WASHINGTON—GOP officials claimed credit Thursday for the Libyan people’s... more

coolplanet
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7 months ago
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53 comments

September 29, 1971 - Forty Years Ago Another War.

Vietnam then - just another day.

Gordonskene
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8 months ago
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1 comment

Is Hope Dead?

It's time to pick ourselves up and move forward.... more

Progresshiv
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8 months ago
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September 28, 1970 - All About Nasser.

News of this day - the death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser at 52.

Gordonskene
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8 months ago
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http://newstalgia.crooksandliars.com/gordonskene/september-16-1970-outbreak-nerves-camp

Another one of those lovely days in beautiful downtown Oz.

Gordonskene
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9 months ago
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September 13, 1959 - The Moscow Fair. | Newstalgia

Cold War and the attempted thaw.

Gordonskene
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9 months ago
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The Greatest Liberals In American History And What They Did For Our Country

Subtitle: Beck and Limpbaugh will have apolplexy! Republicans have villainized... more

LOrion
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9 months ago
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What America needs now is Tricky Dick Nixon (no, I’m not joking)

I first said it in 2008, five month before the election. Now Bruce Bartlett, who has... more

hoosierdaddy
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10 months ago
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Richard Nixon: "Give A Damn" not for family hour, "I Don't Give A Damn" for civilian casualties

Spanky and Our Gang was an American 1960s folk-rock band led by Elaine... more

thedirtman
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11 months ago
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July 12, 1974 - Ehrlichman Gets Convicted. | Newstalgia

When being a Plumber had a whole different connotation entirely.

Gordonskene
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11 months ago
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July 1, 1973 - New Month - Old Mayhem. | Newstalgia

A week where bombs were dropping just about everywhere.

Gordonskene
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11 months ago
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The Cases of Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning and the Erosion of Democracy

Every now and then someone says something about America that succinctly characterizes what has happened to our country and where we are headed. Recently that someone was Daniel Ellsberg. He commented that "All Nixon's crimes against me are now legal".

As most of you will recall Daniel Ellsberg was the gentleman who gave the Pentagon Papers to the Washington Post and New York Times for publication during the Vietnam War. "The Pentagon Papers, officially titled United States – Vietnam Relations, 1945–1967: A Study Prepared by the Department of Defense, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967." the Pentagon Papers "demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress, about a subject of transcendent national interest and significance"

To keep a very long story (relatively) short "Ellsberg surrendered to authorities in Boston and admitted that he had given the papers to the press. He was later indicted on charges of stealing and holding secret documents by a grand jury in Los Angeles. Federal District Judge Byrne declared a mistrial and dismissed all charges against Ellsberg [and Russo] on May 11, 1973, after several irregularities appeared in the government's case, including its claim that it had lost records of illegal wiretapping against Ellsberg conducted by the White House Plumbers in the contemporaneous Watergate scandal. Byrne ruled: "The totality of the circumstances of this case which I have only briefly sketched offend a sense of justice. The bizarre events have incurably infected the prosecution of this case."

Now consider, if this case had been tried under current laws, what would the outcome have been? Simple, like Ellsberg said, "All Nixon's crimes against me are now legal". That simple comment is astounding if you think about it. Ellsberg would have been found guilty of treason and probably imprisoned for the rest of his life.

Now, for comparison purposes consider the status of Bradley Manning to what happened to Ellsberg. Manning is being held incommunicado in solitary confinement without trial for releasing information that DIDN'T compromised US strategy (because there is none) nor did it compromise the safety of US troops overseas. When you break it down the ONLY thing he did was embarrass the military.

The obvious difference between Ellsburg and Manning was that Ellesburg was a civilian and Manning is a soldier. But when you compare the political impact of the Pentagon Papers to the information Manning released there is no comparison. Yet Manning remains in prison. Why? The answer is simple, because they CAN; and the reason they can is because despite EVERYTHING that has happened from 2000 on, the American public remains largely uninterested in the real crimes of the US Government (and for all my conservative critics, I'm also including the Obama Administration of breaking the law).

I could forever analyze why most don't care but I think it boils down to the perception of not having any "skin in the game". During Vietnam one big reason so many people hated the war was because any young male between 18 and 25 could be drafted to fight it. Cases like Ellsberg's provided the damning evidence that was needed to stop the draft and get us out of there. Consequently the public watched what happened to him with critical interest. However, since there is no large scale perceived gain (like not getting drafted) to getting Manning out of prison, he ends up rotting there. Sure there is concern, but not the personal kind of concern that make people pick up protest signs and placards by the millions. The Bush/Cheney neocon reptiles were clever enough to recognize this peculiarity in our national character and made sure they never started a draft. Hence all the "stop loss" orders to keep our "volunteer" military in Iraq and Afghanistan for years.

So what has this got to do with democracy? Everything. We appear to have lost the belief that we have skin in the game when if fact we do. During the Vietnam era, no one would have tolerated keeping a man locked up for no good reason ESPECIALLY by the military. Nowadays, few seem to care. Is it so hard to envision then, in a couple of of decades all the laws and rights that currently protect us from our government being swept away because people choose to believe it won't affect them?

http://www.juancole.com/2011/06/ellsberg-all-nixons-crimes-against-me-now-legal.htmlEvery now and then someone says something about America that succinctly characterizes... more

Mark701
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12 months ago
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Daniel Ellsberg: All the crimes Richard Nixon committed against me are now legal

He is the subject of a documentary about his life, "The Most Dangerous Man in... more

CaptSutter
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12 months ago
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