From: MaxPlumm@aol.com
Date: Fri Mar 14 2003 - 06:28:19 MST
Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
"Nixon was a lunatic. He was paranoid, delusional, anti-semitic,
and otherwise off his rocker."
Tell us what you really think, Lee....:) I must of course wholeheartedly
disagree with your diagnosis, Doctor. Nixon's passion, his foreign policy,
was more grounded in reality than any other President of the 20th Century
with the possible exception of TR. He was a man grounded in the real world,
and that was something that the American public could never fully embrace or
love. Quips such as "I feel your pain" or "It's the economy, stupid" are fine
and dandy and help make one "cool", but they don't they do a damn thing about
international terrorism, for example.
In regard to Nixon's anti-semitism, let us not live in a box of our own
current sensibilities and pretend these attitudes were not prevalent during
that era, please. Truman's disparaging of Jews, much like Kennedy's of Afric
ans, is well known. And as Leonard Garment, Christopher Matthews, and others
have illustrated, Nixon's disdain for the American Jewry probably had more to
do with the fact that they voted 90% against him than anything else. Finally
on this topic, people need to let actions speak louder than words. President
Nixon (against public and media opinion, I might add) ordered a massive
airlift to the Israelis that saved them from certain defeat in the Yom Kippur
War in 1973. Then Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir said afterword, "God
Bless President Nixon." I highly doubt anyone on this list's track record in
regard to helping the Jewish people is as laudable, regardless of their
personal feelings and or "high language" they may use in regard to the Jewish
people.
"His administration did do a pretty
good job of hiding his illness, and he probably never slept with
his sister, so I agree that Caligula probably had one up on him,
but not by much."
No, but Nixon had two brothers that died of tuberculosis when he was not even
a teenager, and rose from poverty to become the leader of the free world.
Usually a story that we would celebrate in this country, but not in the cases
of "lunatics", eh Lee? Perhaps you would like to illustrate "Caligula, Mad
Emperor of Rome"'s outstanding accomplishments as head of state, so that we
might compare them to the accomplishments of President Nixon, unless you
consider "sleeping with one's sister" to be of a higher value than
rapproachment with the Chinese. If not, then let us attempt to engage in
serious discussion, rather than "Nixon the mad tyrant, loonie toon, weren't
the North Vietnamese so nice to everyone, he almost doomed the American way
of life" stereotypes of an earlier generation.
"It's pretty amazing that he did manage to do some good things."
Given the track record of most presidents, I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Regards,
Max Plumm
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