re: #143 Belafon

I was about 3 when Nixon was impeached. Did anyone here know someone who had to come to the realization that Nixon was what other people said he was? How did they end up dealing with it?

My parents (dad especially) were HUUUGGE Nixon fans. The way my grandpa felt about FDR, the way I felt about Obama, this was THE PRESIDENT OF HIS LIFE, SUPERIOR TO EVERYBODY BEFORE OR IN THE FUTURE!!

When the story first broke that people from his campaign had broken into the DNC, dad thought “low-level staff, they’re been accustomed to the idea that campaigns keep tons of cash on hand, it was a robbery. Nixon had nothing to do with it.”

When the hearings dragged on, especially John Dean’s testimony, dad thought “staffers on their own initiative went too far, now they’re trying to blame their boss to get shorter prison sentences. Nixon had nothing to do with it.”

When the tapes were released and dad had to recognize that it was all true… it broke his heart. He never again had any high-minded political idealism, he never again cared about long-term ramifications of any candidate’s policy proposals, it was all about his own personal short term convenience (i.e., tax cuts uber alles. Fuck everything else.)