BOOKS

Divide and Conquer

We all know Nixon was nasty. A stunning new book argues that he was also the grandfather of today's politics of hate.

By Evan Thomas | Newsweek Web Exclusive

May 9, 2008 | Updated: 10:25 a.m. ET May 9, 2008

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Discuss

Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/11/2008 11:01:26 PM

Comment:

The Nixon tapes are more than just fodder for a biographer's footnotes. They give us a bracing insight into the beastly side of our own nature that can manifest itself in our leaders, even though we are a fundamentally decent people.

If we listen to the words of this two-term wartime President, we will find an indelible record of a leader's capacity for deep evil.

Nixon may not have been the worst of our Presidents but, through the accident of his penchant for secret recordings, he is certainly the most revealed. The Nixon Library should transform itself into an institute for the study of official mendacity so that we may be reminded why the Constitution was written: to protect the citizenry from the corruptions of power.

Kind of makes us wonder "Where have we been for all of these last 30 + years?"
Posted By: mexed @ 05/11/2008 10:13:19 PM

Comment: When I started school there still existed classes in comportement, and that was in a public school. We practiced how to speak even when with persons who were rude. Why pin it all on Nixon? His methods were sadly responsable for a lot but it was through this same period that the nation as a whole began the slide that has led us to hate radio talk,, yellow journalism in all the network and cable news, and an incapacity to speak reasonably and without attacking the person. I rarely agreed with William Buckley's conclusions but from my youth I loved to listen to him speak, challenge, listen intentlly to his opposition, disagree and through it all be a gentleman. The blogs comments throughout this campaign frequently mimic the Cunninghams and Limbaughs. They have not served the nation well. The speak as thugs speak. We have become a nation of bullys, from the streets to the leadership. Even the President stoops to this retoric and it has demeaned the office of the Presidency. Perhaps one of the reasons Barack is so popular is that he is a gentleman,
Posted By: Nins @ 05/11/2008 6:07:08 PM

Comment: Hillary is playing politics, the worst kind of low-ball politics.

I am white, and female, and middle aged, and Republican, and I am voting for OBAMA.

Hillary insults both women and whites when she asserts that we are all both racist and stupid.

Get a life, Hillary, and stop pandering to the least common denominator. One of the reasons I am disaffected from the Republican party is because of the way they have tried to manipulate the gun-toting bible-thumping undereducated electorate.

A true leader will unite people around a higher cause, not divide them along lines of distrust and hatred.

Obama is a true leader, and a true Christian. Anyone who can't see this is falling victim to media manipulation. Hillary is imitating the tactics that dragged the once-proud GOP into the mud, and away from the hearts and minds of millions of thinking Republicans.

I still uphold Republican values. The good old-fashioned ones that founded our republic. And I am voting for Obama, who is truest to these values, despite his liberal ideas.
Posted By: Chris Paris @ 05/11/2008 3:36:32 PM

Comment: While I agree that FDR was a great divider and he predated Nixon by decades, for the real beginning of nasty politics in the USA you need to go back to Alexander Hamilton. But, as always, journalist sharpen there knives when Nixon is the topic.
Posted By: pdavidp @ 05/11/2008 3:29:37 PM

Comment: A more honest review of history will reveal FDR was the godfather of hate campaigns. I don't expect to see this in my lifetime.
Posted By: fan_chor-cheung @ 05/11/2008 12:22:43 PM

Comment: The problems with Americans is that none of them learn how to solve one problem at a time, slow down. They have no patience and never look pass the distant furure. If LBJ or other presidents can graduately implement their racial policies one legislature at a time. Those troubles would not happen. Unforunately, their term only last for four years.
Posted By: yvonnetxy @ 05/11/2008 10:43:48 AM

Comment: I hope that there will be fewer advertisements, for they distract me. Thank you! What's more, "If gold rust, what shall iron do?" leaves me a lot of thoughts.
Posted By: yvonnetxy @ 05/11/2008 10:41:21 AM

Comment: I hope that there will be fewer advertisements. They distract me. Thank you! What's more, I think "If gold rust, what shall iron do?" leaves me a lot of thoughts.
Posted By: Doorgunner @ 05/11/2008 8:42:48 AM

Comment: Sorry.... I got off of topic a bit, but there are those who would rally that He was not the villin so many in the media made Him out to be.................
Posted By: Doorgunner @ 05/11/2008 8:34:22 AM

Comment: In May of 1972, I was in Tai Ninh South Vietnam. You always hear if "TET" 68 as being the most entense time of the war, and perhaps deservidly so, but for two weeks in May, the S_ _ _ hit the fan in Tai Ninh. The first days were "noisy" but the last week there it came to the point where "WAVES" og NVA were assaulting our positions. I recall vividly calling in airstrikes minuate by minuate, and Archlites(ark- lite's) which is another name for B52 bomb runs, were being droped to hold off the NVA. At these moments in Washington, Nixin was ok'ing the drops, I mean minuate by minuate, Our Ass's were on the line and thanks to Him we were able to withstand the incursion for some time untill ultimatly we evacuated the area of operation. I will always be greatfull for His efforts those fiew days. He was ok in my book. Weo would you rather have right now ...Bush or Nixon...............my choice would be clear
Posted By: Sinibaldi @ 05/10/2008 2:33:05 PM

Comment: I'm lazy.

When the night
comes back
telling a story, I'm
lazy: beautiful
sounds of a primitive
faith appear in
my mind, and even
that arrow describes,
in a moment, the
slippery darkness
of a tender caprice,
there, where a
light fades away......

Francesco Sinibaldi
Posted By: Alma @ 05/10/2008 11:59:26 AM

Comment: Nixon not only brought back hatred into the Republican but cheating-lying-dishonesty-unwillingness to surrender to the truth. He is responsible for the killing of thousands of American lives in Vietnam. He is also responsible for all Gorilla Military governments in Latin America that killed hundred of thousands of innocent civilians under the false title of communists. God save us from more killings of our American people going to fight abroad.
Posted By: republicanSScareme @ 05/10/2008 11:55:07 AM

Comment: Nixon was a typical Republican politician: A slimeball on steroids.
Posted By: bettysdad @ 05/10/2008 2:31:42 AM

Comment: Someone had to write a book to explain this? I suppose if you're under 40, or appallingly ignorant of 20th century American history you might not know this. But c'mon. This is the basis of the last 60 years of the Republican Party. All they can offer is the politics of hate. They produce nothing for the American people. And if you look at the comments here, you'll notice it's true.
- Posted By: 12waz @ 05/10/2008 03:44:22
  
  Comment: Yep...Obama fans.
Posted By: prdarling @ 05/10/2008 2:30:57 AM

Comment: Al Gore has created the current situation. Nixon has been out of the picture for decades. Al Gore has created an all new way of throwing a temper tantrum because "he should have been president". Get over it Al, all you've done is create hate between Democrats and Republicans right down to the middle america level.
Posted By: olderwiser @ 05/09/2008 9:48:59 PM

Comment: Nixon was irritated. He always had a scowl on his face. His recordings are a disgrace to the office, illustrating a contempt for humanity. He was a narrow minded old man in the end, following the earlier years when he was a narrow minded young man, following the years when he was a narrow minded kid. In a land of opportunity, even mean and narrow minded people can become president. They leave a record and go on. There were definitely some brilliant spots in his accomplishments, but in the long run we can do better. There is an abundance of brilliant people eligible for the office whom we could well admire. Let's vote for them for a change.
Posted By: mahmed1125 @ 05/09/2008 9:17:33 PM

Comment: This is disgusting. Hate is such a stong word, and attributing all that is dirty in American politics is shameful. I've read another review of Mr. Pearlstein's book, and constrastingly, that review seemed to offer a more thorough, proper analysis of this book. Nowhere in this shame of an article is there a shred of direct evidence linking Nixon to hatred. So what if he had a moderate version of George Wallace's states' rights stand? Honestly, it's unfair of Newsweek to equate such positions as an endorsement of racial segregation. Nixon was not a racist, segregationist. This article is riddiculous and relies far too much on logical fallacies.
Posted By: mahmed1125 @ 05/09/2008 9:15:56 PM

Comment: This is disgusting. Hate is such a stong word, and attributing all that is dirty in American politics is shameful. I've read another review of Mr. Pearlstein's book, and constrastingly, that review seemed to offer a more thorough, proper analysis of this book. Nowhere in this shame of an article is there a shred of direct evidence linking Nixon to hatred. So what if he had a moderate version of George Wallace's states' rights stand? Honestly, it's unfair of Newsweek to equate such positions as an endorsement of racial segregation. Nixon was not a racist, segregationist. This article is riddiculous and relies far too much on logical fallacies.
Posted By: mahmed1125 @ 05/09/2008 9:15:42 PM

Comment: This is disgusting. Hate is such a stong word, and attributing all that is dirty in American politics is shameful. I've read another review of Mr. Pearlstein's book, and constrastingly, that review seemed to offer a more thorough, proper analysis of this book. Nowhere in this shame of an article is there a shred of direct evidence linking Nixon to hatred. So what if he had a moderate version of George Wallace's states' rights stand? Honestly, it's unfair of Newsweek to equate such positions as an endorsement of racial segregation. Nixon was not a racist, segregationist. This article is riddiculous and relies far too much on logical fallacies.
Posted By: Alvy @ 05/09/2008 8:30:20 PM

Comment: Is this dedicated to HolyPolly Harlan?
Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 05/09/2008 7:37:33 PM

Comment: BS Detector hit the nail on the head. NEWSWEEK,a nominally liberal,even leftwinged creature,has on hand such as Thomas to begin revving the political engines for Obama. Such pieces are a piece in comportment with their own ideologies. Thomas forgets that it was hatred itself that ushered in Nixon,and it was an all-Democrat show which was launched in Chicago. Indeed,it was given its handle,''Days Of Rage''. Screaming hippies,billyclubbing cops,an apopletic Democrat Mayor Daley struggling back those who were holding him on the floor of the Convention as another speaker intoned that ''We would not be having Gestapo tactics on the streets of Chicago'',while teargas began to filter into the halls.
Posted By: Bulls**t Detector @ 05/09/2008 4:22:57 PM

Comment: What rubbish! Hate has been around since Cain & Abel, it's just packaged differently in different political times. Although, I must admit, how perceptive it is by the author of this piece to point out that in modern times it is only Republicans who use the politics of hate. Certainly it's only the Nixons of this world who use hate to divide us, not the Harry Reids, the Al Sharpton's, or the Clinton's. Just witness Bill Clinton's recent statements belittling Obama's win in south Carolina. Or Hillary's recent statement that Obama can't win "white Americans." But no, this is solely a Nixon/Republican idea!!!
- Posted By: Alma @ 05/10/2008 11:55:31
  
  Comment: I agree. Hate started since Cain and Abel. And did you notice that now we have it again.
  Mc CAIN (literally translated): from the tribe of CAIN--Abel's evil twin brother. And Barack which means: Blessings.
  The whole story re-enacted again. And McCain and the Republicans have managed to hide his name up to the point that no one sees it any more.
- Posted By: Etta Mae @ 05/09/2008 22:28:12
  
  Comment: What was untrue about that statement? It's a demographic like all the others. But whoa can't mention whites. Why are they voting against him because he's black? There's not a single poll data that backs it up. 25% of people say they wouldn't vote for a woman and 19% for a black man. And God forbid these bitterites are actually voting FOR Clinton. He doesn't even identify himself as biracial. Probably because he--please read along with me his spiritually uplifting message in his memoir:
  
  "FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER'S RACE."
  
  So much so that:
  
  "THAT HATE HADN'T GONE AWAY, BLAMING WHITE PEOPLE - SOME CRUEL, SOME IGNORANT - SOMETIMES A SINGLE FACE, SOMETIMES A FACELESS IMAGE OF A SYSTEM CLAIMING POWER OVER OUR LIVES." (guess that's when he started hating the bitterites!)
  
  Lovely words of Barak Transcender of Race and Messiah of the World Obama from his 1995 book: "Dreams of My Father" and can be heard on his Audio book. Though you won"t find these:
  
  "I CEASED TO ADVERTISE MY MOTHER'S RACE AT THE AGE OF TWELVE OR THIRTEEN, WHEN I BEGAN TO SUSPECT THAT BY DOING DO I WAS INGRATIATING MYSELF TO WHITES." (Those typical white, presumably bitter racist persons.)
  
  or this:
  
  "IN FACT, WHITES ARE SO HEARTLESS AND DEVIOUS THAT WE CAN NO LONGER EXPECT ANYTHING FROM THEM." (Except their votes and money.)
  
  and NO, NO, NO, GODDAMN AMERICA not this:
  
  "REVEREND WRIGHT SHRUGGED. 'SOME OF MY FELLOW CLERGY DON'T APPRECIATE WHAT WE'RE ABOUT. THEY FEEL LIKE WE'RE TOO RADICAL."
  
  unny too since Donna Brazile said that Wright is a moderate pastor. Obama knew in 1995 who Wright was. Hello.
  
  This whole thing is a sham. They've been trying to get her to leave since NH when Rev Jeese Jackson Jr said her tears needed to be investigated. On CNN, Tuesday, when they didn't have a single Clinton supporter on the panel, Brazile and Jamal said Senator Clinton would never get the black vote. Period. Not any. Have you all gone mad? What is the double standard? Clinton's not getting >90% of the white blue collars workers like he is getting >90% of the black vote. Why is he ENTITLED to their vote? What has he done to get it? Nothing but suck at bowling and make bitter racists remarks about them. He's the one who called them racist: "ANTIPATHY TOWARD PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT LIKE THEM" aka Harvard speak for they're not voting for me cuz they're white trash, gun-toting, Bible-quoting bowling alley racists. Gimme a break. He was running on Iraq thinking it would be all he needed to beat Clinton as well as that ridiculous notion of *new politics* He's from Chicago. Instead the Economy became #1 and which demographic of the electorate does that affect mostly? Who has had the economy as her #1 since day one? Who has laid out specific plans? Who did Mad Money Kramer said was the best of the candidates as far as the economy? And who has had pep rallies chanting C
  - Posted By: Alma @ 05/10/2008 12:06:52
    
    Comment: The fact that Americans need to put the color of someone in front of his or her name proves that America is still a racist. We call African-american, Latino, Asian...why not the white (or better said pink because whites are more pinkish than anything else).
    The day that we call people by their names without color, origin, gender, sexual orientation, or title. That day we will be able to say that America is not racist any more. What a great day taht will be!
  - Posted By: Etta Mae @ 05/09/2008 22:54:27
    
    Comment: And who has had pep rallies chanting CHANGE! HOPE! because he has no plan?
    - Posted By: Iamnotamused @ 05/11/2008 00:35:53
      
      Comment: He does have a plan but no one could HEAR the plan because people were too busy talking (ad nauseum) about Rev. Wright and freaking lapel pins.
    - Posted By: 12waz @ 05/10/2008 03:42:25
      
      Comment: Excellent points. The change in the economy from 37% to 67% and less emphasis on Iraq explains the problem. He didn't have a plan and it wasn't in his top three six weeks ago. Haha. Ready on day one. Brazile is awfully hostile for an uncommitted undeclared or whatever superdelegate. Old politics, but Wright a moderate pastor? I couldn't believe I saw her say that. And she was wailing on Bogala and Davis. Real classy. And real brave surrounded by Hillary haters. I've read some of your emails Ms Brazile and they are plain nasty and very clear on who you support. You're just jockeying for position to see who can cast the deciding vote. I says alot about who you are. Thanks Etta. His words are so racist and no one seems to care - well not the obama camp (MSM & DNC) - I imagine the republicans won't be as censoring. They've already started on Hamas and his surrogates are whining. And of course they know nothing about him and how there is a very real concrete connection. it's only just begun...
Posted By: Stay Focused @ 05/09/2008 3:49:45 PM

Comment: Newt Gingrich perfected the politics of divide and conquer.
Posted By: just jerry @ 05/09/2008 2:56:58 PM

Comment: The Obama campaign picked up on this style of politics well and used the very same tactics republicans used against the Clinton's in the 1990's almost word for word -they will do anything to win -they can't be trusted, they are devious, they never say, or do, anything by mistake, they are cold and calculating - to perfection to defeat them within the democratic party!
These tactics are a part of all political cultures and used in a subtle manner often go unnoticed. Few would understand that a democrat used used these so called "republican" tactics against another democrat! The reality is that it wasn't issue differences that won it, instead it was the familiar of so-called "republican" tactics of personal attacks against character that won the day.
These tactics work and it is silly to assume they start with Nixon or the republican party. These tactics are as old as the hills. Nixon simply wasn't as subtle in their use. On the other hand, Obama was. The idea that Obama has used them would, I'm sure, cause outrage among his naive backers because of the subtle nature of their use.
A real analysis of politics, instead of a pop culture piece of fluff, would have educated the public to this reality. Jerry Eaton
Posted By: thrasher32 @ 05/09/2008 2:19:13 PM

Comment: The author's grasp of the obvious is astounding.

Nixon, then Reagan, then Bush I & II, and now we're done with that Republican rubbish. The republican devolution (yes, that DE-volution) is officially over, or will be in November. Hopefully we're passing into an age of new politics where we take care of our own people and stop killing our kids in senseless quagmires for no reason other than oil, ideology, or profit.
Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 1:30:08 PM

Comment:

Of course, Nixon is dead, and Graham, now 83, has just apologized; it would be easy enough to ignore these horrific conversations as the ramblings of an already discredited President.

But when we are busy condemning national chauvinism, religious hatred and war crimes abroad, it is no time to whitewash our own past. To utter such thoughts invites the riposte that one seeks to weaken our nation rather than strengthen it.

Thankfully, this country has a clear history of questioning sanctimonious expressions of authority, and the release of these tapes, however late, is a clear example of that.

It is hard to imagine many other nations making such information public without being forced by revolution.

In fact, for every Richard Nixon in US history, there has been a George McGovern who dared to speak truth to power. A highly decorated combat pilot in World War II, McGovern took on Nixon before Watergate, with a bold stand against the Vietnam War that allowed demagogues to spit on a true hero's patriotism.

Although well ahead in the polls, Nixon was so intent on destroying his opponent in the 1972 presidential race--in the tapes, he refers to McGovern as a "damn socialist with a blind spot for communists"--that he set in motion the Watergate break-in of the Democratic Party headquarters to look for smear material.

Playing the devil, Nixon was finally burned by the hot breath of history that was unleashed by his own greed for power.
Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 1:25:09 PM

Comment:

The Nixon tapes are more than just fodder for a biographer's footnotes. They give us a bracing insight into the beastly side of our own nature that can manifest itself in our leaders, even though we are a fundamentally decent people.

If we listen to the words of this two-term wartime President, we will find an indelible record of a leader's capacity for deep evil.

Nixon may not have been the worst of our Presidents but, through the accident of his penchant for secret recordings, he is certainly the most revealed. The Nixon Library should transform itself into an institute for the study of official mendacity so that we may be reminded why the Constitution was written: to protect the citizenry from the corruptions of power.

Kind of makes us wonder "Where have we been for all of these last 30 + years?"
Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 1:14:27 PM

Comment:

As the tape rolls

At another point, news arrives of the shooting of George Wallace, the former Alabama governor, who was expected to run in the 1972 election. Nixon, without missing a beat, says to blame the assassination attempt on the Democrats: "Just say he [the shooter] was a supporter of [George] McGovern and [Ted] Kennedy. Just put that out.... Say you have it on unmistakable evidence."
Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 1:10:04 PM

Comment:

Elsewhere on the tapes, Nixon chats with Henry Kissinger about the escalating bombing of Vietnam and interjects that "I'd rather use the nuclear bomb."

He even chides Kissinger for being overly worried about noncombatant victims: "You're so goddamned concerned about the civilians, and I don't give a damn. I don't care."

As if to prove this grim claim, Nixon callously dismisses the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the girl fleeing napalm bomb attacks as "fixed"--a sentiment worthy of Slobodan Milosevic.
Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 1:06:14 PM

Comment:

In tapes released Nixon warns the Rev. Billy Graham that the Jews control the media and endorses Graham's statement that "this stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain"--a sentiment assuredly echoed in the surviving cells of Al Qaeda. In another conversation, with former Texas Gov. John B. Connolly, Nixon is heard saying of Jews, "They're untrustworthy.... Look at the Justice Department. It's full of Jews."
Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 12:50:04 PM

Comment:

It's been three decades since President Richard M. Nixon was taped in the White House delivering anti-Semetic rants on how Jews are the scourge of our nation, why we should nuke Vietnam and how that infamous photo of a naked, 9-year-old girl fleeing a napalm attack was actually a fake. Because of the time lag, these latest revelations of Nixon's depravity have elicited a big media yawn, with the story landing back by the classifieds in most of the newspapers that even carried it.
Posted By: sonstone @ 05/09/2008 12:04:33 PM

Comment: There is pretty strong evidence that this behavior goes back to Jefferson. Joseph Ellis talks about this a bit in his book Founding Brothers.
Posted By: blarneykist @ 05/09/2008 12:03:43 PM

Comment: To get some sense of exactly what Senator McSame-McCain will do in the 2008 presidential election, keep in mind that John McBush is bosom-buddies with G. Gordon Liddy. G. Gordon is one the the Nixon White House plumbers that orchestrated the Watergate break-in back in 1972. G. Gordon recently held a fundraiser for Senator McBush and profusely extols the virtues of the presumptive Republican nominee. Senator McSame's campaign refuses to answer media questions about the Lddy/McCain relationship.
Posted By: Sovereign77x @ 05/09/2008 11:58:05 AM

Comment: It occurs to me that so much of the politics of hate and dirty tricks are truly red herrings designed to distract the public from the issues that matter most. By dividing the country into "us v. them" segments, politicians can avoid the unpleasant business of actually addressing the problems which confront this nation. An interesting article on this can be found below:

http://www.strangelegacy.com/2008/05/07/integrity-of-political-opinion/

It's time for us to re-engage and expect more from those that we elect to be our leaders.
Posted By: pissed-off @ 05/09/2008 11:30:42 AM

Comment: ask Hillary for she;s pised off too she will knowingly or unknowingly do anything or say anything to make a divide by her latest comment ;s plus she forgot about when she first started this race she wa hoping Bill could win back all the Afro-American voter's enen showed up at KING memorial and say she even threw her book-bag hey I'm cool go girl all politcal hype if not she should throw her weight behind OBAMA instead of MR.McCAIN can't say he is racial just he know's about those time now it's either he want's to acknowledge how far we come or go back it's cool either way for we have alway's been forgiving even when it hurts' so Nixon might have just that we were needed but on her she has got the game twisted let's turn the page Iknow you'll heard the man, our futrue and the kids futures'are at stake plus we have more of a coalation of ethnic's in AMerica today u-c YES WE CAN really means all of us that's CHANGE IS WHAT WE BELIEVE IN SEE YAH HILLARY PLEASE go and re-evaluate your substance for you showed yourself again did talk that trash when when you used TUBBS AND JACKSON BLACK WOMEN who went all out for you for their supporters and votes you just made them props'huh we could BOB JOHNSON for he is a un-attached divorced billionaire some type of role model it was thier right to support you but hey you are pumping gas and driving the bus What was that noise Rendell I don't know but I am getting ready to jump off beep beep hey SEnator McCAIN were you going I"m alright go ahead lady i'm cool huh alway's got LENNY and HANNITY the rest you have on speed dial sorry had to put it out there so the SUPER"S won't sleep for again we all are here together trying to do a greater good and way for all people of the world who let us
- Posted By: dick kay @ 05/10/2008 03:26:11
  
  Comment: Aptly named. Are you a disciple of NO, NO, NO, GODDAMN AMERICA Wright? You must really hate yourself to have to hate on someone like this everyday to make you feel better. I hope it brings you solace like the hate of Obama's mother's race brought him.
- Posted By: Politicaladdict @ 05/09/2008 12:49:14
  
  Comment: This is really a strange disconnected diatribe.
  - Posted By: madmike @ 05/09/2008 21:18:30
    
    Comment: Thank the NEA.
Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 05/09/2008 11:21:35 AM

Comment: Thomas is full of nonsense. He forgets that hateful invective and discourse in the political arena far predates Nixon. Congressman Charles Summner of Massachusetts,nearly beaten to death on the floor of the US House,by South Carolina congressman Preston Brooks. Louisianas New Deal Governor Huey ''The Kingfish''Long,who FDR called ''the most dangerous man in America''. The Rush Limbaugh of the period,Father Coughlin,whose rabblerousing tirades on radio and in speeches packing in tens of thousands of devotees railed against the ''socialist''policies of the Roosevelt administration. The 1940s-50s Red Scares. Beyond McCarthy,the virus affected Democrat and Republican alike and can be called rightly the true genesis of the eventual ideological split between Americas right and left. No doubt about it.Nixon was as crafty and shifty as they came,yet Thomas[who is a liberal],the writers of the Nixon tomes[all liberals themselves],failt to point out that the 1950s merely began the widening of the split between the ''working-man/uneducated''rightist and the ''elitist,college educated''liberal/leftist that this very media center still exploits today,with its recent article on West Virginia. The Nixons and the Longs may start fires of hate,but it takes the media to keep it stoked.
Posted By: C. MacLean @ 05/09/2008 10:48:37 AM

Comment: Richard Nixon didn't invent Hate - it's been around since Cain and Able.

He did, however, elevate it to an art form, by harnessing Hate's partner, Fear, and giving it a power and creedence unmatched by any previous president.

Reagan did a masterful job of adding race to the mix, Bush has contributed advanced homophobia, and now Clinton, of all people, has managed to throw in class.

As long as we have candidates who work best by creating "us" and "them," Hate and Fear will continue to truimph.

.
- Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 10:58:36
  
  Comment:
  
  Well said!
  - Posted By: Alvy @ 05/09/2008 20:32:40
    
    Comment: Sure was.

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Divide and Conquer

Discuss

Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/11/2008 11:01:26 PM

Posted By: mexed @ 05/11/2008 10:13:19 PM

Posted By: Nins @ 05/11/2008 6:07:08 PM

Posted By: Chris Paris @ 05/11/2008 3:36:32 PM

Posted By: pdavidp @ 05/11/2008 3:29:37 PM

Posted By: fan_chor-cheung @ 05/11/2008 12:22:43 PM

Posted By: yvonnetxy @ 05/11/2008 10:43:48 AM

Posted By: yvonnetxy @ 05/11/2008 10:41:21 AM

Posted By: Doorgunner @ 05/11/2008 8:42:48 AM

Posted By: Doorgunner @ 05/11/2008 8:34:22 AM

Posted By: Sinibaldi @ 05/10/2008 2:33:05 PM

Posted By: Alma @ 05/10/2008 11:59:26 AM

Posted By: republicanSScareme @ 05/10/2008 11:55:07 AM

Posted By: bettysdad @ 05/10/2008 2:31:42 AM

Posted By: 12waz @ 05/10/2008 03:44:22

Posted By: prdarling @ 05/10/2008 2:30:57 AM

Posted By: olderwiser @ 05/09/2008 9:48:59 PM

Posted By: mahmed1125 @ 05/09/2008 9:17:33 PM

Posted By: mahmed1125 @ 05/09/2008 9:15:56 PM

Posted By: mahmed1125 @ 05/09/2008 9:15:42 PM

Posted By: Alvy @ 05/09/2008 8:30:20 PM

Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 05/09/2008 7:37:33 PM

Posted By: Bulls**t Detector @ 05/09/2008 4:22:57 PM

Posted By: Alma @ 05/10/2008 11:55:31

Posted By: Etta Mae @ 05/09/2008 22:28:12

Posted By: Alma @ 05/10/2008 12:06:52

Posted By: Etta Mae @ 05/09/2008 22:54:27

Posted By: Iamnotamused @ 05/11/2008 00:35:53

Posted By: 12waz @ 05/10/2008 03:42:25

Posted By: Stay Focused @ 05/09/2008 3:49:45 PM

Posted By: just jerry @ 05/09/2008 2:56:58 PM

Posted By: thrasher32 @ 05/09/2008 2:19:13 PM

Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 1:30:08 PM

Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 1:25:09 PM

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Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 12:50:04 PM

Posted By: sonstone @ 05/09/2008 12:04:33 PM

Posted By: blarneykist @ 05/09/2008 12:03:43 PM

Posted By: Sovereign77x @ 05/09/2008 11:58:05 AM

Posted By: pissed-off @ 05/09/2008 11:30:42 AM

Posted By: dick kay @ 05/10/2008 03:26:11

Posted By: Politicaladdict @ 05/09/2008 12:49:14

Posted By: madmike @ 05/09/2008 21:18:30

Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 05/09/2008 11:21:35 AM

Posted By: C. MacLean @ 05/09/2008 10:48:37 AM

Posted By: Driver of wagons @ 05/09/2008 10:58:36

Posted By: Alvy @ 05/09/2008 20:32:40

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