NP? "Happy 30th anniversary Watergate buffs!"

[Doug Millison]

http://www.counterpunch.org/mccarthy0617.html

[,,,] The best answer to the "lesson of Watergate" question was provided by
Noam Chomsky who, by the way, wrote the best article which appeared in the
best book (a collection of essays) on the Watergate scandal, aptly titled
"Big Brother and the Holding Company."

The lesson of Watergate, Chomsky noted, was that it's perfectly fine in
this country to use Gestapo tactics on those outside the mainstream of US
politics, especially the political left: but to use fascistic tactics
against one's peers in the power structure is to court banishment.

And so Nixon's fall from grace and power as CEO of the US empire transpired
not because all of a sudden we realized Nixon was a criminal. As Chomsky
further noted, Nixon--and Kissinger-- were demonstrably two of the biggest
criminals of the 20th century.

Nixon's crime was he attacked fellow power brokers, DNC chief Larry O'Brien
and Ted Kennedy and the Washington Post.

Crimes such as the secret bombing of Laos or Cambodia and the railroading
of activists such as Vietnam veterans like the Gainesville 8's Scott
Camille were briefly noted and/or ignored.

Indeed, the U.S. House impeachment committee ruled out the bombing of
Cambodia as one of the articles of impeachment.

Another lesson of Watergate is that it literally takes a "smoking gun"
i.e., tape to convict or impeach a US president (the Clinton exception
noted) no matter how transparent the criminal behavior. [...]