In the 1960s, we had the “resurrection of Richard Nixon”! Now in 2011, we have the “resurrection of Newt Gingrich”!
The difference is that with all of the negatives we can conjure up about Richard Nixon in 1967-1968, the negatives were nowhere near the number that Newt Gingrich faces in 2011-2012.
The statement in 1967 and 1968 was that Richard Nixon had “changed”, and that he could be trusted to lead our nation, despite earlier character issues in his 14 years as a Congressman, Senator, and Vice President.
As it turned out, there was no NEW Richard Nixon, and while he certainly had some virtues in office, his “evil” side showed up, and he faced impeachment and resigned in disgrace in 1974!
As it WILL turn out, IF Newt Gingrich ends up winning the GOP Presidential nomination in 2012, all of his warts, his weaknesses, his character issues, both politically and personally, will be revived, and to believe that Newt Gingrich is a changed man is unrealistic.
The Republican Party will implode around Gingrich, as he will NOT unite the party, and has no capability of uniting the country, so the stalemate and gridlock that is present today will become ever worse if he is, by some miracle, elected President!
the issue isn’t whether Nixon was ethically impaired. he was. but it is equally important to look at what he tried to do, starting with a health reform plan that would have guaranteed insurance to all. his domestic initiatives made a lot of sense, tho many of us rejected them out of hand because of the partisan environment.
You are correct, Jim, in the partisanship utilized against Richard Nixon, but with all that, Nixon actually went along with many Democratic domestic reforms, including the EPA, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and OSHA, all ideas that the Republicans since Ronald Reagan, and even more now, bitterly oppose. So besides Nixon and Watergate, most Republicans today would reject Nixon for his “liberal” domestic reform activity! How far the GOP has come, moving
to the FAR RIGHT!