Double Standards

Ben Stein, who was a speechwriter for Nixon, writes this in the American Spectator:

Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POW's, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Administration. Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?

Oh, now I remember. He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office and keep his agenda of peace going. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace. And he succeeded.

That is his legacy. He was a peacemaker. He was a lying, conniving, covering up peacemaker. He was not a lying, conniving drug addict like JFK, a lying, conniving war starter like LBJ, a lying, conniving seducer like Clinton -- a lying, conniving peacemaker. That is Nixon's kharma.

Bullshit aside, I wonder if Stein would then denounce Dubya as a lying, conniving warmongeror like he did with LBJ. I rather doubt it (note how he skipped Dubya). I also found it amusing that he finds a lying politician to be so drool while labeling Clinton a "seducer," which is probably about as equally applicable to politicians as being a liar, and lauds Nixon for his achievements without doing the same for Clinton and his economic boom and peacemaking (Kosovo, Bosnia)

Not surprising, but I thought I would point it out...

P.S. I will say that there are some snippets that I kinda agree with, mainly that Nixon is underappreciated for some of the liberal-minded domestic regulatory bodies he created (e.g. OHSA, EPA). I sure doesn't save him from being a crook and anti-Semite (natch) but it is at least something.

Update: If you really want to see some wild-eyed stuff, check out Peggy Noonan...