Nixon: Still Kicking

Especially Wack  https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=81176ddc83&view=att&th=128c8088d2108834&attid=0.0&disp=inline&zw

 

They’ve had to surrender parts of the Nixon Presidential Library to ancient enemy the National Archives, they’ve seen their beloved Watergate exhibit trashed, but the Nixon bitter-enders still have some fight in them.

Coming Monday at the Nixon Library, the return of a particularly byzantine branch of the Nixon tree: a former Nixon aide claiming Watergate was but an elaborate scheme to install Teddy Kennedy as President, with a walk-on by youthful ingenue Hillary Clinton.

The details need not concern us here [trust me, it’s a stretch], it’s the spectacle of these lost battalions hoping against hope that over that next hill is the promised land.

It makes the Truman cult look normal by comparison.

The Nixonian event flogs a book which appeared in 2008 and promptly sank from view, the book’s blog remaining a dream unfulfilled.

If only they’d mobilized the awesome power of social media®! https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=81176ddc83&view=att&th=128c80d3d22f17a4&attid=0.0&disp=inline&zw

George W. Bush: Scene Of The Last Roundup?

        Grave Importance   

Fancy color sketches and models of the George W. Bush Presidential Library have been loosed upon an anxious world, and must be mined for clues.

Like, where will they bury him?

Assuming Bush follows the pharaoh-ic path of FDR, Truman, Ike, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and his father’s plan at College Station, he’ll have to be buried on site. If the “Texas Rose Garden” above is a little too outdoorsy, there is the Freedom Tractor Beam inside.

 


The careful viewer will note a presidential quote on the wall behind the generic assembled white folks.

It’s a line from Bush’s 2004 Republican Convention acceptance speech, in which he claimed we are summoned by a “calling from beyond the stars.“  Here on Earth Bush had begun the year attempting a call to greatness with a vague drumbeat for Mars exploration, then buried the exciting initiative by the time of his State of The Union address. http://www.tvsgreatesthits.com/promo_images/BattleBeyondTheStars/BattleBeyondTheStars.png



The convention speech itself was delivered with a spaceport motif.  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J6vosktI4LA/SuXCDpkwbcI/AAAAAAAAAXo/4ZSKwCsZgok/s400/bushconvention2004.jpg

A model of the George W. Bush Presidential Center is displayed Wednesday in Dallas. This view shows the north facade along SMU Boulevard.   SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM/DAVID WOO   The Library grounds are touted as a Bush gift to the nation, or at least SMU, providing “numerous spaces for events and gatherings,” but don’t plan your protest rally just yet.

… unlike the formal, tree-lined landscape of the main campus, this garden contains hills and draws and winding paths that conceal surveillance cameras and other security equipment.

       View from southeast of the Bush presidential library

Poker In The Service Of Freedom

Chips Ahoy!    truman-poker.jpg

The Wall Street Journal dips into the bottomless well of presidential pastimes to discuss poker and its role in the defense of the West.  Harry Truman’s lifelong devotion to gambling is approvingly reviewed, with side discussion of Winston Churchill’s legendary alcohol consumption and failings at cards.

  Poker was played on the eve of Churchill’s storied Iron Curtain speech, allowing writer James McManus to wrap himself in ominous clouds of doom.

The Cold War was just weeks away. The ability to read who was bluffing and who wasn’t would be more important than ever.

 

http://www.uncommongoods.com/images/product/16511_lg.jpg

Ronald Reagan: Show And Tell

 


A Killer Tree, A Pony And A Welfare Queen Walk Into A Bar…
 

The delightfully named David Rambo taking his skills learned producing “CSI” to the crime scene that was the Ronald Reagan presidency.The packagers of  Harry Truman and Teddy Roosevet’s pissy endearment for the one man stage have turned their attentions to the beloved former president.

Reagan will supply the one-liners musty even in their day, and Rambo is to bring the sparkle.

Sadly, this meant the departure from the project of Hollywood right wing icon Lionel Chetwynd, who from the rather rough clay of George W. Bush’s 9-11  http://www.calgary911truth.org/my_weblog/images/2007/05/04/295_card_tells_bush20500817229210.jpg   response fashioned a heroic narrative. DC 9/11 - Time of Crisis  

The Bush Legacy: See You In Court!

Got It Covered   bush-winks.jpg

Fantasies of George W.Bush finally answering the numerous suits, inquiries and subpoenas pending against his administration after he leaves office received a cold shower Thursday from the New York Times, which reports a crackpot Harry Truman legal theory may have empowered presidents to tell Congress, the courts and polite society generally to screw off.

Comic Genius    truman-comic.jpg

Mr Plain Speaking was freshly out of power and interested in dodging congressional subpoenas, so his lawyers cooked up a theory giving presidents executive privilege even when no longer executiving.  Edward M. Cramer was a junior attorney on the scheme, and told the Times  “I think, legally, we were wrong.”

This Truman Doctrine returned in the 70s when Richard Nixon cited it as precedent to not answer questions about Watergate.

“Mr. Cramer recalled, “Nixon used it, and we said ‘Oh, Jesus, what have we done?’ ”

We can only imagine how far Bush will run with this notion. He has already played with the law on Presidential Archives, issuing an executive order which may delay document release into perpetuity.  Bush invented new rights for ex-presidents and their heirs to mess with the release of presidential papers, potentially giving crack head  Noelle Bush or legendary whore-hound Neil Bush say in the release of their father’s, uncle’s, grandfather’s or brother’s history.
Gettin’ ‘Er Done, Hope-Style!   obama-calm-down.jpg

Democrat’s appetite for the truth may fade with time. Barack Obama has already invited the opposition to whine about any under-rock peering, saying:

“I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think we’ve got too many problems we’ve got to solve.”

Our best hopes for justice, or at least messing with, may lie abroad.
No Time Like The Present!  european-vacation.JPG

George Bush famously barely traveled overseas, but others in his Administration traveled widely. Everything may change after January,  when mischievous foreign prosecutors may launch investigations and indictments of war crimes accusations against Bush and armies of lesser administration figures.

We’ve all enjoyed the spectacle of Henry Kissinger dodging investigators looking into his Chilean adventures.

Imagine the fun to be had next time Donald Rumsfeld visits the chocolate makers!