Tag: Richard Nixon

Following the Trail Nixon Blazed

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Obama shows the same Orwellian disregard for the Constitution.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online 

What would a president do if he were furious over criticism, or felt that his noble aims justified Nixon_while_in_US_Congressmost means of attaining them?

Answer that by comparing the behavior of Richard Nixon to that of an increasingly similar Barack Obama.

Nixon tried to use the Internal Revenue Service to go after his political enemies — although his IRS chiefs at least refused his orders to focus on liberals.

Nixon ignored settled law and picked and chose which statutes he would enforce — from denying funds for the Clean Water Act to ignoring congressional subpoenas.

Nixon attacked TV networks and got into personal arguments with journalists such as CBS’s Dan Rather.

Nixon wanted the Federal Communications Commission to hold up the licensing of some television stations on the basis of their political views.

Nixon went after “enemies.” He ordered surveillance to hound his suspected political opponents and was paranoid about leaks. Continue reading “Following the Trail Nixon Blazed” →

Learning through Pain

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by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media 

What will history make so far of our five-year voyage with Barack Obama? What will it make of hope

LarimdaMe via Flickr
LarimdaMe via Flickr

and change — other than a sort of hysteria of 2008 that was a political version of the Pet Rock or the Cabbage Patch Doll derangement? Did we really experience faux-Greek columns and Latin mottoes (vero possumus) as Obama props to usher in the new order of the ages?

What exactly made David Brooks focus on trouser creases, or Chris Matthews on involuntary leg tickles? How could any serious person believe a candidate who promised to change the very terrain of the planet? Why would sober critics declare a near rookie senator “a god”?

Only as America slowly sobers up from five years of slumber can we begin to fathom Obama’s likely legacy — which is mostly wisdom acquired only from pain. Continue reading “Learning through Pain” →

Obama’s Watergates

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Denial, evasion, “Let me be perfectly clear”–is this 2013 or 1973?

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

The truth about Benghazi, the Associated Press/James Rosen monitoring, the IRS corruption, the NSA octopus, and Fast and Furious is still not exactly known. Almost a year after the attacks on our Benghazi facilities, we are only now learning details of CIA gun-running, military stand-down orders, aliases of those involved who are still hard to locate, massaged talking points, and the weird jailing of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Continue reading “Obama’s Watergates” →

Lying in the Age of Obama

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By Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media

A Nation of Liars

The attorney general of the United States lied recently to Congress [1]. He said he knew of no citizen’s communications that his department had monitored. Lie!

In fact, Holder knew [2] that his subordinates were targeting reporters. He also did not tell the truth about the New Black Panthers case [3]. He had sworn that there was no political decision to drop the case. Not true; the decision came from the top. He again lied about the time frame in which he first learned of the Fast and Furious case [4]. Continue reading “Lying in the Age of Obama” →

The President Won–Sort Of

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The administration spent the last six months of the campaign in cover-up mode.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

On September 11, 2012, Barack Obama was 1 point ahead of Mitt Romney in the ABC and Washington Post polls. Continue reading “The President Won–Sort Of” →

The Second Time As Farce

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by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

The lengths to which some are going to excuse the IRS corruption (“the tea-party groups deserved extra scrutiny”), Continue reading “The Second Time As Farce” →

Nixon Is a Fair Comparison

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by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

There have been lots of comparisons, most hotly dismissed by the president’s defenders, between Nixon and Obama, but in some ways the latest scandals have the potential to match or even trump those of 1973–4. Continue reading “Nixon Is a Fair Comparison” →

A Tainted Campaign?

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by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

If it is proven that the IRS thwarted some groups from obtaining tax-exempt status in fear that their traditional or conservative messages might hurt the 2012 Obama campaign (especially if it did so under pressure from White House-affiliated operatives), Continue reading “A Tainted Campaign?” →

Journalists as Ring Wraiths

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by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Today’s Washington journalists are like J. R. R. Tolkien’s ring wraiths, petty lords who wanted a few shiny golden Obama rings — only to end up as shrunken slaves to the One. Continue reading “Journalists as Ring Wraiths” →

The 2012 Election Circus–the Acts, the Players, the Hype

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by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

The Latest Scandals

Taxes: What does it matter that Gingrich released one year of his tax records? Any candidate can prep them a year in advance. Continue reading “The 2012 Election Circus–the Acts, the Players, the Hype” →