For no reason at all I've found myself thinking about John Dean's August 16, 1971 Nixon administration memorandum entitled “DEALING WITH OUR POLITICAL ENEMIES." Presumably such memos have now been deemed totally legal and cool by the Supreme Court.
I love the fact that one of the people who Dean thought would be especially adept at identifying "enemies" was Pat Buchanan, future "America First" candidate for President.
Also, Lyn Nofziger, the future Reagan aide who was put in charge of using the government to go after Nixon's enemies, cut his political teeth in 1946 by trying to get one of his high school teachers fired because she was supposedly a red.
North Hollywood Valley Times, 17 October 1946.
On this July 4th, let's celebrate people like Blanche Bettington and give a big Bronx cheer to tyrannical fools like Lyn Nofziger. Los Angeles Times, 13 September 1993.
Blanche Bettington opposed Japanese internment, supported the Civil Rights Movement, opposed the Vietnam and first Gulf Wars, and was against the death penalty. Not a bad record, in hindsight, I'd say. Lyn Nofziger, meanwhile, tried to use the federal government to punish Nixon's enemies.
Stunning that Nofziger tried to get Bettington fired because he thought SHE posed a threat to the freedoms of American citizens. Confirmation of the evergreen insight that for American conservatives, every accusation is a confession.
Yes,bit is. I call it "pre-emptive blame." It's designed to undercut the other side's investigations, making what are true findings of wrongdoing look like whataboutism or an attempt to shift blame. In the news media's "both sides" presentation, pre-emptive blame works chillingly well.
Love your sharing of research and history, but at times, it makes me think the arc of the moral universe isn’t bending towards anything. It’s just vibrating back and forth like a cartoon character that ran into a road sign.
