Chuck Colson, Watergate scandal figure, dies at 80

[calimary]

11. Well, okay.

He sure did a lot of damage in his day - more than he even anticipated if you extrapolate out the young "College republi-CONS" who hung on his every word and idea, and have lived on to apply a lot of those lessons to the great sadness and disgrace of this country.

I have so many mixed feelings about the whole "he went to prison and found God" thing. I DO believe that souls can be saved. I DO believe in deathbed conversions. And I'm glad he found some sort of - I dunno - SOMETHING. But hey, he found it awfully doggone late, and only AFTER he'd done all this shitty stuff to people and ruined careers and sabotaged campaigns and just really icky things, not to mention sow the seeds for lee atwater and in turn his evil spawn who learned this kind of shit at HIS knee: kkkarl rove. colson left a long swath of wreckage behind in his lust for power and influence and positioning in the pecking order next to the alpha male of this dreadful criminal pack. And in some cases, I'm afraid, it strikes me as being a cop-out. Oh you're in prison so NOW you've found God, 'eh, and all of a sudden that just washes all your crime and guilt away and makes it all better. Oh how cute. That doesn't change who you were, and maybe still are, and it doesn't change what you did or turn time back and reverse the damage you did and the hurt and ruination and betrayal you caused - the effects of which people still have to live with. Better late than never, I guess, 'eh?

It's awfully hard for me to go there, though. No you don't get off that easy with me, you conniving weasely schmuck! And yeah, I know I'm supposed to be forgiving too. But this one's among the more difficult ones.