If "Watergate" Happened Today

[THUNDER HANDS]

It wouldn't even be in the Top 10 of Bush scandals over the past 4 years of his presidency.

If it happened in today's climate, it would be a one-week story and people would forget about it. If they even cared in the first place.

Speaking as a 26-year-old, I find it amazing that the Watergate scandal was able to bring down Nixon, who seemed like a titanic political figure. Of course, it probably helped that the Democrats controlled congress in those days.

Who knows, maybe if, for the past 4 years, the Dems had controlled congress, they would have been able to bring Bush down in similar fashion. But we'll never know.

But we do know this: today, Watergate would be considered NOTHING.

[Independent_Liberal]

1. Another Watergate is in the making right now as we speak...

Wait and see for yourself. It's coming. Be patient.

[xynthee]

14. Do tell!!! n/t

[cornermouse]

2. If Watergate happened today, they would either get a

Medal of Freedom and a plush retirement or an advance in position. In the Bush administration, incompetence and/or corruption is rewarded.

[corker]

3. sad but true

* is guilty of crimes much worse than watergate....

[murielm99]

4. Watergate did not happen overnight.

We have to keep prodding Democrats and the few honest repukes that exist.

I lived Watergate back then. I was a Watergate junkie. I was 26 years old, too.

I never thought Nixon could be brought down. I had the same cynical attitude you did. Today was glorious.

Never give up.

[Catma]

5. If there

was another scandal like Watergate I fear it would be dismissed as dirty liberal crap and they would find something small like a spelling mistake or a punctuation error and then claim the whole thing was made up by the reporters and then arrest the reporters. Then we would be in worse shape then before

[sam sarrha]

6. Nixon didnt resign because of H2OGate.but because of the IRS investigation

into where the BRIBE MONEY came from.. where does all the DRUG money go..?? and what better way of laundering it !!

[Jack Rabbit]

7. If Watergate happened today . . .

. . . and if we were lucky, Woodward and Bernstein would be a couple of guys with British accents and CNN would still tell us more about a missing little girl in Utah, a runaway bride in New Mexico or a sensational criminal trial in California than about the President being a crook.

[cestpaspossible]

8. It's not just Congress that's different, it's the Press.

There's no way the Washington Post would cover the story today.

[chelsea0011]

9. It may not get the legs it did when Nixon was Pres. but remember

Watergate happened in 1973 and Nixon still got re-elected in 1974. It took awhile for the masses to come around. Nixon didn't tank until the tapes came up. Then the public got wind. And it wasn't just Watergate. It was the cover up, FREEP, the enemies list, and Vietnam.It all came crashing down. The difference is that there were Republicans with courage back then. It won't happen now unless things get so bad that Republicans begin to feel their re-elections are jeopardized.

[kenny blankenship]

11. Reelected in 1974? Well I'll be...

Not everybody knows stuff like that.

[chelsea0011]

15. sorry, i didn't know you voted for him

[kenny blankenship]

17. Feeney2, 1974 was two years after Nixon's reelection

In fact, Nixon resigned in 1974. Don't be sorry, just try to be a little more lucid.

[chelsea0011]

20. I know. I got it. I got the dates wrong. I didn't know there was a test.

[Stand and Fight]

18. You're wrong on a few key facts and/or omitting others...

1. Nixon was re-elected in 1972.
2. Watergate happened prior to that on June 17, 1972.
3. The acronym is not FREEP. It's CREEP -- Committee to Re-Elect the President.
4. It was the CREEP ties to the break-in that got people thinking. The five men arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters were Virgilio González, Bernard Barker, James W. McCord, Jr., Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis.
5. People started to ask not only, "Did the president know?" but, "When did the president know?"
6. Alexander Butterfield's testimony about the tapes was one thing, but the revelation of an 18.5 minute gap was critical in bringing down the charade.
7. The rumored "enemies list" was not that much of a factor in the impeachment of Nixon, but the bribes, the fight over "executive privilege," and the conversations between John Dean and Richard Nixon specifically were very harmful.

:evilgrin:

[JRob]

10. My opinion... is that the Bush agenda (prior to 2000) made it...

Critical for them to "place" neocons in key senate and house seats in order to avoid investigations etc. Diabold and the threat of the FCC to leverage the media helped this effort. No American President in History could have gotten away with what Bush has in the last few years.

[Independent_Liberal]

12. The house of Bush will come crashing down very soon...

The shit the Bush Junta is responsible for is so much bigger than Watergate. Bigger than Iran Contra too.

The scandals are of UNBELIEVABLE proportions! When it all comes out the American public and the Republicans won't be able to ignore it. Nobody will be able to sustain this shit. It will be the freaking motherload!

You wait and see!

Never give up.

:)

[Pharaoh]

13. these guys make watergate look like

kindergarten!

[CityDem]

16. Not so fast

People may not recall what a ruthless bastard Nixon was during his political career. As president he lied about the Viet Nam war, compiled enemies lists, solicited millions of illegal campaign contributions and lied routinely to the American people. He was a nasty drunk and we should never forget his role in damaging this country. AWOL is bad as well, but let's not gloss over Nixon's dark side.

[Stand and Fight]

19. Let's not forget what he did to Alger Hiss...

Or to defeat Jerry Voorhis in the 1946 elections to the House of Representatives...

Or what he did to win in misrepresenting the record of Helen Gahagan Douglas for a Senate seat in 1950...

This could go on and on... But let's be realistic here -- Nixon was a rank amateur compared to George W. Bush.

[ChiciB1]

21. I Agree With You Somewhat.... But

I recall those days, and even thought it started BEFORE the election, Nixon was elected by a LANDSLIDE! This story took a very long time to catch on, even back then!

I remember clipping daily articles and being glued to the TV Hearings. It was really fascinating.

Having seen this unfold as slowly as it did keeps me focused that eventually the corruption will CATCH UP with The Corrupt Ones today. Maybe it's only wishful thinking, but if you look back through history somehow most of the stuff does rise to the top! Not all, unfortunately.

We have to stay vigilant and keep pounding the pavement until something happens. Still, I've never actually seen anything like what is going on now. I think there will HAVE to be an uprising of some sort before the message really hits home.

That's what internal REVOLUTION is all about and it's happened many many times here in America. Right now, it looks like we've returned to TOTAL CAPITALISM, before Unions! Al La Arthur Andersen decision yesterday!!!

[kentuck]

22. I think the lies about WMDs were much worse than Watergate...

George Bush should be in prison, in my opinion.