Nixon: the most enduring American of our time
I was just reading one of Curt Smith’s typically silly pieces for the local Messenger Post papers and it made me so mad I went to his website to find out more about him. I came across this love letter he wrote to Richard Nixon. It closes with
Nixon’s still The One — the most enduring American of our time.
You think I’m making this up, don’t you? I’m not.
For some reason, Mr. Smith’s latest magnum opus (the one that made me mad to begin with) isn’t on the Messenger Post website yet. I’ll give you the gist of it, though: upstate New York is doomed because not enough people go to church anymore. My two least favorite talking points — “upstate New York sucks” and “go to church or be damned” — rolled up into one. It’s not everyday that you read something that stupid.
You’ve really got to read the thing he wrote about Nixon. You’ll think you’re reading the Onion. Why do our newspapers print things like this?
Update: I nosed around and found from some very anti-GWB things from Curt Smith. So I guess he’s not all bad.
eh, he was a speechwriter for Bush I, you have to take what he says with a grain of salt
I don’t think Colin Powell or James Scowcroft would write things like that.
Look on the bright side, the newspapers are providing a vital public service. Think of it as affirmative action for stoopid white guys or occupational therapy for paranoid authoritarians. Without paying gigs as newspaper columnists or TV pundits, these guys would be picketing abortion clinics, ranting on street corners, or taking up valuable space in our prisons or mental hospitals.
Nixon was a jerk, there’s no question about it. However, and it pains me to write this, he was in some ways quite progressive. From wikipedia:
Which leads me to quote Michael Moore, from, I think, “Dude, Where’s my Country?”: