@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:There was no witch hunt against Nixon,
Yes there was. The Democrats lynched Nixon for:
a) spying on his political rivals even though that was standard procedure for both parties and the Democrats had done it far worse than Nixon had ever done, and
b) trying to stop the investigation, even though the Constitution clearly gives the President total power to decide what the federal government will and won't do.
The fact that they succeeded in destroying Nixon doesn't change the reality that it was all a witch hunt. The fact that the witch hunt was successful only made it all worse.
Setanta wrote:Fourteen Reagan administration officials were indicted in the Iran-Contra affair, including his Secretary of Defense, Caspar Weinberger. All of that was after Reagan went on national television to say that there was no trade of arms for hostages, and then a year later to admit that there had been a trade of arms for hostages.
What is the supposed wrongdoing here?
That Reagan got the hostages freed?
Or that he lied about making a deal to free the hostages because his advisors feared that it would inspire more hostage taking if it became known that the US government would cut a deal?
Knowing liberalism, probably both. Liberals probably wanted the hostages to be killed, and probably wanted to inspire as much hostage taking as possible.
Setanta wrote:What witch hunt would one allege was conducted against Baby Bush? "Scooter" Libby was Cheney's aide, and he was convicted in the Valerie Plame affair--the highest ranking official convicted since Poindexter was convicted in the Iran-Contra affair.
You just answered your own question there.
Setanta wrote:That wasn't much of a witch hunt.
Wrong. Intentionally getting an innocent person convicted for the express purpose of damaging your political rivals is the epitome of what a witch hunt is.
Setanta wrote:and the Saturday Night Massacre when Archibald Cox was fired, and after the two highest officials at the Justice Department resigned rather than take the ax to Cox--Nixon's administration qualifies as the sleaziest bunch ever to go before Federal grand juries.
The Constitution gives the President the power to fire anyone in the federal executive branch that he wants to fire.
Lynching the President for merely exercising his lawful power is very much a witch hunt.
Setanta wrote:It ain't a witch hunt if they're committing crimes for which they are indicted and convicted.
That isn't necessarily true. It can still be a witch hunt even if it uncovers crimes.
But in this case there were no crimes other than the trivial crime of the initial breakin. It's not against the law for the President to exercise his constitutional authority and decide that someone should be fired or that an investigation should not be pursued.
