I wasn't alive during the Nixon administration, so I don't know how the events that led to his resignation unfolded in the public eye. From the research I've done, it seems that Watergate was seen as an unfolding mystery that was solved by the WaPo.
Is it possible that if the Democrats don't win back Congress in 2006, that Bush could still be forced to resign due to all of the scandals and crimes they have committed?
I say, yes. Let's forget about impeachment and 2006 because the Democratic party in Washington has played it's own role in getting us here.
If we can get one news outlet, show, or journalist CNN? MSNBC? Olberman? NYT?,to pressure for a Bush resignation, just as the WaPo did for Nixon, then we can show the Democrats in Washington our REAL power as a blogosphere. We need to develop a website that lays out the ENTIRE case for his resignation and target one outlet to pressure. If I were a web designer, I'd do it right now.
Nixon's Downfall
Nixon brought on his own destruction in the way he dealt with the crisis, too -- in fits and starts, with outright lies and half-truths.
As TIME noted in January 1974: "First there were blanket denials, lavish claims of executive privilege and invocations of national security. Then came repeated clarifications, previous statements declared 'inoperative,' and multiple promises of full disclosure. Subpoenas were resisted. The persistent Special Prosecutor was fired. Next a sudden yielding to the courts, followed by an Operation Candor that was far from candid, claims that crucial tapes were 'nonexistent' and the revelation of a mysterious flaw in one recording."
The White House's approach, dubbed a "limited hangout" strategy by some, satisfied neither Judge John J. Sirica nor Congress.
Releasing information in dribs and drabs only succeeded in converting Watergate into a riveting serial mystery. The question, as Sen. Howard Baker put it during the Senate hearings, was always, "What did the president know and when did he know it?"
In the end, on Aug. 5, 1974, Americans got their answer. The president knew a lot, and he knew it early.
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