Painting by Max Hilton-Gray
For years, rumors have swirled around my supposed involvement in the death of Richard Nixon. There are countless variations, but the basic version is this: that someone asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I said "I want Richard Nixon dead". In the hope of putting these rumors to rest, let me say now: to the best of my knowledge, I had nothing at all to do with Nixon's death, which I believe to have been from natural causes.
Nixon was, however, the first politician I can really remember hating. He was paranoid, vindictive, corrupt, obsessed with secrecy, and more than a little in love with power. He did tremendous damage to the basic structures of democratic rule, and he would have done more if he could have gotten away with it.
Just for perspective, though, it's worth noting (as Atrios reminds us) that
whatever his flaws, Nixon was a giant of a man compared with the doofus currently occupying the White House.Which is the saddest part of the whole thing.
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