Bush Administration Deceit Has Roots in Nixon EraRandy Shawbyline‚ Aug. 09‚ 2007A common frame has emerged around the George W. Bush presidency: it is said to have exceeded any prior administration in its contempt for public opinion, incompetence, and use of outright lies to shape domestic and foreign policy. But as Arthur Blaustein and Geoffrey Faux showed in 1972, these exact traits were fundamental to the pre-Watergate Richard Nixon presidency. And Rumsfeld and Cheney were there, with the former using lies and deceit to kill the nation’s brief War on Poverty. Reading The Star-Spangled Hustle’s account of Nixon’s first term, especially the president’s plan for “Black Capitalism,” is like lifting headlines from today’s news---and the allegedly Nixon-hating media promoted that Administration’s lies just as eagerly as it has done for George W. Bush. |