"Everything old is new again"

When Democrats complained about Republican dirty tricks in the 1972 campaign they were labelled as whiny liberals who just couldn't handle hardball politics. Then Woodward and Bernstein blew the lid off of what White House-sponsored criminals like G. Gordon Liddy(1) and Donald Segretti (2)were really up to on behalf of Richard Nixon and the Republicans and people wanted Nixon's head. Only his resignation and Gerald Ford's willingness to choose peace and quiet over justice kept his crooked criminal ass out of prison.

Its a good thing that kind of thing is no longer tolerated by the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys. I mean, crimes committed for the purpose of intimidating political opponents, like torture and rampant corruption, are the sort of things we expect to see in third-world tinpot dictatorships, right?

Fun fact footnotes!
1. G. Gordie's fondest childhood memories include listening to radio broadcasts of speeches by Hitler that "made me feel a strength inside that I had never known before" a lasting effect of which being that even today "at assemblies where the national anthem is played, I must suppress the urge to snap out my right arm."
2. Segretti's protege in the 1972 campaign was none other than College Republicans honcho Karl Rove. Segretti was also the co-chair of John McCain's presidental campaign in Orange Country, Calif., in 2000 - further proof of McCain excellent judgement.