Almost?

As seen on MSNBC just now, here?s Pitchfork Pat Buchanan, comparing Bush?s likely response to Gore?s dramatic Joe Lieberman snub to the CREEPy old days of 1972:

We were working almost clandestinely to get McGovern the nomination.

Comments

[fyodor]

Did Buchanon get Muskie to cry?

[Matt Welch]

Fyodor -- No, but there *was* some Dirty Trick involving that incident, or at least the spin thereof.... Right! It was the "Canuck" thing, which he was busy denying at that press conference -- it was totally made up by a CREEP, and so his response was therefore somewhat emotional (also, there was something about his wife); plus, it was snowing, so what looked like tears may have been a snowball ... but I still blame the Ibogaine Effect.

[The Merovingian]

Matt Welch,

Was this the most corrupt period of American presidential politics ever, or did Nixon simply "get caught?"

[Matt Welch]

Merov -- I wrote a longer & incredibly nuanced response, but computer trouble right now prevents me from posting more than about 75 words at a time (don't ask). So, short answer: How the hell should I know?

[Mark A.]

"Almost" clandestinely? WTF? Something is either clandestine, or it's not. There is no "almost".

[KW]

Is it a given that "working clandestinely" to get a particular opposing candidate nominated is somehow corrupt? Strikes me as the free market at work. Whether it's Democratic voters crossing lines to vote in open primaries (like in 2000), Gray Davis ensuring Riordan's primary defeat, or any (possible) shenanigans going on with the current campaigns, the goal is to gain an advantage over your competition. It's the same thing business owners do every day. Sure, it's unseemly, but nothing new -- and given human nature, unlikely to change.

[Douglas Fletcher]

"Was this the most corrupt period of American presidential politics ever, or did Nixon simply "get caught?"

It probably wasn't the most corrupt (look back at the Grant or Harding administrations) but it certainly was the most entertaining Presidential administration in my life, far more so even than Clinton, I think. Nixon, what a character.