We Could Use a Man Like Whittaker Chambers Again

Richard Nixon on All in the Family, homosexuality, and hot pants:

[Via Andrew Sullivan.]

Comments

[shecky]

It's nice to be reminded what a clueless asshole Nixon was.

[Jeff P]

Who will be the first to use samples from this in a sweet bass-thumping house mix?

[Warren]

It's nice to be reminded what a clueless asshole Nixon was.

I can't agree. Nixon was obsessed with power, and too eager to discard a principle for political expediency. Definitely an asshole. However, I'd say he was one of the least clueless presidents we've had. It's depressing to think how many bite marks short of a clue the guy we got now is.

[Randolph Carter]

That was really interesting.

[anon]

What a repugnant person.

[John]

Warren is right. Nixon was a really corrupt person but he had a huge intellect. Just for entertainment value, I would love to see him take on Bambi. Nixon would crush him. Nixon was smart as hell. Probably the most intelligent President since Wilson. Think abou that for a second, the two smartest Presidents of the 20th Century were Nixon and Wilson. Doesn't say a lot for the value of a huge intellect.

[ev]

That was fascinating--I should check out more Nixon tapes.

Nixon was intellectually incredibly smart--maybe one of our smartest. The man was just paranoid and he didn't understand people. I read this one story where he went to the beach in like knee-high socks and dress shoes. Didn't understand how people were having fun. Just baffled.

Oh, and hot pants.

[tg]

So when Ehrlichman says of the linebacker at the bar: "He's so handsome, virile and strong..." that's not queer, but the ascot...that's all sorts of gay.

[Rhayader]

Hah, wow, can you even imagine a president using the word "fag" today? Political suicide.

Just as an aside, All in the Family was a great show.

[ed]

"I don't even want to shake hands with anybody from San Francisco"

He must have met Nancy Pelosi. She would have been what...about 45 then?

[PapayaSF]

John: I believe Hoover was quite intelligent, which also goes to prove your point.

[John]

papaySF

Hoover was also very compassionate. He helped feed Europe after World War I and rebuild the Mississippi delta after the great flood of 1927.

[Len]

I remember his last day in office when I stationed at Ft. Bliss. The place went nuts! Very strange for a military installation but his photo on the Chain of Command board came down within minutes and was smashed outside the building and everywhere else his mug was.

All these years later I can't remember another instance of this type rage against "the man". No, those retro-kiddies and their scenes are even worth noticing these days.

Could another day of shattered frames be on the horizon?

[Warren]

Just as an aside, All in the Family was a great show.

All in the Family was the best sit-com ever. No other show has even come close. What's really amazing/pathetic/tearing a hole in the space-time continuum, is that it's twice as many years ahead of it's time today as when it first ran.

[Colin]

Interestingly, the guy who played the gay ex-football star in that All in the Family episode Nixon's talking about just died last week.

[BakedPenguin]

The one thing I actually agreed with is his comment on fashion designers. They design for (and hire models that are) super-skinny women. Fortunately, there has been a change recently to have clothes for (and models that are) slightly more buxom women.

[John C. Randolph]

Nixon praising the commies. Why does this not surprise me?

-jcr

[L. Ron Hoover]

They beeped out the most interesting fourteen seconds, where Nixon expresses his "understanding" for homosexuality.

Incidentally, what Nixon says about fashion designers has some truth to it. Just think of the huge divide between the stick-figures sold to us as beautiful in the mass media and what men really want, as manifested by their porn choices.

[Lefty]

God Bless Richard Nixon. At least he was honest in his sentiments. Obama lies about his support for gay marriage. BTW Can't wait for the Clinton tapes. He would have ejaculated right there at the utterance of 'hot pants.'

All is the Family was a great show even though I disagree with Norman Lear's politics. Archie Bunker is a great American archtype and more right about the world than people are willing to give him credit. Carroll O'Connor was a great American actor. Reading between the lines I think Nixon was more tolerant of gays, he knew they needed all those interior decorator jobs. I didn't think he wanted to deprive them of a living. He let J. Edgar Hoover keep his job.

Nixon was dead on with his remark about gay fashion designers. They are responsibly for anorexic girls. Dead one.

Is Andrew Sullivan having Obama's baby? Can someone forward the baby register at TJMaxx?

[shecky]

Nope. Nixon demonstrates quite well that he was clueless on that recording, political acumen and paranoia aside.

Incidentally, what Nixon says about fashion designers has some truth to it. Just think of the huge divide between the stick-figures sold to us as beautiful in the mass media and what men really want, as manifested by their porn choices.

Fashion designers sell women's clothes (mostly) to women. Not men. To use your comparison, it's like arguing porn represents what women want, not men.

[PapayaSF]

Shecky: Which is why all Hollywood movies reflect the broad political sentiments of the majority of Americans, and not the views of the Hollywood elite?

Camille Paglia also believes the skinny/boyish fashion model thing is due to gay designers.

[cls]

Nixon was such a disgusting man. As for the remark about not wishing to shake hands with someone from San Francisco may I point out that Milton and Rose Friedman lived in San Francsico on Taylor Street for years -- she still does I believe. In addtion Antony Fisher, founder of the Institute for Economic Affairs and countless others, also lived in San Francisco (in the same building as Friedman in fact).

Bigots have such small minds and say such stupid things.