Defaming Bill Clintons Legacy of Hope

[Fudd]

When Bill Clinton, one of the US greatest President left office he left the citizens of his country with a legacy of hope in the form of the American dream of owning a home.

It is especially difficult in a capitalist society for the poor to get ahead in life and almost impossible for them to be able to afford to own a home. But Clinton made home ownership a reality for many low income people when he made reforms to a previous program to make banks put back into the community in the form of small business loans and mortgages to low income people.

By now ever body is aware of the financial crisis in the US which the greedy banks and Wall Street fat cats blamed on bad and defaulting mortgages. The reality is once Clinton left office the bankers and Wall Street fat cats saw an opportunity to make even more money and started jacking up these peoples interest rates unfortunately they just went too far and pushed it to the point where people just could not afford to continue paying the mortgages. This problem was even made worse by the greed of those who bought and sold homes to of flip a profit and when the housing bubble burst everything went to hell.

It is absolutely obscene how Clintons legacy of hope was corrupted by a greedy people. There are even defamitory articles like this that wrongly blame Clinton.

Bill Clinton Helped Cause The Housing Crisis
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977461051

Last week I was in the US helping with the election campaign to get Obama elected as President when I heard a real life story about a single mother who was working for minimum wage and how this crisis has hurt her. She had been renting in a real horrible neighbourhood when she was given an opportunity to own her own home. She took advantage of the mortgage program and was able to purchase a home in an decent part of town. She was able to rent part of the house for extra income and live in the rest of the house with her kids. But after a while her mortgage payment increased dramatically to the point where she could not keep up. She is in limbo now and is hoping that with Government intervention she can still keep her home.

What I would like to see is that 700 billion dollar bay out package be used to help this and many other low income home owners out there keep there homes and I think Obama is the person that can do it and restore hope for this woman.

 

[InTheBum]

Bill The Bullshitter!

Personally, I think Bill Clinton is simply over-rated! He had it so easy with the dot.com boom going on during his tenure. Then once he left, 911 hit.


As far as saving the poor with mortgages...don't count on it. The mortgage industry gets complicated quite quickly and who are the going to get to do all the calculations? THis shit doesnt happen over-night...while people must continue with their lives and bills. Also, what part of the 750 billion is going towards individuals? Very little, so a second bailout will be required, if they are to save the low income earners from losing their homes.

 

[hunsperger]

Personally, I think Bill Clinton is simply over-rated! He had it so easy with the dot.com boom going on during his tenure. Then once he left, 911 hit.

precisely...

he was a decent orator, but substantively and morally he was bankrupt...

keep in mind also, that while 9-11 occurred under Bush's presidency the planning and logistics took place while Clinton was president...

he was too busy with Monica to be bothered with such trifles...

having said that, I'm hoping the Democrats secure the White House on Tuesday...

only because the Republican ticket is so pathetic, read Sarah Palin...

Hillary should have a prominent role in his (Obama's) cabinet...

she has been a tremendous team player, if not for all the right reasons...

 

[island-guy]

Only you would be so stupid to think that giving a bunch of people shovels to dig their own grave of debt is a GOOD thing.

The current mess was caused by Clinton's political BS and dumb idea of forcing the mortgage companies to lend money to people who couldn't afford it and also to illegal immigrants who couldn't be relied on to pay it back (they have the highest default rates by far)

9-11 was caused by Clinton's naive approach to international relations.

The jihad types LOVE to have democrats in office, remember what happened when Jimmy Carter was president? hint: Iran...

Bill Clinton was a smart guy who figured that the best way to get laid with as many young dumb interns as possible was to become president, so he did.

 

[chilli]

Bill Clinton was a great president, did he make some mistakes - yes - but who amongst us hasn't?

And as far as the crack about doing Monica and interns... I find it pretty hypocritical that peope who frequent this board would have anything remotely intelligent to say about another mans sexual excapades.

Bill Clinton tried to do some good, the problem is that there are always asshats willing to take advantage of the good naturedness of others....

It's called greed...

It's as simple as that, nothing less nothing more.

 

[Bartdude]

Only you would be so stupid to think that giving a bunch of people shovels to dig their own grave of debt is a GOOD thing.

The current mess was caused by Clinton's political BS and dumb idea of forcing the mortgage companies to lend money to people who couldn't afford it and also to illegal immigrants who couldn't be relied on to pay it back (they have the highest default rates by far)

9-11 was caused by Clinton's naive approach to international relations.

The jihad types LOVE to have democrats in office, remember what happened when Jimmy Carter was president? hint: Iran...

Bill Clinton was a smart guy who figured that the best way to get laid with as many young dumb interns as possible was to become president, so he did.

lol, where'd you get that spittle-induced, frothing-at-the-mouth BS...Fox News?

 

[Irresistible Isabelle]

Personally, I think Bill Clinton is simply over-rated! He had it so easy with the dot.com boom going on during his tenure. Then once he left, 911 hit.


As far as saving the poor with mortgages...don't count on it. The mortgage industry gets complicated quite quickly and who are the going to get to do all the calculations? THis shit doesnt happen over-night...while people must continue with their lives and bills. Also, what part of the 750 billion is going towards individuals? Very little, so a second bailout will be required, if they are to save the low income earners from losing their homes.

GWB assumed office January 20, 2001. He was in for 9 months before 9/11 and his government disregarded actual information that was presented directly to them. The problem with intelligence during the Clinton years was that the NSA/FBI/CIA would NOT share info. That's a matter of the agencies' policies, it had nothing to do with a Clinton Policy.

precisely...

he was a decent orator, but substantively and morally he was bankrupt...

keep in mind also, that while 9-11 occurred under Bush's presidency the planning and logistics took place while Clinton was president...

he was too busy with Monica to be bothered with such trifles...

having said that, I'm hoping the Democrats secure the White House on Tuesday...

only because the Republican ticket is so pathetic, read Sarah Palin...

Hillary should have a prominent role in his (Obama's) cabinet...

she has been a tremendous team player, if not for all the right reasons...

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I don't think he can be blamed for the Monica controversy. He got a blowjob, so what? If it hadn't been for the Republican/Star witch hunt, perhaps he would have had more time to better run the country. The only person who had a right to gripe about him getting some head is Hillary, everyone else should mind their own business.

Only you would be so stupid to think that giving a bunch of people shovels to dig their own grave of debt is a GOOD thing.

The current mess was caused by Clinton's political BS and dumb idea of forcing the mortgage companies to lend money to people who couldn't afford it and also to illegal immigrants who couldn't be relied on to pay it back (they have the highest default rates by far)

9-11 was caused by Clinton's naive approach to international relations.

The jihad types LOVE to have democrats in office, remember what happened when Jimmy Carter was president? hint: Iran...

Bill Clinton was a smart guy who figured that the best way to get laid with as many young dumb interns as possible was to become president, so he did.

One of Clinton's mistakes was pulling out of Mogadishu. It confirmed Bin Laden's notion that if the US sees its own blood they chicken out & pull out. Clearly an "image" the Bush Gov't was clearly attempting to disprove.

Bill Clinton was a great president, did he make some mistakes - yes - but who amongst us hasn't?

And as far as the crack about doing Monica and interns... I find it pretty hypocritical that peope who frequent this board would have anything remotely intelligent to say about another mans sexual excapades.

Bill Clinton tried to do some good, the problem is that there are always asshats willing to take advantage of the good naturedness of others....

It's called greed...

It's as simple as that, nothing less nothing more.

What he said.

Liked him as a President but all his side issues were distracting.
He then went and got himself Impeached.
He did a good job all on his own by Fucking up his own Legacy.

Again, Clinton got a blowjob. What happens in his personal life is no one else's business and he is by no means the only prez to ever get some on the side. Wonder why it's always democrats who get caught? It's because the hypocritical morality police that is the Republican party makes it everyone else's business in order to discredit them.

 

[AA_Train]

Clinton was a good president but a bad husband. He understood that in order for the economy to be strong, the middle class needed to be safe and secure financially, hence the policy to make home ownership a reality for everyone. When his second term was done, Al gore was supposed to carry on with things until the "unpleasantness." Bush JR and his cronies decided to take money out of the middle class' pockets and take away any jobs that made it possible for home ownership without overextending themselves financially. Now we have what we have. I think, though well-meaning, such a policy of home ownership for everyone no matter what their income wasn't realistic and in part, at least phliosophically, is why we are in the crisis that we're in. The republicans and the neo-right has actually made it happen. Also, bubbles burst, which is what is happening right now. Same with the dot com bubble and we steered through that. Anyone who questions Clinton's family values is on solid ground but he's was, and still is, the best president the US has had since Kennedy. His personal conduct outside of politics has nothing to do with his ability to lead.

 

[sirlickheralot]

Wonder why it's always democrats who get caught? It's because the hypocritical morality police that is the Republican party makes it everyone else's business in order to discredit them.

The Republicans are too busy getting caught up in gay sex scandals (Larry Craig, Mark Foley, etc.) to go around having sex with women. The Republicans must have gotten over their aversion to adultery, otherwise why would they have nominated a confessed adulterer as their candidate for president.

 

[hunsperger]

best president the US has had since Kennedy./QUOTE]

Kennedy was another president who let the little head do the thinking...

the fact that he was assasinated has distorted people's judgement of him...

he wasn't a good president or a bad president...

just the President...

for a very short period of time...

Nixon has probably been the most EFFECTIVE President in the last 50 years...

his two crowning achievemnts were esablishing relations with China and ending the Vietnam war...

 

[island-guy]

Did the administration force mortgage companies to lend to illegal immigrants?

Actually Clinton did sign a law that prohibited 'discrimination' based on several criteria, one of them was immigration status.

So, in effect, yes the administration DID force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to lend to illegals.

 

[island-guy]

One of Clinton's mistakes was pulling out of Mogadishu. It confirmed Bin Laden's notion that if the US sees its own blood they chicken out & pull out. Clearly an "image" the Bush Gov't was clearly attempting to disprove.

Yep.

Also, remember what ended the hostage crisis with Iran. Ronald Reagan got elected and Iran crapped their pants. No longer were they dealing with Jimmy Carter...

Clinton has said himself that on 'at least one occasion' they 'had Bin-Laden in their sights' but he couldn't get approval from congress to have him assasinated.

Somehow I doubt GWB would have had the same problems with getting approval...

It's all about fear. They just weren't afraid of Clinton.

 

[island-guy]

Here's a nice read for you

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/6315/strange.html

 

[island-guy]

Read up on who/what exactly Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were and in particular their relationship with the US government and HUD etc...

Fannie and Freddie got their marching orders from the Clinton administration big time.

 

[Bartdude]

IG - seeing as how the only proof you've offered so far is some nutjob link, your words have zero credibility.

 

[Krustee]

It is especially difficult in a capitalist society for the poor to get ahead in life and almost impossible for them to be able to afford to own a home. But Clinton made home ownership a reality for many low income people when he made reforms to a previous program to make banks put back into the community in the form of small business loans and mortgages to low income people.

That's right Fudd the program to do this was called the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and it was started in 1977 under another bleeding hearted liberal President, Jimmy Carter.

Congress passed the act after considerable pressure from the Carter administration in an attempt to appease the grassroots affordable housing advocates.

The banking community was opposed to the CRA as they felt it would force them to assume more risk on the loans to unqualified loan applicants.
Banks, mortgage lenders & Savings & loan firms were able to continue denying low income high risk applicants on that basis.

Bill Clinton aka. "Slick Willy" & his administration changed all that in 1995 giving leverage to the CRA & adding some teeth to this sleeping dog so that it could now not just bark but bite as well.

This government "regulation" was accomplished through the empowerment of two GSE's (Government Sponsored Enterprises) Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac.

The Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as Fannie Mae, provides funds to lenders & guarantees mortgage related securities.
Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress to create a flow of funds to mortgage lenders.

These two GSE's were manipulated by the Clinton administration to force lenders into providing more loans to low & middle income home buyers or lose the backing of these two enterprises, which consequently caused the lenders to relax their lending criteria & accept more risk on those loans.

The above is critical info - DOES EVERYBODY UNDERSTAND THIS?

By now ever body is aware of the financial crisis in the US which the greedy banks and Wall Street fat cats blamed on bad and defaulting mortgages. The reality is once Clinton left office the bankers and Wall Street fat cats saw an opportunity to make even more money and started jacking up these peoples interest rates unfortunately they just went too far and pushed it to the point where people just could not afford to continue paying the mortgages. This problem was even made worse by the greed of those who bought and sold homes to of flip a profit and when the housing bubble burst everything went to hell.

It is absolutely obscene how Clintons legacy of hope was corrupted by a greedy people. There are even defamitory articles like this that wrongly blame Clinton.

Bill Clinton Helped Cause The Housing Crisis
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977461051

This is the part where I basically show how little reality Fudd has in his statements above.

As I pointed out in my above commentary the lending institutions were strong-armed into lending to low & middle income earners by the GSE's Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac by threatening to cut off funding & guarantees of their loans unless they complied with the demographics promoted by the CRA.

Hey folks, that is not deregulation that is regulation!

What Fudd & most people out there do not understand is that there is a thing called POLITICS in Washington & for these institutions rely on congress to pass laws & policies which will enable them to conduct business without forcing them into financial loss or undue risk of loss.

Back to the story here;
Fudd what is obscene here is that the Clinton administration meddled with the lending institutions & used Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac to force these lenders into making high risk loans.

The lenders were not happy about this & concessions were made regarding the term of the "rules".
Read the following:

In 1995, as a result of interest from President Bill Clinton's administration, the implementing regulations for the CRA were strengthened by focusing the financial regulators' attention on institutions' performance in helping to meet community credit needs.

These revisions with an effective starting date of January 31, 1995 were credited with substantially increasing the number and aggregate amount of loans to small businesses and to low- and moderate-income borrowers for home loans. These changes were very controversial and as a result, the regulators agreed to revisit the rule after it had been fully implemented for seven years. Thus in 2002, the regulators opened up the regulation for review and potential revision.

Also read this:

Consider the low lending standards that were a significant component of the mortgage crisis. Lenders made millions of loans to borrowers who, under normal market conditions, weren't able to pay them off. These decisions have cost lenders, especially leading financial institutions, tens of billions of dollars.

It is popular to take low lending standards as proof that the free market has failed, that the system that is supposed to reward productive behavior and punish unproductive behavior has failed to do so. Yet this claim ignores that for years irrational lending standards have been forced on lenders by the federal Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and rewarded (at taxpayers' expense) by multiple government bodies.

The CRA forces banks to make loans in poor communities, loans that banks may otherwise reject as financially unsound. Under the CRA, banks must convince a set of bureaucracies that they are not engaging in discrimination, a charge that the act encourages any CRA-recognized community group to bring forward. Otherwise, any merger or expansion the banks attempt will likely be denied. But what counts as discrimination?

According to one enforcement agency, "discrimination exists when a lender's underwriting policies contain arbitrary or outdated criteria that effectively disqualify many urban or lower-income minority applicants." Note that these "arbitrary or outdated criteria" include most of the essentials of responsible lending: income level, income verification, credit history and savings history--the very factors lenders are now being criticized for ignoring.
http://www.forbes.com/opinions/2008/07/18/fannie-freddie-regulation-oped-cx_yb_0718brook.html

Last week I was in the US helping with the election campaign to get Obama elected as President when I heard a real life story about a single mother who was working for minimum wage and how this crisis has hurt her. She had been renting in a real horrible neighbourhood when she was given an opportunity to own her own home. She took advantage of the mortgage program and was able to purchase a home in an decent part of town. She was able to rent part of the house for extra income and live in the rest of the house with her kids. But after a while her mortgage payment increased dramatically to the point where she could not keep up. She is in limbo now and is hoping that with Government intervention she can still keep her home.

What I would like to see is that 700 billion dollar bay out package be used to help this and many other low income home owners out there keep there homes and I think Obama is the person that can do it and restore hope for this woman.

I would like to see this woman keep her home too Fudd but the fact remains that this woman signed a sub-prime loan with a term clause on that sub-prime rate which obviously came to term & the loan rate went to the higher rate agreed to in the mortgage contract.

There has to be a bit of personal responsibility when entering into a contract & this woman no matter how nice she is bears that responsibility both in a legal & moral sense.
Upon investigation I am sure you will see in the terms of her mortgage contract that she had plenty of opportunity to back out of the mortgage for a period of time during the closing on the house.

Because she did not do so she is subject to the terms & conditions of the mortgage no matter how unfair it may seem to her.

"But daddy I don't like my mortgage make them change it for me & give me a pony too!"

Personally, I think Bill Clinton is simply over-rated! He had it so easy with the dot.com boom going on during his tenure. Then once he left, 911 hit.

As far as saving the poor with mortgages...don't count on it.
Also, what part of the 750 billion is going towards individuals? Very little, so a second bailout will be required, if they are to save the low income earners from losing their homes.

None of the 750 billion is going to the people because the gubment did not force them to take those sub-prime loans they did it themselves.
The lenders on the other hand, were forced to give loans to these buyers who had no real capacity to repay once the sub-prime term ended & the rate reverted back to the normal loan rate.
These lenders would never have done this had Fannie Mae (FNM) not guaranteed these loans giving what amounts to an insurance policy to the lending institutions.

What made it worse is the lending institutions saw this as an opportunity to take advantage of the guarantees backed by FNM & satisfy the new rules of the CRA which made regulators happy.

Freddie Mac was guilty of securitization of CRA loans containing subprime mortgages & then promoting them on the stock market as FNM backed loan securities.

precisely...
having said that, I'm hoping the Democrats secure the White House on Tuesday...

only because the Republican ticket is so pathetic, read Sarah Palin...

Hillary should have a prominent role in his (Obama's) cabinet...

she has been a tremendous team player, if not for all the right reasons...

Are you nuts?
Hillary or the Hillinator is a fucking nightmare to any administration cuz she has to wear the pants all the time.

Bill Clinton was a great president, did he make some mistakes - yes - but who amongst us hasn't?

Bill Clinton tried to do some good, the problem is that there are always asshats willing to take advantage of the good naturedness of others....

It's called greed...

It's as simple as that, nothing less nothing more.

What you fail to comprehend is basic common sense which I think should be properly termed uncommon sense based on all the idiocy I see every day.

It is a nice thought to think - "Gee wouldn't it be great for everybody to have a home."

Isn't it nice to tell people that you will give them a house with a nice kitchen & a pot & a chicken to cook in that pot?

It's nice to think those thoughts & say those things but unfortunately it is not based in reality.

Simple math dictates that 0+0=0 ... ie. you can't get something from nothing.

Giving an unrealistic loan to someone who cannot pay back that loan is not good fiscal policy & it is NOT a GOOD thing!

What would have been good is to act with some fiscal responsibility & put in place a program that could pay for itself without risking the tax payers money.

 

[Krustee]

Did the administration force mortgage companies to lend to illegal immigrants? Or did mortgage brokers nicely "package" mortgage applications to lenders so that illegal immigrants don't get screened out, get approved, and then the broker gets his commission?

I'm not sure that the problem is Clinton's program. I believe that the problem is twofold - a) that there is a conflict of interest relating to mortgage brokers, and b) that once retail banks contract debt on their books, they package up high risk mortgages together with low risk mortgages, and sell off packages of mortgages as high quality and low risk (syndication).

Mortgage brokers doctor up mortgage applications all the time in order to get loans qualified. Why? Because they get paid their commissions up-front. Bad debt won't appear until years down the road and there is little recourse for the broker.

I see what your sayin here rokhard but the fact remains that the CRA forced the lenders into making risky loans to satisfy an unrealistic idealism of the Clinton administration then capitulated by using Fannie Mae to guarantee the funding which put the ultimate risk of these securities on the government which in turn, as we have seen, falls on the backs of the people to the tune of 750 billion.

I don't think he can be blamed for the Monica controversy. He got a blowjob, so what? If it hadn't been for the Republican/Star witch hunt, perhaps he would have had more time to better run the country. The only person who had a right to gripe about him getting some head is Hillary, everyone else should mind their own business.

It is not just a matter of him getting a blow job it is the fact that he is the leader of the nation, the Commander in Chief who bears a responsibility to act appropriately while in office.
If he is going to do those things he should have been more discreet.
The other thing that you fail to realize is the political ramifications of this type of conduct.
This could allow an individual or group to hold sway of the most powerful office in the nation which Slick Willy should have given some thought to before he let Monica smoke his pink cigar.

I suggest you read the book "Primary Colors" or watch the movie which was adequate in it's depiction.

Again, Clinton got a blowjob. What happens in his personal life is no one else's business and he is by no means the only prez to ever get some on the side. Wonder why it's always democrats who get caught? It's because the hypocritical morality police that is the Republican party makes it everyone else's business in order to discredit them.

You mean the GOP never got caught?

It shows poor leadership for Willie to engage in that kind of activity while holding that level of office.

The highest office in the nation - possibly the world?

THINK ABOUT IT!

Clinton was a good president but a bad husband. He understood that in order for the economy to be strong, the middle class needed to be safe and secure financially, hence the policy to make home ownership a reality for everyone. When his second term was done, Al gore was supposed to carry on with things until the "unpleasantness." Bush JR and his cronies decided to take money out of the middle class' pockets and take away any jobs that made it possible for home ownership without overextending themselves financially. Now we have what we have. I think, though well-meaning, such a policy of home ownership for everyone no matter what their income wasn't realistic and in part, at least phliosophically, is why we are in the crisis that we're in. The republicans and the neo-right has actually made it happen. Also, bubbles burst, which is what is happening right now. Same with the dot com bubble and we steered through that. Anyone who questions Clinton's family values is on solid ground but he's was, and still is, the best president the US has had since Kennedy. His personal conduct outside of politics has nothing to do with his ability to lead.

You must be kidding about believing Slick Willie was the best the US has had in 40 years.

Willie had no where near the character of JF Kennedy.

Billy boy presided over an economy handed to him from the Reagan administration & missed 3 opportunities to take out Bin Laden.

He was & is a great orator but an ethically & morally bankrupt person.

He had hopes of helping America's poor but went about it in a unrealistic manner - a sad legacy indeed.

 

[Krustee]

I understand what you're saying and I agree that having Fannie Mae guarantee funding put a safety net under the lenders...this allowed them to take risks that they might not have otherwise taken.

But what are the loans that are going delinquent, and why are they going delinquent?

Isn't there supposed to be an assumption that the CRA had a level of risk that was acceptable, and anything over that level of risk would be declined? If we have brokers who are constantly pushing the envelope and doctoring these applications so that they appear to have an acceptable risk tolerance - but they are not in reality - then who's to say that the program was the issue?

Mortgage brokers in many cases can make nearly as much commission as a realtor on a residential deal...they have a tremendous amount of incentive to a) please the realtors that send them their business, and b) feed their bank accounts.

All they need to do is bump a few numbers here and there on the application (maybe add a year on the job, up the income a few hundred bucks a month, or omit some important info) and voila, you've got an application that shouldn't have qualified that now gets hundreds of thousands of dollars advanced.

And there is no way that you can prove that they did this. They can't track the loans years later nor can they prove that the information they wrote down wasn't provided to them by someone else.

I think what you are missing is the liability the brokers have for providing accurate information.

Brokers & lending agents have to be licensed or registered

The majority of mortgage brokers are regulated to ensure compliance with banking and or finance laws in the jurisdiction of the consumer; however, the extent of the regulation depends on the jurisdiction. Only one state within the U.S. has no laws that govern mortgage lending.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage_broker

Further to this these broker agencies need to be insured so if an agent screws up a couple loans he gets to be banned from filing until he or she is reinstated.

So for an answer to your questions above you should consider these facts.

The scenario you paint above being the culprit in this mess is not very likely in the grand scheme of things.

 

[spinynorman]

best president the US has had since Kennedy./QUOTE]

Kennedy was another president who let the little head do the thinking...

the fact that he was assasinated has distorted people's judgement of him...

he wasn't a good president or a bad president...

just the President...

for a very short period of time...

Nixon has probably been the most EFFECTIVE President in the last 50 years...

his two crowning achievemnts were esablishing relations with China and ending the Vietnam war...

While at the same time escalating the Indochina war by authorizing the secret bombings and then the invasion of Cambodia while withholding that information from Congress. He then followed this up by getting the CIA to back the overthrow of Chile's democratically-elected Marxist President Salvador Allende(nobody ever said democracy involved making smart choices!) by that butcher Augusto Pinochet. He then went for a hat-trick by being aware of the break in at DNC headquarters at the Watergate Hotel (name ring a bell?), then coercing the CIA to attempt to block the subsequent FBI investigation into the affair, refusing to cooperate with the Special Prosecutor, and finally trying to tamper with the White House tapes that later revealed his complicity in the entire affair.

Yes, Nixon made great breakthroughs with SALT and detente with the Chinese and later the Russians, but his flagrant contempt for the rule of law set a precedent that all future presidents think gives them carte blanche to wreak havoc on the nation they profess to love so much.

Watch the PBS production of "The American Experience: The Presidents" They offer some wicked insight into Nixon's psyche'.

 

[hunsperger]

Willie had no where near the character of JF Kennedy.

what character...

he was another president who turned the White House into a brothel...

his life ended tragically, but let us not practice revisionist history...

as for Hillary, sure she wants to wear the pants...

it comes with the territory...

they all want to be the straw that stirs the drink...

that's why they go into politics...

that said, I guarantee you Obama and her have already agreed upon what cabinet post she will have in his administration...

it was a something for something deal...