Of all of the 'gates
So "Deep Throat" has been outed. W. Mark Felt has publicly admitted his role in the Watergate investigation, Woodward & Bernstein's remarkable exposes, and the whole sordid affair. There is going to be a big spread in Vanity Fair, but I don't read that. For the record, The Washington Post has affirmed that Felt was the so-called source "Deep Throat." One mystery solved.The argument can be made that the actions of these men brought the President to his knees. It may well be true. Nixon has never been a favorite of mine. He always seemed a bit greasy and untrustworthy, and came off a bit too...creepy for my tastes. Again, I don't care what party he belonged to, the fact of the matter is he should have behaved better.
Politics has always been a dirty business. Nice people don't go into politics and survive. Politicians are always hiding the proverbial dead bodies and digging up those belonging to their enemies. Digging up dirt and slinging mud. Nasty business. But the Watergate thing really crossed the line. I can't explain it, other than to say it was too dirty for even politics. I can't condone that sort of behavior from anyone, much less the leader of the free world. Call me naive if you must, but I won't be swayed.
Which is why, I suppose, that Bill Clinton caused me such disgust. He was cut from the same cloth as Nixon. He played dirtier than the rest and that dirt found its way into much nastier crevices. Why, I ask you, should I trust a man to lead who doesn't deserve the trust of his own wife?
(crickets chirping)
If you have no personal integrity, no personal boundaries of behavior, how can I trust you with the football? I can't trust the man, I can't respect the man, I certainly can't vote to give him any authority. And it is for similar reasons that I could never vote for a candidate Hillary Clinton for President.
I don't care how far to the right she moves, the fact of the matter is she is too soft and tainted by the same nasty brush as her husband. In point of fact, she stayed with him knowing all of the smutty details. She supported him, true. And that is important in a wife. But there comes a limit where you don't go down with the ship. If my husband was a serial adulterer, lied about it, and generally made me look a fool...how could I stay with him? How could I respect him, or myself for that matter. Weakness is not something I find admirable in somebody who wants to be the leader of the free world. If she'll apologize for her husband's public peccadilloes, will she also bend to the terrorists or terrorist-enablers? How can I see her negotiating from a position of strength when she doesn't garner any respect from her husband?
I know there will be people out there that say "marital relations have nothing to do with politics or leadership." But I disagree. To me, they are linked. A person's ability to keep their own house in order is a tell to how they can keep the big house.
And, it isn't as though she is solely guilty by association. Travelgate. Cattlegate. Campaign-financegate. So far she has skated scott-free, but you know what they say about a lot of smoke, doncha? The lady can barely breathe the smoke's so thick around her.
The one thing you have to admit is that Watergate changed the way we speak. Now all scandals get "gate" added to them. Memogate. Whitewatergate. What if instead of being at the Watergate, the DNC had been headquartered at the Ramada, the Howard Johnson, the Holiday Inn, or the Hilton? Memoada? Whitewaterson? TravelInn? Cattleton? Just doesn't have the same ring.
