Secret Lovers

In my somewhat notorious speech "'I didn't like Nixon until Watergate': The Conservative Movement Now," I made the argument that whenever the Nixon White House wanted something illegal, unethical, or underhanded to be accomplished obediently and without question, they turned to the adminsitration's self-described conservatives—and that this reveals the essence of conservative "principle": means-justifies-the-ends thinking in the service of destroying designated "liberal" enemies.

The latest documents released by the Nixon Library enrich my case.

There's this one, from April 15, 1971, from Haldeman aide Gordon Strachan (all links pdf):

Magruder suggests we assign an investigating reporter to do in-depth background research on Kennedy. It is Magruder's view that very damaging, and later very useful, information could be developed in this manner.

He suggests that we have the activity set up through Nofziger.

An alternative would be to have Chapin arrange it through Victor Lasky.

The first name, Lyn Nofziger, was Governor Reagan, and then President Reagan's, press secretary. He was convicted—the conviction was later overturned—for illegal inside lobbying for a defense contractor; I'm sure you can read about it in his memoir, published by fair-and-balanced Regnery. Bill Boyarsky, in his early Reagan biography, reports that little Lynnie ratted out one of his high school teachers to the state legislature's joint fact-finding committee on un-American Activities for being "always on the side of the left."

The second figure, Victor Lasky, was a kind of early-issue Ann Coulter, a right-wing hack author who, wouldn't you know it, came out with that modern (and wildly distorted) classic of two-wrongs-make-a-rightism It Didn't Start With Watergate (1978). I didn't realize until now it was meant to be self-exculpetory.

In a "SENSITIVE--EYES ONLY" document from that October, Richard V. Allen proposes investigating some cock-and-bull story of Ted Kennedy's supposed ownership interest in the Toyota distributorship in New England. Handy! "At a minimum, it could be suggested that the Japanese are involved with Kennedy funding."

Those truly hip to the ways and wiles of the Washington conservative establishment are already rolling on the floor laughing. For they will recall that the Japanese were involved with Richard V. Allen's funding. In November of 1981, while serving as Reagan's National Security Advisor, Allen was forced to resign for allegedly taking cash from Japanese journalists to set up an interview with Nancy Reagan. According to Wikipedia, Allen, now eaking out a living, "currently serves on APCO Worldwide's Iraq reconstruction task force and is considered one of the most influential lobbyists in Washington for South Korean interests.

There's more fun to be had—always is when delving deep in Nixonian sewers: Daniel Patrick Moynihan complaining that the President is lying outright in his 1972 campaign speeches; inquiries into George McGovern's "far-left mob connections"; plans to show Democrats debating the gay rights plank at their convention (it didn't pass) at union halls; detailed market research into whether "President Nixon--Now More Than Ever" might be a "too sophisticated" slogan for Nixon's intended audience; micromanaging the picket signs of their fake anti-anti-war demonstrators.

Kind of helps you understand why George W. Bush passed this executive order. It's the conservative way.

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