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In hindsight, was the Nixon pardon good or bad for the country?

In hindsight, was the Nixon pardon good or bad for the country?

  • Yes

    Votes: 18 62.1%

  • No

    Votes: 8 27.6%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 3 10.3%
  • Total voters
    29
radcen

radcen

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In hindsight, was the Nixon pardon good or bad for the country?

Edit: DOH!!! Yes = good, no = bad. Sorry about that.
 
Last edited:
Your poll isn't really going to make sense by the way.

I think it was bad for the country, Nixon should have had his day in court at the very least.
 
The "yes" "no" choices don't really match the question.

But was it a good thing for the country? Yes I think it was. Country needed to move on. He was pardoned and I have no issue with that fact.
 
I like the way Nixon handled it, didn't like the way Clinton handled it. Both knew they were guilty, only one stepped down to spare the country.
 
radcen said:
In hindsight, was the Nixon pardon good or bad for the country?

Edit: DOH!!! Yes = good, no = bad. Sorry about that.
Click to expand...

The Nixon pardon was horrible for the Republican party and I think it set a dangerous precedent for allowing executive branch politicians to get way with criminal activity: GW Bush and Dick Cheny come to mind immeditately.

I think that it was then that our world image really began to suffer as well: "the US can't police and hold its own crooks responsible; so who are they to complain about anybody else?"

Yeah, it did a lot of damage.
 
jet57 said:
The Nixon pardon was horrible for the Republican party and I think it set a dangerous precedent for allowing executive branch politicians to get way with criminal activity: GW Bush and Dick Cheny come to mind immeditately.

I think that it was then that our world image really began to suffer as well: "the US can't police and hold its own crooks responsible; so who are they to complain about anybody else?"

Yeah, it did a lot of damage.
Click to expand...

Neither Bush nor Chaney were ever impeached, nor were they ever convicted of any crime to be pardoned.

And no about the international image. Of course our enemies would think that, no matter what we did. But the feeling at the time internationally was one of relief and that Nixon did his job, protecting America, to the last. The pardon was expected by EVERYONE, here and around the globe.
 
radcen said:
In hindsight, was the Nixon pardon good or bad for the country?

Edit: DOH!!! Yes = good, no = bad. Sorry about that.
Click to expand...

I would say good. I do not see that anything would have been gained by continuing to try him. He was forced from office and disgraced. What more could have really been done to him? The pardon sped up the process of moving on.
 
radcen said:
In hindsight, was the Nixon pardon good or bad for the country?

Edit: DOH!!! Yes = good, no = bad. Sorry about that.
Click to expand...

I had to vote good or yes because if we start that slippery slope of not giving presidents leeway on some things, that could open a barrel of worms for all other past and present presidents. We all did notice the acquittal of Clinton by congress, did we not? Even though he committed adultery and lied about it.
 
clownboy said:
I like the way Nixon handled it, didn't like the way Clinton handled it. Both knew they were guilty, only one stepped down to spare the country.
Click to expand...

You do realize Clinton was acquitted, right? And the only reason Nixon stepped down was he had no chance of acquittal?
 
clownboy said:
Neither Bush nor Chaney were ever impeached, nor were they ever convicted of any crime to be pardoned.

And no about the international image. Of course our enemies would think that, no matter what we did. But the feeling at the time internationally was one of relief and that Nixon did his job, protecting America, to the last. The pardon was expected by EVERYONE, here and around the globe.
Click to expand...

And Ford lost the next election and the Republican party has been in the toilet since. I don't remember a feeling of relief at all. I remember a great deal of outrage over it. The country has suffered a great deal over our inability to deal seriously with crooks in the executive office. Yet Congress went after Clinton on a BJ...!
 
AJiveMan said:
I had to vote good or yes because if we start that slippery slope of not giving presidents leeway on some things, that could open a barrel of worms for all other past and present presidents. We all did notice the acquittal of Clinton by congress, did we not? Even though he committed adultery and lied about it.
Click to expand...

Actually no, Clinton WAS impeached. He was NOT acquitted. He just wasn't removed from office.
 
radcen said:
In hindsight, was the Nixon pardon good or bad for the country?

Edit: DOH!!! Yes = good, no = bad. Sorry about that.
Click to expand...

The Nixon pardon was a good thing for the country because it saved America from 6 and possibly 10 years of a Gerald Ford Presidency. The shortened Ford Presidency hastened a quick dalliance with the "Washington outside" fancy and a shortened Jimmy Carter Presidency and led triumphantly to Ronald Reagan's "morning in America" which was desperately needed by the American people and the world at large.
 
jet57 said:
And Ford lost the next election and the Republican party has been in the toilet since. I don't remember a feeling of relief at all. I remember a great deal of outrage over it. The country has suffered a great deal over our inability to deal seriously with crooks in the executive office. Yet Congress went after Clinton on a BJ...!
Click to expand...

Ford didn't lose because of that and yes, there was a huge sigh of relief. No one wanted anything other than a pardon, except for a few hippies who didn't understand Nixon withdrew troops from Vietnam, it was Johnson who put them there. Of course the hippies hated Johnson too. Partisanship wasn't so much broken down by party lines then, but ideological ones.

And finally, NO. Just quit with the stupid slogans. Clinton was not impeached for a bj. I suggest you read a little history BEFORE Hillary starts her run for the office.
 
jet57 said:
And Ford lost the next election and the Republican party has been in the toilet since. I don't remember a feeling of relief at all. I remember a great deal of outrage over it. The country has suffered a great deal over our inability to deal seriously with crooks in the executive office. Yet Congress went after Clinton on a BJ...!
Click to expand...

I stand ready to be schooled on my American history, but I'm pretty sure there has been a Republican in the White House for more years than a Democrat since the resignation of Richard Nixon - I believe after Obama completes his term they will be tied, except for Ford's conclusion of the Nixon term. That's hardly being in the toilet.
 
clownboy said:
I like the way Nixon handled it, didn't like the way Clinton handled it. Both knew they were guilty, only one stepped down to spare the country.
Click to expand...

That's a big rewrite of history...

Nixon had entrenched, he was dragged out of office kicking and screaming that what he did was no different than what others had done before, just like Obama does today.

Clinton turned it into a pure partisan game, dividing the country. Part of the reason Bush won was because of that.

Nixon was talked into quitting by members of his own party.
 
Fearandloathing said:
That's a big rewrite of history...

Nixon had entrenched, he was dragged out of office kicking and screaming that what he did was no different than what others had done before, just like Obama does today.

Clinton turned it into a pure partisan game, dividing the country. Part of the reason Bush won was because of that.

Nixon was talked into quitting by members of his own party.
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That doesn't comport with anyone's view. Not anyone who was there. Did you never catch the Nixon interviews or the interviews with his cabinet afterwards?
 
The Nixon pardon set the precedent that as long as you're in a position of power then you are not held to the same standards as everyone else. Had it been anybody else they would have been thrown behind bars.
 
clownboy said:
The House impeaches, the Senate decides the fate of the impeached, the sentence.



Impeachment of Bill Clinton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Click to expand...

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, on December 19, 1998. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power, failed in the House. He was acquitted of both charges by the Senate on February 12, 1999.[1]
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What was the penalty when Clinton was impeached?
 
TeleKat said:
The Nixon pardon set the precedent that as long as you're in a position of power then you are not held to the same standards as everyone else. Anybody else would have been thrown behind bars for what he did.
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Grownups knew that long before Nixon came along. What surprised everyone not in their baby bonnet was that he allowed himself to get caught and owned up to it. Presidents have cabinet members and staff to throw under the bus before that happens. Historically that's how it's done.
 
jet57 said:
And Ford lost the next election and the Republican party has been in the toilet since. I don't remember a feeling of relief at all. I remember a great deal of outrage over it. The country has suffered a great deal over our inability to deal seriously with crooks in the executive office. Yet Congress went after Clinton on a BJ...!
Click to expand...



Congress DID NOT go after Clinton over a blow job, they went after him because he lied under oath. Thank you for demonstrating the propaganda myth which Clinton created to get himself off.

Nixon was never charged with an offense and, one of the reasons a pardon was issue was that there was a lot of uncertainty about criminal charges and they wanted to avoid the exact same thing that happened when Clinton broke the law and his oath of office, a strictly partisan fight in congress.

Was the pardon 'good' for the country?

No.

In the end it divided the nation more than Clinton's dirty little fight and advanced the "elite" image of politicians who make war but whose sons never fight. Anyone who had ever faced even a misdemeanor charge and had to so much as pay a fine, felt cheated. Thew nation still does not know Nixon's full involvement, so that have no history to learn from. And from that, presidents have been overstepping their powers more and more.

Nixon should have been seen to be punished. There were men serving long sentences for less than what he did. And in the end, it assured the nation of a "change" president in Jimmy Carter, only worse than Ford by the fact he had much more time to **** things up.
 
AJiveMan said:
What was the penalty when Clinton was impeached?
Click to expand...

His law license was suspended and fines I believe. Later he got dinged again by the Paula Jones court. But why ask me, I posted the impeachment link.
 
clownboy said:
His law license was suspended and fines I believe. Later he got dinged again by the Paula Jones court. But why ask me, I posted the impeachment link.
Click to expand...

But Clinton wasn't force to leave office, so what. I posted a link too, Clinton acquitted.
 
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