Althouse: "I can't have a high-minded lawyer ... I want a son-of-a-b----."

December 3, 2008

"I can't have a high-minded lawyer ... I want a son-of-a-b----."

Newly released Nixon tapes to kick around.

8 comments:

vet66 said...: I didn't know there was any other kind! LOL.

As for Nixon, it takes one to know one! Those were tough times of anarchy and the breakdown of law and order. There were SOB's on both sides back then and still are.

Only now, some of them wear white collars and some of the rest still plot anarchy though their pony tails are grey now.; 12/3/08, 7:59 AM
Cabbage said...: ... G-d damn it, don't talk to them for a while.

Why did they type "G-D"? Was Nixon secretly an orthodox jew?; 12/3/08, 8:06 AM
Expat(ish) said...: Nixon grew up a Quaker - apparently from the "bomb them back to the stone age" sect.

My lawyer is the last shark in the tank - the one with sleepy eyes and a full belly. Love him.

-XC; 12/3/08, 8:34 AM
George M. Spencer said...: I feel sorry for the young people who never got a chance to see Nixon on television.

LBJ gets off too easily. Historian Michael Beschloss put together some of his tapes. It's the most amazing thing to listen to him talk with advisers about Vietnam, and it's clear that they have no idea what they're getting into or how to get out of it.

If only we had a Shakespeare today to write plays about both of them....; 12/3/08, 8:35 AM
TMink said...: I enjoy son of a bitch lawyers. They try to aggravate me into making a mistake or getting angry. They are the most fun to play with.

My two greatest moments on the stand so far:

Mr. Trey, are you a licensed Psychologist?

No sir.

Mr. Trey, are you a licensed clinical social worker?

No sir. (I was neither at that time.)

Mr. Trey, aside from your drivers license, do you hold ANY license from the state of Tennessee?

Yes sir. I've got my fishin license right here (as I produced it.)

The other happened recently, it was a small town lawyer that would intimidate people on the stand. I made sure to answer his questions s l o w l y and quite respectively to throw him off. It worked. He started interrupting me and the judge reprimanded him. He really was a jerk though, so during a brief pause I prayed for help in remembering that he was a child of God.

We made eye contact and I smiled at him. This was apparently too much as his face turned red and his veins popped and he said "Are you SMIRKING at me?"

The lawyers on the other side objected and the court room got chaotic, but as the judge returned things to order, I told the judge that I had been asked a question and needed to reply.

"No sir, I was smiling at you as I reminded myself that you are a child of God." I smiled again.

I later got a letter from one of the other attorney's saying that if I tortured him to death while on the stand I could still be charged with manslaughter. He said that the judge joked that after the case was over.

The fun thing for me is that all the second attorney had to do was to ask me about my doubts and I would have talked for 15 minutes about them. He just messed with the wrong person.

Trey; 12/3/08, 8:55 AM
ricpic said...: No smiling in court, Trey!!!; 12/3/08, 9:02 AM
Cedarford said...: Expat(ish) said...
Nixon grew up a Quaker - apparently from the "bomb them back to the stone age" sect.

Nixon in later years said that he had deviated from his Quaker faith in WWII and then as President because he saw no other way than military action...but that he always worked for an overriding objective of creating a stable world and one that could have peace as a natural condition.
He thought historians might regard him as a great Peacemaker.

He may be right:

1. Detente with Russia and 1st arms reductions.
2. Detente with China.
3. Overriding his advisors, including Kissinger, and commiting to weapons resupply and fuel guarantee to save Israel in 1973. Including putting the Military at Defcon 2, full nuclear alert, to deter the Russians from sending troops to help Egypt.
4. Unilaterally ending the US Biowar program - starting the global NPT.
5. Unilaterally ending the US chemical weapons program. Starting that NPT as well.
6. Concluding the Vietnam War. By 1971, Nixon had begun his substantial drawdown of troops. All through 1971 and 1972, the N Vietnamese stalled on a final peace accord and critical matters like letting the US POWs go. Fed up, Nixon did the Christmas bombings to force N Vietnam to release our guys. It worked. 3 months later the accords were signed by a bombed-into-submission communist force. To a man, the POWs credited Nixon and his "Christmas bombing" for their freedom. (Later Vietnamese admitted that they had hoped to drag out the Peace Talks for another 2 years as a perfect propaganda forum.."Until Nixon went crazy and we had to settle things...)
7. Prevented India-Pakistan from going to all-out war over Bangladesh becoming an independent nation.
8. Tried to make Iran a stable "lead nation" in the ME along with Turkey, to curb conflict. Effort undone by the Ayatollahs and Carter.

All in all, Nixon was visionary and did about as well on Vietnam as any President could, and better than anyone thought possible on detente, arms control, and regional and strategic balancing.

Pity he was undone by personal character flaws that left him without support or excuse...cancelling out his great 1972 voter mandate and all his brilliant foreign and domestic policy achievements.

He remains the 2nd most consequential President (next to FDR) of the 20th Century.; 12/3/08, 9:31 AM
dick said...: If you were in his position and up against the remnants of the LBJ White House, what kind of lawyer would you want to represent you, one that would roll over or one that would fight for you. I look at the MSNBC comments and realize that these guys are just lying. If they were in anything even approaching what Nixon was facing they would make him look like a choir boy. Look at how they are trying to get special dispensation and special treatment on the First Amendment so that they can lie and then claim someone passed them the info but they can't tell you who, only an unidentified source. Compared to them, Nixon looks good.; 12/3/08, 9:50 AM