G. Gordon Liddy has died at 90. His bungling of Watergate break-in triggered a crisis that led to President Nixon's resignation. https://t.co/UM81k5hv5v
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 30, 2021
And the world is a slightly better, more honest place tonight. Liddy was an inspiration to every cheapjack would-be tough-guy rightwing politicial grifter of the last several decades, from Oliver North to the latest anti-vaxxer gymrat with a podcast and a grievance. He never repented, he never got smarter — as far as I can tell, he gloried in being a paranoid little ratfvcker who never did a decent thing in his long life. From the Washington Post:
… With his intense stare, cannonball head, bristling mustache and machine-gun style of speaking, Mr. Liddy looked like the archetypal bad guys he later depicted in television shows including “Miami Vice.” His friend and fellow Watergate conspirator E. Howard Hunt described him as “a wired, wisecracking extrovert who seemed as if he might be a candidate for decaffeinated coffee.”…
He also developed an early fascination with Nazi Germany, saying that he felt an “electric current” surge through his body when he listened to Adolf Hitler on the radio. To the young Liddy, Hitler embodied the “power of will.”
Although Mr. Liddy frequently boasted of his impeccable tradecraft, he made elementary mistakes that allowed his former FBI colleagues to connect the break-in to the White House and ultimately to a small circle of Nixon aides…
The director of the nonprofit National Security Archive, Tom Blanton, said Mr. Liddy “brought out the worst” in Nixon and his aides, “raising the testosterone level in the White House and ratcheting them up to even more extreme action.”…
By his own account, the Liddy of the Watergate break-in was a product of the culture wars of the 1960s. “The nation was at war not only externally in Vietnam but internally,” he said in his 1980 autobiography “Will,” which sold more than 1 million copies. “I had learned long ago the maxims of Cicero that ‘laws are inoperative in war’ and that ‘the good of the people is the chief law.’ ”…
After his release from prison, Mr. Liddy finally broke his silence about his role in Watergate with the publication of “Will,” which was well-received by many of his former antagonists. Washington Post investigative reporter Bob Woodward described the book as the “self-portrait of a zealot,” but he also noted that it contained “an embarrassment of riches” growing out of “his blustery conceit and his freedom from any guilt about what he did. . . . His story rings true,” Woodward wrote in his review…
The best thing one might say about Liddy is that he didn’t whine and try to shift blame for his crimes, like so many of today’s right-wing zealots. And even then, he was accused of taking way more credit than he earned for those crimes.
Liddy was part of a small group of operatives known as the "White House plumbers," whose mission was to identify anyone who had leaked information that made the Nixon administration look bad. https://t.co/JftBHqfH5w
— NPR (@NPR) March 31, 2021
No take on G. Gordon Liddy will ever top Richard Nixon's assessment of the man on the "smoking gun" tapehttps://t.co/IRwXsr7Vwa pic.twitter.com/JRuMMFOP0z
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 31, 2021
The juxtaposition of the Matt Gaetz story with the death of G. Gordon Liddy story reminds us yet again that the lunatic, criminal loyalists around Donald Trump are of a much lower caliber than were the lunatic, criminal loyalists around Richard Nixon.
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) March 30, 2021
Yutsano
And yet…Henry Kissinger refuses to leave this mortal coil…
Also, too: FOIST!!!
westyny
As Dr. Strangelove would say, “Zwei!”
Jerzy Russian
Christ, what an asshole!
He was a guest star on MacGyver (I am binge watching that show now). He played an asshole, as I recall.
HumboldtBlue
Here’s Milo the dog being a really good boy.
Shtisel on Netflix is really good
Also, reindeer cyclones are a thing.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
proving yet again, only the good die young
Arclite
There’s not much distance between Liddy and Gaetz really. They’re both monumental blundering fuckups.
Arclite
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: If you’re the establishment, I’m sure you know. =P
TMC
I lived through those days in DC. Yes, I remember him well and not at all fondly.
piratedan
I “came of age” during Watergate, growing up in Metro DC and at the time, being young and impressionable, I saw these guys as the antithesis of being an American. Things haven’t changed much.
I won’t miss him.
Geoduck
@Jerzy Russian: He had a small career playing asshole villains on various series.
West of the Rockies
I loath Gaetz, but I’d prefer Jordan (Gym) was in trouble. He is more dangerous. Is the sexual abuse case involving wrestlers still a thing? I’m sick of Jordan, his stupid yellow tie, and smug expression.
Amir Khalid
@Jerzy Russian:
In showbiz, that is what they call “typecasting”.
Mary G
From the WaPo story AL links:
Typical Republican, no?
Ruckus
@Jerzy Russian:
The easiest role to play is yourself.
Which is why he played assholes.
The role he knew perfectly.
He didn’t even need to act, just show up.
Amir Khalid
Brown boots. I need a pair of brown boots. Don’t ask me why, I just do.
Hungry Joe
“What you have to remember is, these are not smart guys, and things got out of hand.”
Mai Naem mobile
I remember listening to him for a few minutes while turning the radio dial. He just came across as another Rush wanna be. Now Rush and Liddy are both gone. I remember reading somewhere a few years ago that he had a pretty bad stroke and apparently also had Parkinsons. Not a good way to go.
hueyplong
Gaetz looks like the love child of Wayne Newton and Eddie Munster.
Surely some sort of internal alarm is sounded for any adult female that comes within sight of that slime.
Amir Khalid
Goron Liddy was not qute the last. John Dean is still alive. I think I’ve seen him punditing on TV.
piratedan
@Amir Khalid: Dean at least did his penance, Libby was unrepentant (at least to my understanding) for his actions.
opiejeanne
@Amir Khalid: John Dean! I was trying to remember his name and couldn’t come up with it.
sab
I had completely forgotten that Al Franken had a dog and pony show with this guy. Back when politics was fun.
I very much admire Al Franken, like a lot. But we need to get over the idea that politics is fun and that those guys aren’t monsters. Jim Crow wasn’t nice, and these guys are Jim Crow on steroids, what with modern media.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@sab: Politics wasn’t always fun, back in the day Franken was involved in the most cut throat campaign. evah (link)
James E Powell
@Amir Khalid:
Gordon Strachan and Dwight Chapin are still alive. Not major figures, but I remembered their names.
I came of age during Watergate. Haven’t paid it any mind in years, but back when the first waves of books came out, I read them all.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
The 80s tee vee show “Miami Vice” once did an episode on how Reagan’s terrorist organization “The Contras” were murderous and evil. They cast Liddy as the antagonist and he did a great job because it didn’t require any acting.
Perhaps their strongest, film noir episode:
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
Und ich hab die braune Stiefel gerade gekauft. Nächste Woche kommen sie an.
sab
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Long after the Liddy pony show. My guess is Franken and I agree now. But who knows?
sab
@Amir Khalid: Show off. My grandmother from Wisconsin was fluent in German. Me not so much.
ETA I think I figured out the translation.
Yikes!
Amir Khalid
<a href="#comment-8128290"@sab:
Since you like my German, here’s some more:
Das eigentliche Wert eines Haustiers liegt nicht in wieviel Geld man dafür bezahlte, sondern in der Bindung, die man mit ihm teilt.
Amir Khalid
Random thought. Why does Matt Gaetz wear his hair in that ginormous, cartoonish pompadour?
sab
@Amir Khalid: Yikes.
sab
@Amir Khalid: Because he is a moron ( isolated in his little pod)
Amir Khalid
@sab:
It’s a life lesson that Bianca taught me.
NotMax
@James E Powell
Alexander Butterfield still among the living, I believe. In his middle nineties now.
J R in WV
Wife was city editor at a small coal town newspaper back in the day, and Saturday night was the “day” off…we were at a staff pizza&beer party with music on the public radio on. At the top of the hour there was the news break…they announced that Nixon had fired his AG!!
We left the party pretty soon after that, and drove to the newspaper building post haste to watch the wire — long before the first glimpse of the Internet, you could see letter by letter stories type out from WAPO & the NY TIMES.
We watched the news about the Saturday Night Massacre at the DoJ flow across the various news wires until the late wee hours that night, and thought that Nixon was done for by the time we went to bed Sunday morning, it was like having a connection directly to the nervous system of the nation that night!
What a long time ago — when the news typed out on paper one character at a time on a dozen teletype machines on dedicated phone circuits in the wire room closet beside the newsroom
ETA, there were a dozen different newswires in that tiny room, all with their different versions of the current storyline from Siagon, or DC, or NYC, or London or Berlin… it was state of the art, as plugged in as one could possibly be back then!
Honus
@J R in WV: yes, I remember watching the wire at the college radio station I worked at back in those days. Patty Hearst was the big news one night.
Kathleen
@J R in WV: That was huge story. I was glued to TV. Reporters were outraged. I don’t even want to think how that story would have been treated when TFG was dictator er President.
Steve in the ATL
@Honus: WLUR?
lowtechcyclist
So fucking true, that had me laughing so hard. Watching contemporary conservatism is like reading the end of C.S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength where the Belbury crowd lose their ability to string words together coherently.
Franken’s dog-and-pony show with Liddy has been mentioned upthread, but before that, there was Leary and Liddy, debating each other on college campuses across the country. In honor of that, I give you:
G. Gordon Liddy’s dead
No, no, he’s outside, breaking in
lowtechcyclist
@Geoduck:
In the words of Ringo Starr, “And all I gotta do is, act naturally.”
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Nicht wahr?
Ken
An important reminder that you always save the third wish to undo the horrific effects of your first two.
JML
I met one of Nixon’s White House Plumbers once: Egil “Bud” Krogh. He gave a seminar on legal ethics that was absolutely electrifying. Basically the opposite of someone like Liddy, who remained a scumbag to his death.
Just One More Canuck
Nothing to do but (probably) quote Mark Twain – “No. I did not attend his funeral. But I wrote a very nice letter saying that I approved it”.
One of the worst human beings ever to slither across the face of the earth
PJ
@Kathleen:
Watergate would have been a one-day story during *****’s reign. Just a short article on page A16 of NYT announcing some ***** associates had been arrested breaking in to the Watergate, ***** would deny he ever met them, then zero follow-up and zero consequences for anyone.
VOR
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: IIRC that Miami Vice episode uses Peter Gabriel’s “Red Rain” to great effect.
TomatoQueen
John Dean has had a second career as an investment banker and a side career as a never-T****er on t’twitter machine. Every time I see his icon I think that can’t be John Dean, but then I remember how old I was then. That testimony was unforgettable.
Mike in NC
25 years ago I was working in Springfield, VA and a coworker asked rhetorically why a scumbag criminal like Liddy could have a radio show. I said things are different for Republicans.
Ruckus
@TomatoQueen:
It wasn’t that Dean didn’t like slime, and personify slime, he didn’t like stupid slime.
Sasha
Liddy was an asshole, but at least he was an asshole I could respect.
Philbert
Another Watergate leftover: can’t forget ROGER STONE! Also recently in a photo with Greenburg and Gaetz.
Uncle Omar
I read Liddy’s autobiography once when I was bored. He really admired himself. He devoted several pages to his heroic military service during the Korean Conflict, during which he was stationed in Montauk, Long Island, protecting Montauk and the Hamptons from the North Koreans. He also wasted several pages by including the complete text of a “legal memorandum” that he had written and which was much admired, he said, by insiders in the Nixon administration. It was so bad that if he had turned it in to the Pass-Fail Legal Research and Writing class at my law school he would have been the first person ever to earn a Fail in the history of that class at that law school. He made his legal bones by busting Tim Leary for the LSD when he was a deputy DA in upstate New York, Duchess County, if I remember correctly. He was, to quote Beavis and Butthead, a “turd burglar.”