# Dopers alive for Watergate: honest comparison of then vs. now?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-alive-for-watergate-honest-comparison-of-then-vs-now/831541>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [March 26, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-alive-for-watergate-honest-comparison-of-then-vs-now/831541 "2019-03-26T01:16:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![SOJA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@SOJA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SOJA)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-alive-for-watergate-honest-comparison-of-then-vs-now/831541/41 "2019-04-18T09:36:16Z")

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> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> No, most everyone thought Nixon was a crook. Some defended him as a\* effective\* crook. Still, a few hardcore GOP supporters thought he was framed.

Like Roger Stone? Stone likely spent time on his knees for Nixon if you catch my drift.

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**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-alive-for-watergate-honest-comparison-of-then-vs-now/831541/42 "2019-04-18T13:29:33Z")

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Lots of good responses so far. I was a senior in high school during the Saturday Night Massacre. As I recall:

We had divisions, to be sure. But we all read the same papers and watched the same television news. Whether you watched ABC, CBS, or NBC for the evening news, the facts were the same. Now, you can completely insulate yourself from reality and watch a cable news channel that puts Pravda and Tass to shame.

Republicans in Congress did not see themselves as subservient to the president. They were perfectly willing to impeach and convict Nixon if that’s where the facts lead. Now, DJT could march into the National Archives and burn the original Constitution and Mitch McConnell would say “this still means we get to appoint right wing judges, right? Cool.”

A Republican, Howard Baker, asked the key question: What did the president know and when did he know it? Compare that to the shenanigans that Devin Nunes pulled when he lead his committee.

When we all figured out that Nixon was a crook, nobody thought that he was a patsy for Khrushchev. Foreign countries didn’t funnel money to Nixon in an attempt to curry favor.

Mostly, in 1974 we had two responsible political parties. Now we only have one.

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