# Good riddance to bad rubbish: Chuck Colson is dead **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 22, 2012, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550 "2012-04-22T02:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/41 "2012-04-22T12:26:33Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > [QUOTE=Der Trihs] > They pretty much are the same thing. The Republicans have always essentially looked at AIDS as a biological weapon to kill gays and Africans; something to be encouraged, not stopped. You’re a crazy person. [/QUOTE] No; you are apparently either in denial, lying, or have been living under a rock since the 70s if you think they’ve felt any other way. Right back to the beginning, when Reagan and company dragged their heels as long a possible on doing anything at all, in the hopes that as many homosexuals as possible would die from it. > [@Lobohan](#): > > I’m loathe to say this, but Bush actually did some good work for AIDS in Africa. > > Gah, my mouth tastes like ash. And he appointed a guy to head the anti-AIDS effort in America who thought that it could be cured by prayer. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/42 "2012-04-22T13:41:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > That was uncalled for. Meh. It’s okay to be self-righteous when you really are more righteous. I’m sure PRR has no doubt spent decades working to help society’s outcasts and their families live better lives, passing up more lucrative second careers to do so. More power to him in all that charity work he does. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/43 "2012-04-22T13:59:16Z")
Matter of fact, I have and I do. No brag, just fact. I’ve chosen to teach young people, often poor young people, writing skills to help them earn a living, at a considerable financial sacrifice compared to other members of my Ivy League graduating class, most of whom went on, with no better credentials than I had, to careers far more lucrative than a mere college professor’s. Your point being? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/44 "2012-04-22T14:25:22Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Chuck Colson did a great deal of good after he got out of prison. > > All you idiots who condemn him are despicable morons. You are scum of the earth. You are vile, disgusting slime-ridden, pus-infested pieces of garbage. You are lower than the people who deliberately infect people with AIDS. > > I hope that you have nothing but trouble and bad luck for a very, very long time. Years of suffering would be too good for you. He just traded one scam for another. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/45 "2012-04-22T15:11:10Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > No; you are apparently either in denial, lying, or have been living under a rock since the 70s if you think they’ve felt any other way. Right back to the beginning, when Reagan and company dragged their heels as long a possible on doing anything at all, in the hopes that as many homosexuals as possible would die from it. I’m reminded of a line by Brad Pitt in Se7en. > [@](#): > > I’ve been trying to figure something in my head, and maybe you can help me out, yeah? When a person is insane, as you clearly are, do you know that you’re insane? Maybe you’re just sitting around, reading “Guns and Ammo”, masturbating in your own feces, do you just stop and go, “Wow! It is amazing how fucking crazy I really am!”? Yeah. Do you guys do that? So Red Shirt, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/46 "2012-04-22T16:25:27Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > Look, he did some bad things which I will not excuse and he was not a perfect person after he was freed. That would describe so many people, including some that this board would reflexively defend for political reasons. What he was doing is so _very_ bad and put the U.S. at such fundamental risk that I’m a little hard-pressed to see that his cohort is “so many” large. I’m rather inclined to lump him in with traitors like John Anthony Walker, who was also playing a extraordinarily dangerous game while being willfully blind to the broader implications. > [@](#): > > Screw all of that. Let him rest in the peace I hope he finds and that none of us deserves. Fuck that self-hating shit. I know I deserve a better “rest” than Colson because, for starters, I’ve never turned into the equivalent of the guy compiling a list of stores to hit come Kristallnacht. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/47 "2012-04-22T16:48:29Z")
My grandmother, the most Christian person I ever knew, assured me that when you repent your sins and fling yourself upon the infinite mercy of the Lord, you are redeemed, and your reservation on the Hellbound Train is cancelled. So, when we get to Hell, Chuck won’t be there. I’d rather hang out with you guys, anyway. It will always be Pledge Week, though. Forever. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/48 "2012-04-22T17:18:35Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > What he was doing is so _very_ bad and put the U.S. at such fundamental risk that I’m a little hard-pressed to see that his cohort is “so many” large. Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld also came from the Nixon administration, they had learned “well”. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/49 "2012-04-22T21:37:54Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [The fucker finally died](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_CHARLES_COLSON?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-21-21-15-15), at 80 years old. > > Sorry, but I don’t buy into the born-again thing, especially not for someone as devious and cynical as Colson was, so no, he doesn’t get any credit for working the God angle. He was a son of a bitch and a fucking traitorous asshole. > > He will not be missed. Wasn’t he Karl Rove’s dirty tricks mentor? I know Segretti was Rove’s direct boss, but didn’t Colson head up the dark side? If so, his evil has outlived him. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/50 "2012-04-22T21:59:51Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Indeed, and this is the attitude Colson explictly embraced: that endlessly rehashing Watergate and going around saying “sorry” all the time would be seen as empty words So far as I can tell, he apparently believed so strongly that he shouldn’t have to go around saying sorry all the time that he didn’t do it at all. > [@](#): > > and that his job was to show he was sorry through his actions. That was my original point though. His actions didn’t really show any regret for his actual crimes. Its nice that he did some charity work after he got out of prison. I don’t see how that in any way indicates he was sorry for his actions, the actions that people were angry with him for have nothing to do with prisons or prisoners. Plenty of awful people do good works in other areas of their lives. > [@](#): > > I do feel pretty confident that, all things considered, he was a better man than me. I guess that depends on how many illegal abuses of executive power you’ve participated in. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/51 "2012-04-22T22:02:50Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > I’m reminded of a line by Brad Pitt in Se7en.So Red Shirt, do you? :rolleyes: No. And of course, I notice that you carefully avoid trying to produce any actual arguments against what I’m saying. You bash me instead of trying to defend the Republicans because they are simply indefensible. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/52 "2012-04-22T22:34:35Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > :rolleyes: No. > > And of course, I notice that you carefully avoid trying to produce any actual arguments against what I’m saying. You bash me instead of trying to defend the Republicans because they are simply indefensible. You’re too predictable and your points never change. We get it. You believe all Republicans and Christians are Evil with a capital “E”. You view the world like a comic book in that any member of either of these groups is a super villain bent on mass murder. It’s insane and laughable. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/53 "2012-04-23T02:23:55Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > You’re too predictable and your points never change. We get it. You believe all Republicans and Christians are Evil with a capital “E”. You view the world like a comic book in that any member of either of these groups is a super villain bent on mass murder. It’s insane and laughable. And yet again; no attempt to defend the Republicans, instead you bash me. You merely underline my point. This has become standard; the Republicans are indefensible, so criticism of them is responded to by defaming the person making the accusation in an attempt to intimidate critics into silence. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/54 "2012-04-23T02:32:13Z")
Hell, I don’t think they’re evil, just they didn’t get a proper raisin’, is all. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/55 "2012-04-23T02:35:54Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And yet again; no attempt to defend the Republicans, instead you bash me. You merely underline my point. This has become standard; the Republicans are indefensible, so criticism of them is responded to by defaming the person making the accusation in an attempt to intimidate critics into silence. I’m not even trying to defend the Republicans, you moron. Let me break it down for you: Sane: “Republican social policies discriminate against homosexuals” Insane: “Republicans are using biological warfare to kill American citizens” See the difference? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/56 "2012-04-23T02:53:01Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Sorry, but I don’t buy into the born-again thing, especially not for someone as devious and cynical as Colson was, so no, he doesn’t get any credit for working the God angle. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > In fact, that simply further condemns him as far as I’m concerned. :eek: Really? YOU? Who would ever have expected THAT? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/57 "2012-04-23T06:04:24Z")
Do you put up a creche in front of your house for the holidays, with the Three Wise Men bayoneting the Baby Jesus? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/58 "2012-04-23T06:56:56Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > He was repentent. I’ll give him that. The rest of them never gave a rat’s ass. (sorry if I’ve forgotten someone who did give a rat’s ass). Dean? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/59 "2012-04-23T07:03:26Z")
> [@Mr.Moto](#): > > He pled guilty to obstruction of justice in the Ellsberg case, apparantly when he did not need to do so. This is the charge that led to his imprisonment. > > I don’t know whether Ellsberg ever got a further apology. In my mind a guilty plea followed by imprisonment and rehabilitation is probably enough. Ellsberg?! That was all kid stuff, compared with what CREEP was really all **about,** which was to assure Nixon’s re-election in 1972 by sabotaging the primary campaign of every Dem contender but McGovern, who was judged easiest to beat. It worked. You can read the story in [_Nixonland,_](http://www.amazon.com/Nixonland-Rise-President-Fracturing-America/dp/0743243021) by Rick Perlstein. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2012, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550/60 "2012-04-23T07:06:27Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > Chuck Colson did a great deal of good after he got out of prison. [No, he didn’t.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Colson#Political_engagement) > [@](#): > > On October 3, 2002, Colson was one of the co-signers of the Land letter sent to President George W. Bush. The letter was written by Richard D. Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and co-signed by four prominent American evangelical Christian leaders with Colson among them. The letter outlined their theological support for a just war pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-riddance-to-bad-rubbish-chuck-colson-is-dead/619550.md?page=4)