Bernstein: Ford's Nixon Pardon 'Right Thing To Do'
A minor historical footnote, perhaps, but arguably an interesting one . . .
A man whose Watergate reporting made his career and led to Richard Nixon's downfall has declared that Pres. Gerald Ford did the right thing in pardoning Nixon.
Carl Bernstein made the--to me at least--surprising statement on today's Morning Joe, in the course of a discussion of Jeff Greenfield's new book about various what-ifs in history.
View video after the jump.
Bernstein was arguing that if Ford had not pardoned Nixon, he might well have defeated Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election. When Pat Buchanan suggested that letting Nixon stand trial would have torn the country apart, Bernstein opined that pardoning Nixon was "the right thing to do."
CARL BERNSTEIN: If Ford hadn't pardoned Nixon, there's a really good chance that Carter wouldn't have been elected.
'
PAT BUCHANAN: I don't know about that. If he hadn't done that, if he had set Nixon on trial, it would have torn the country apart. I do agree that if --
BERNSTEIN: It was the right thing to do to pardon him.
BUCHANAN: Look, I think he did the right thing.
BERNSTEIN: I do too.
Bernstein Blasted Pardon At The Time: h/t Georgia Girl. As reported by his Watergate WaPo sidekick Bob Woodward, when Bernstein first heard of the pardon, his reaction was "the son of a b---- pardoned the son of a b----." Maybe next time Berstein's on Morning Joe he could explain how and when his thinking . . . evolved.
Calmer Carl: Last time I blogged about Bernstein, it was to blast him for his bumbling attack on Sarah Palin. It was a much calmer Carl on Morning Joe today, offering only pro forma criticisms of Scott Walker and calls for the defunding of NPR.
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Comments
Stopped watch...
Submitted by Red Jeep on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 9:34am.
...and all that...
bernstein
Submitted by charlietexas on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 9:41am.
from the one who got famous burning Nixon. Quite surprising.
Maybe some on the left....
Submitted by adamsmith on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 10:22am.
Maybe some on the left are starting to see that maybe Obama is really a Communist and are starting to get frightened. These guys have been railing against the "Man" since the '60's. Now it turns out they voted in their own "Man" and he's a Commie Pinko.
We're going to be paying for all this for a long,long time. And that's if he doesn't win reelection.....
Mark~
Submitted by GG_NB on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 1:03pm.
Regarding whether Bernstein was supportive of the pardon in 1974, Web articles indicate that Bernstein's reaction at the time was an angry "the son of a b**** pardoned the son of a b****." So I'd say that's a NO!"If not us, who? If not now, when?"
~Ronald Reagan
Interesting, GG!
Submitted by Mark Finkelstein on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 2:08pm.
Interesting, GG!I think that what Bernstein
Submitted by TE on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 3:02pm.
I think that what Bernstein said is nothing but a throw-away line used by Bernstein in a failed attempt to disguise himself as something other than the complete whack job, fringe, leftist fanatic that he is.Watergate and the pardon
Submitted by tominhouston on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 3:14pm.
I remember paying close attention to the Watergate scandal. I find it as facinating now as I did then. I agree that Nixon should have been pardoned Had Nixon not been pardoned the things that would have been uncovered in the investigations surrounding his prosecution could have harmed the basic structure of American government. Then again if a "9 on the Richter scale" shake up of government had occured then I wonder if the country would be be in better shape than it's in today? So what if Bernstein changed his mind - maturity has a tendancy to do that. As to Ford winning over Carter - no. Ford was there to fill the gap and everybody knew it. The only reason that the Republicans ran him was that he was the incumbant and basically, there wasn't anybody else. Bear in mind also that Carter was an outsider, a democrat like Kennedy and not like Nixon/Ford, he was in the Navy like Kennedy and he was a farmer - the salt of the earth - the backbone of the country, who wasn't afraid to talk about going to church, being born again and having committed adultry in his heart (while holding his wife's hand). It only took 1 term to find out that those were the only things he had going for him and don't count for much when it comes to actually "being" the President - It tends to put you in mind of someone else who only has some history as a community organizer behind him.