Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 23, 2014

This strip originally ran on February 27, 1974 — more than 5 months before Nixon’s resignation.

So, not an urgent deadline.

Preparation against POSSIBLE future need – at this point, anyway.

Pat Buchanan??

@gimmkgenius Yup.

It took 5 months to come up with “I am not a crook?”

Most liberal presidents couldn’t be nominated by the Democrats today, they wouldn’t be considered liberal enough (with spending the taxpayers money).

@rpmurrayThus illustrating the difference between conservatives and liberals: conservatives focus on money, liberals focus on people.

Au contraire! .It’s just that liberals generally have smarter ideas about people, and conservatives generally have smarter ideas about money. .They both have (mostly stupid) ideas about the other thing, though.

Exactly! When the Repubs first started using “liberal” as an epithet, the Dems should have said “You’re damned right we are, and we believe the government has a place in caring for the needy, and giving a hand up. It’s not just here to start wars and give breaks to the wealthy at the expense of the working people.”

That one was from 1962. I had to look it up & found out it was from when he lost in ’62. I had thought it was from his “Checkers” speech, but no.

Nixon hung in there all those months – often drunk according to Kissenger – until Republican US Legislators told him that if he didn’t resign, he would be impeached.

Wow! I was going for the Checkers Speech, too! That said, this strip is funnier in retrospect than it was then, given subsequent events.

Democrats have certainly not become more liberal. Just like the new health care law has nothing to do with socialism. It was proposed by the Heritage Foundation. Romney had his own version of it. Nixon wanted to have a version of it too. It is about the health care insurance industry. But, at least it is a step forward.

Yes, I would say that is Pat Buchanan.

If Democrats don’t know anything about money, why does the economy prosper and the deficit shrink under them, and go the opposite way under republicans?.Besides higher job creation,“Other measures also show that the economy performs better under Democratic presidents. Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist for S&P Capital IQ, conducted an analysis recently showing that GDP, stock prices, and corporate earnings have all increased more under Democratic presidents than under Republicans.”(US News & World Report)

It is too bad the GOP has lost it’s mind. The environmental awareness thing should not be a partisan issue, nor reproductive rights, nor civil rights, etc. We should have moved on. There are always new battles. I don’t remember fast food workers striking in the 60’s. They are now.

I have to say, I hope I live long enough to see the verdict of history (if there is such a thing as A verdict by then) on the Obama economic decisions. I imagine the possible range from:.…his economic policies prevented a generation of Americans from falling even further behind, while his education policies enabled the 30-year expansions that followed….to:.…his economic policies concentrated on transferring wealth, while often hindering its creation, and created the first contraction of American wealth in the history of the republic, enabling the 30-year string of Republican presidents that followed….It should be needless to say that, if you believe either of these extreme scenarios, you are a fool.

Any commenters from Detroit care to weigh in?

“I done wrong. I resign while Spiro is still vice president.”

I feel like an idiot for hoping the President might be able to do that. It’s gotten much worse the past 6-7 years. Some of the things he said before taking office made me hopeful, like I might regret not voting for him. But no..Just to be clear: the other guy would probably have been just as bad, in different ways. I don’t pretend to know which would have been preferable..Maybe, in a nutshell, that’s why it’s gotten so bad: it must be so comforting to know things that are, really, unknowable. Maybe that comfort is worth fooling yourself for..You know, maybe the biggest problem is that we’re still using Left and Right. They weren’t even great terms back in the French Revolution, and they’ve been getting worse with each passing decade. Seems to me those terms are an excuse to not actually think.

I have parts of Nixon’s resignation speech firmly memorized. (Thanks, Rocky Horror Picture Show!)

Even Goldwater would be too liberal today.

Conservatives think the government is there to serve business; liberals think the government is there to serve the people. Both truly believe themselves patriots protecting the nation.

And yet, the Preamble to the Constitution begins, “We the people”, not “We, WalMart”..There are some 330 million individual Americans.The wealth from corporations flows into increasingly fewer hands.So who is truly looking out for America?

And way too willing to compromise.

I hope I live to see the day, Adrian, but in the current environment that cannot happen. Someday, maybe someday.

They’re talking about Nixon but, at an earlier time could well have been talking about the other unpunished war criminal – L.B.J.

Perhaps it’s not GOP v DEM, but pragmatic v ideological. “Will it work?” on one hand v “Does it fit one political (or religious) orthodoxy or another?” I firmly believe that this polarization (not limited to just the USA) is the cause for so little advancement when compared to what we did 40 or 50 years ago. And we’re STILL capable of doing great things, given compromise and co-operation. It’s unfortunate that we need s “wake-up” kick in the tochus to get motivated. Sputnik was one of those. Unfortunately, Pearl Harbor was too. So is Global Climate Change, so let’s get crackin’ !!-An observation per this polarization: Black and White (no racial overtones intended) may dislike and disagree, but sadly they both team up and hate Gray with a vengeance even more so.

I always like Joe Biden’s farewell when he had to withdrew from the 1988 presidential race for plagiarizing other people’s speeches — didn’t he say “You won’t have Joe Biden to kick around any more”?

Yes. Nail. On head.

And, BTW, my 2nd scenario *was** the most extreme believable Republican scenario (true Tea Partiers would be horrified at the idea of 30 years of Repubs), just as the first scenario was the most extreme believable Democrat version.*.That’s why I said only a fool would believe either one would come to pass.

I never said the Affordable Health Care Act was perfect. Quite the contrary. On the other hand, many are getting health care now for the first time. I am sure that Medicare was not perfect when it was first implemented. Here in the state of Kansas, one has to earn less than $8,000 year for a family of 4 to qualify for Medicaid, a program designed to help the poor, not just those over 65.. These are the kinds of difficulties which are being encountered by the working poor. Those who are elderly are not the only folks suffering out there.

I am reminded of how so many called for compromise so President Obama compromised and then they screamed, “NOT YOU! THEM”