We'd be remiss if we didn't expand on the passing yesterday of one of American politics' greatest evil miscreants, the notorious ratf*cker G. Gordon "Flipped His" Liddy (noted briefly below). He bungled the Watergate break-in, initiating the fall of Richard Nixon, served about 4 years in the slammer, and remained unrepentant to his dying breath yesterday. Liddy was a giant, zealous fascist supporter of Nixon, who once said that listening to Adolf Hitler speak on the radio sent "an electric current" through his body.
If only Liddy's epitaph could be his idol Nixon's assessment of him (from the transcript of the "smoking gun" tape, June 23, 1972):
(President Nixon): Well, what the hell, did [AG John] Mitchell know about this thing [ unclear?]
(Haldeman): I think so. I don't think he knew the details, but I think he knew.
(President Nixon): He didn't know how it was going to be handled, though, with [Rethug donor Ken] Dahlberg and the Texans, and so forth? Well, who was the asshole that did [ unclear?] Is it [G. Gordon] Liddy? If that the fellow? He must be a little nuts.
(Haldeman): He is.
(President Nixon): I mean, he just isn't well screwed on is he? Isn't that the problem?
Ol' Scratch will be tossing some coals on his fire to welcome his man home.
(photo: Watergate had both burglars and bunglers; Liddy was in the latter group. AP)
