Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig has died

Too early to say mean things.

WASHINGTON – Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who served Republican presidents and ran for the office himself, has died.

The Haig family says he died Saturday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore from complications associated with an infection. He was 85.

After Reagan's attempted assignation-

Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the President, the Vice President and the Secretary of State in that order, and should the President decide he wants to transfer the helm to the Vice President, he will do so. He has not done that. As of now, I am in control here, in the White House, pending return of the Vice President and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course.

—Alexander Haig , Alexander Haig, autobiographical profile in TIME Magazine, April 2, 1984^[13]

Um, nope Al, but thanks for playing.

Adviser Watch: Sarah Palin's Brain Trust to Nowhere

By GottaLaff

TPM has a very informative post up about who's pulling MoldMe McNeedsHelp's marionette strings:

As Sarah Palin relaunches her image for the next stage of her political career, there's a small set of advisers who are shaping the former governor's policy positions and public persona.

The group, a brain trust of sorts, includes Randy Scheunemann, the lobbyist who advised McCain on foreign policy and was one of the architects of the Iraq War, and Kim Daniels, a little-known conservative attorney who specializes in "rights of conscience" health care issues.

And she complains about President Obama's "ties to lobbyists"? Really?

Oh, and let's not forget the former Jew-counting Nixonite, Fred Malek:

Fred Malek: An extremely successful private equity investor who served as an aide to President Nixon (and famously played a central role in the Nixon Jew-counting episode in the early 1970s), Malek describes himself as a friend of Palin. The Times reports that he has been advising Palin on "political matters."

More of her merry band-o'-weenies: Robert Barnett, who advised George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Benazir Bhutto, and Bob Woodward; and the ubiquitous Mary Matalin.

Much more info about her inner circle, aka her Brainless Trust, can be found here.

May I just say

That it amazes me on a daily basis how Pat B is able to be so overtly racist in practically everything, yet take home a nice paycheck each week from the traditional media.

Nixon and Obama -- Soul Brothers?

1971 VIDEO: Ted Kennedy Fighting For Health Care Reform... & Slamming Insurance Industry

By GottaLaff

Let's hope we don't have to eulogize the public option. My tears keep flowing today, sometimes because of my sorrow over Ted Kennedy's death, and other times due to my frustration over the death of civility in politics:

In 1971, President Nixon proposed a national health insurance plan built on heavily employer private coverage. Senator Ted Kennedy proposed what would today be called a single-payer plan. In 1974, the debate had morphed into Nixon vs. Kennedy-Mills vs. Organized labor. Despite the prediction in the second clip shown, the result was stalemate rather than passage in 1974 or 1975.

Ted Kennedy has been fighting for health care reform for a very, very, very long time. A friend unearths some video of Kennedy arguing for a national health insurance system way back in 1971 — and slamming Richard Nixon’s just-introduced health care plan as a giveaway to the insurance companies.

As an added bonus, Kennedy is introduced by none other than Walter Cronkite, who also passed away recently, underscoring the degree to which an era has drawn to a close.

Solving the Last Riddle of Watergate

By GottaLaff

I'm going to reveal a deep, dark secret I've kept for years. Right here on TPC, yes, I shall tell you all something I've never told anyone... ever. However, for security reasons, I'm going to delete the last 18 1/2---

Sometime during the Watergate scandal, 18 1/2 minutes of a taped conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff, Bob Haldeman, were suspiciously erased, becoming "one of the great political mysteries of the 20th century."

Mother Jones says Haldeman took "meticulous notes on a tablet of yellow lined paper with a ballpoint pen" and now a one time NSA analyst says he may be able to resurrect Haldeman's notes "via a CSI-ish technology that can extract information from the imprints made by a ballpoint pen."

Video- New Nixon Tapes Reveal Thoughts On Abortion

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Creepily white supremacist.

Nix on Nixon: Find 'attractive' women, "abortion is necessary"

By GottaLaff

What a guy:

"There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white. Or a rape."

-- President Nixon, in newly-released tapes of Oval Office conversations.

Yes, by all means, equate a black/white relationship with rape. How American of you, Dick.

More via CNN:

President Richard Nixon believed one way to shore up the GOP in 1973 was by recruiting "attractive" women, but not because he was "for women," according to audio tapes released Tuesday.

In February of 1973, President Nixon called future president and then-Republican National Committee chairman George H.W. Bush, and recounted a recent visit to the South Carolina state legislature.

"I noticed a couple of very attractive women, both of them Republicans, in the legislature," Nixon told Bush. "I want you to be sure to emphasize to our people, God, let's look for some… Understand, I don't do it because I'm for women, but I'm doing it because I think maybe a woman might win someplace where a man might not… So have you got that in mind?"

Bush replies, "I'll certainly keep it in mind."

And then he went home to Barbara.

New Nixon Tapes and Files Released

Ooooh, we usually get something good out of these.

The National Archives is making public about 125 hours of tape and about 30,000 pages of documents from former President Richard M. Nixon’s administration at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

The complete audio files and scans of some representative documents will be posted at the Web site of the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. The full set of documents will be available to researchers at the National Archives annex in College Park, Md.

The newly released materials center on January and February 1973 and may shed new light on a turbulent and intense moment in American history. The period included Nixon’s second inauguration, a ceasefire agreement for Vietnam, and the criminal trial of seven men accused of breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex amid mounting revelations of their ties to the White House.

VIDEOS-- Condi Rice: "If it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the conventions against torture."

By GottaLaff

Despite million of murders by Nazis, Condi Rice, "with all due respect", insists that Nazis were less of a threat to the U.S. than al Qaeda:


"No dear, you're wrong. We didn't torture anyone... Do your homework." Rice goes on to shut the student up, interrupting him, and resumes rattling on her version of the facts. "By the way, I didn't authorize anything."

Speaking with a group of Stanford students Monday, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared that al Qaeda is a greater threat to the United States than Nazi Germany was because Germany "never attacked the homeland of the United States." In a defensive exchange with a student, she also insisted that the Bush administration had always wanted to hold trials for detainees, but the Supreme Court wouldn't let them.

Of course, the Supreme Court "stayed" the Bush administration's military commissions because they were woefully inadequate.

The most chilling quote (around 6:07): "We were told: Nothing that violates our obligations under the conventions against torture. And so, by definition, if it was authorized by the president, it did not violate our obligations under the conventions against torture."

Nixon Refused to Help Reagan

By GottaLaff

Richard Nixon, May 1968

Now, now, Tricky Dicky, that wasn't very friendly-like:

Vanity Fair runs excerpts from The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan by James Mann, which reports on a secret White House meeting in 1987 -- in the midst of his historic summits with Mikhail Gorbachev -- where Reagan sought Richard Nixon's help for his conciliatory diplomacy with the Soviet Union, and Nixon refused to give it.

The meeting marked Nixon's first time back in the White House residence since his resignation. Mann reports that Nixon concluded that "there is no way [Reagan] can ever be allowed to participate in a private meeting with Gorbachev." Nixon also felt that Reagan looked "far older, more tired, and less vigorous in person than in public," and that he "did not seem to be on top of the issues." He was "certainly in no way as knowledgeable as Gorbachev, for example, which of course would not be surprising."

Mark Felt dies at 95

Why anyone would ask Pat Buchanan his opinion on Felt is beyond me. (they just did on Morning Joe)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as "Deep Throat" 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president, has died. He was 95. Felt died Thursday in Santa Rosa after suffering from congestive heart failure for several months, said family friend John D. O'Connor, who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt's secret.

Former Nixon Commerce Secretary disagrees with McCain economic advisor

By GottaLaff

Peterson should have listened to McCain advisor Donald Luskin. Shrug it off, it's all in his head:

"My goodness. I've been in the business 35 years, and these are the most extraordinary events I've ever seen."

-- Former Nixon Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson, quoted by the New York Times, on the crisis in the financial markets.

Pshhyeah, right! It's nothing! "Things today just aren't that bad."

Bush more unpopular than Nixon in California Field poll

Well, there's at least one thing he's done better than any other president.

President Bush's disapproval rating in California has reached the highest mark for a president since the Field Poll began tracking White House numbers in 1961, according to its latest survey released Friday.

Less than a quarter of California voters – 24 percent – said they approve of Bush's job performance, compared with 71 percent who said they disapprove.

The latter mark is higher than Nixon's 70 percent disapproval rating in August 1974, the same month he resigned from office after his role in the Watergate scandal was revealed.