Sharyl (Benghazi!) Attkisson offered her uninformed opinion on Richard Nixon's resignation on This Week, which only served to underscore her apparent ignorance about the seriousness of Nixon's crimes. Unfortunately it was also offered as a subtle way to suggest that Barack Obama and Richard Nixon are cut from the same cloth.
Asked for her opinions of how the Nixon years reverberate today, Attkisson said, "I like to think as what would happen today during a Nixon type scandal, Nixon would basically refuse to turn over tapes to Congress, his aides would refuse to testify to Congress or would take the fifth or would lie to Congress with fair amount of impunity." She speculated further, saying "Woodward and Bernstein will be controversialized on social media by special and political interests...Facebook accounts."
Wrapping it all up, she said, "Nixon would go on a popular late night comedy show during which time he would humorously refer to his attackers as people that were political witch hunters who believe in Area 51 type conspiracies."
Martha Raddatz then did a bit of rehabilitation herself, telling Attkisson she hoped she would "keep pounding investigative journalists and get something done."
Just like that, Attkisson turned Nixon into a proxy for Obama while shoring up her own reputation by using Woodward and Bernstein as proxies for herself.
There's so much wrong with this that I'm grateful the audience for these shows is tiny.
Nixon covered up criminal acts. Criminal acts which were political acts. And by criminal acts, I mean crimes like money laundering, break-ins, wiretapping opponents and more.
Attkisson still wants to believe Benghazi! was a moment of crime for President Obama. Her career depends on it. If she can't make the case against Obama, she'll use Nixonian-level smear tactics on national television instead. Lee Atwater would have been so proud.
ABC News has really gone down the toilet in the last couple of years. Between Jon Karl and their constant campaign to become the Fox News of network television, they've debased themselves into irrelevance.
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