Bush no Nixon.

• Author: Bishop, Jordan
• Position: Letters to the Editor - Letter to the Editor

I must take exception to the Comment ("Bush's Bitter Deal") in the March issue of The Progressive. You describe Bush as "perhaps the most dangerous [President] in the history of the republic, with the exception of Richard Nixon." While I hold no particular brief for the late Richard Nixon, he was nowhere near as dangerous as the current President. Richard Nixon was not a nice man. He was, on the whole, unprincipled, but he was a pragmatist. He was able to achieve rapprochement with China. He pushed for funding for Vietnam veterans who had drug problems due to their service.

On the other hand, Bush is a nice man. He is a man of principle, to the point of dogmatism. And his principles are all detrimental to the health of the republic. He has abandoned any concern for physically or psychologically injured veterans of the Iraq War. And he heads an Administration that is corrupt in a way that Nixon's was not.

Jordan Bishop

Ottawa, Ontario

I agree that George Bush is "perhaps the most dangerous [President] in the history of the republic." However, I disagree with the last part, "with the exception of Richard Nixon." Despite his shortcomings, Nixon never dreamed of the excesses being perpetrated by Bush.

One must look beyond the President to the Presidency. Nixon was in office in the pre-Reagan era. At that...