Watergate Amnesia, the 'Nixonian' Slur and Other Big Lies

A very good column by Joe Conason:

Let's state this very simply, so everybody will understand. The notion that Barack Obama is "Nixonian" — or that his administration's recent troubles bear any resemblance to "Watergate" — is the biggest media lie since the phony "Whitewater scandal" crested during the Clinton presidency.

Fraudulent as it is, we have listened repeatedly to versions of this bogus comparison uttered by figures as diverse as former Fox News commentator Dick Morris and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, alongside a phalanx of Republican politicians, including Senator Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — whose latest attack ad directly links Obama with Nixon.

Only in a country afflicted with chronic historical amnesia could they issue such accusations without shame or embarrassment. Only under those circumstances could the Republicans continue their fitful fabrication of a "Democratic Watergate" without fear of being laughed off the stage. It is a project that they will never grow tired of pursuing.