Willis Hart Unplugged From Reality Re Richard Nixon "Brilliant" Comments On US Democracy Spreading

Bullshit from the Libertarian blogger Willis Hart in which he gives undeserved kudos to Richard Nixon. Because Nixon wrote (in 1990) that the US shouldn't be waging war to "spread democracy", ignoring the fact that RMN was preznit while the US was involved in just such a war.

Willis Hart: Richard Nixon, Unplugged... "We should not make the mistake of trying to impose our system on nations that have neither the traditions nor the institutions to make democracy work". That is brilliant, as much as I hate to say it and, yes, the final score; Nixon 1 George W. Bush and Barack Obama 0. (5/5/2016 AT 4:25pm).

Richard Nixon (1/9/1913–4/22/1994) did write this, but it was AFTER he left the presidency (1969-1974) - in the 1990 book From the Arena (according to this source). However, during his campaign for the White House Nixon prolonged the Vietnam War for political gain. Then, after being elected, he escalated the war.

In 1968, the Paris Peace talks, intended to put an end to the 13-year-long Vietnam War, failed because an aide working for then-Presidential candidate Richard Nixon convinced the South Vietnamese to walk away from the dealings. Anna Chennault, one of Nixon's aides... was dispatched to the South Vietnamese embassy with a clear message: the South Vietnamese government should withdraw from the talks, refuse to deal with Johnson, and if Nixon was elected, they would get a much better deal. Eventually, Nixon won by just 1% of the popular vote. "Once in office he escalated the war into Laos and Cambodia, with the loss of an additional 22,000 American lives, before finally settling for a peace agreement in 1973 that was within grasp in 1968", says the BBC. (Nixon Prolonged Vietnam War for Political Gain—And Johnson Knew About It, Newly Unclassified Tapes Suggest).

Wikipedia notes that, "The U.S. government viewed its involvement in the war as a way to prevent... the spread of communism [whereas] The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam [and] viewed the conflict as a colonial war, fought initially against forces from France and then America, and later against South Vietnam".

So, I think Vietnam could be classified as a war were we made "the mistake of trying to impose our system on nations that have neither the traditions nor the institutions to make democracy work". Granted, the war began under Lyndon Johnson, but Nixon prolonged it and escalated it! And, after sabotaging peace talks as a Republican potus hopeful, he then (as president) instituted a policy to end the war "through a program termed Vietnamization to expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces" (which failed).

Although this was after "the Cambodian Campaign [which] was a series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia during 1970 by the United States and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) during the Vietnam War". Also note that "these invasions were a result of the policy of President Richard Nixon".

So what Nixon wrote later (the Nixon via WTNPH quote) didn't comport with his actual actions. Still "brilliant", Willis? But me asking that question assumes that Willis is unaware of the Nixon administration policies during the Vietnam War. But I'm sure he IS aware. So... what explains the Hartster's "Nixon brilliant" bullshit?

Damned if I know. I'm going to just guess it has something to do with the fact that the dude is becoming more and more unplugged from reality (OST #141). Also the fact that he often acts as an apologist for Republicans. Here Nixon, but he's done the same regarding gwb (DSD #18).

Video: Newly-released recordings from the Oval Office show President Lyndon Johnson knew Richard Nixon tried derailing peace talks with Vietnam, an act for which he could have been charged with treason. Although (according to Willis Hart) Nixon's later hypocrisy was "brilliant" (1:45).

OST #142