Jon Wiener, writing for the Off the Bus series at Huffington Post, spoke with former White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon, John Dean, about the Bush presidency, a possible Giuliani administration and the GOP.
Dean’s assessment on Giuliani? If you thought Bush was bad, just wait for President Giuliani.
“Look at the so-called Watergate abuses of power,” he said. “Nobody died. Nobody was tortured. Millions of Americans were not subject to electronic surveillance of their communications. We’re playing now in a whole different league.”
And how does Bush compare with the Republicans seeking to succeed him? “If a Rudy Giuliani were to be elected,” Dean said, “he would go even farther than Cheney and Bush in their worst moments.” [emphasis added]
In his discussion with Wiener, Dean gave his stark assessment of the current state of the Republican Party. Left in shambles, Dean notes that not all of the candidates are as extreme.
What about the rest of the pack? “I’m very concerned about the current attitude in the Republican party,” he said. “However there are candidates on the Republican side who are not quite as frightening as Giuliani.” When I asked who he had in mind, he laughed and said “Ron Paul.” He conceded that “there’s no chance he’s going to be president.”
Dean continued, asked about the transition from a Bush presidency to a, presumably, Democratic administration:
I asked Dean to imagine the moment when Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, 2009, presumably to be replaced by a Democrat, presumably Hillary — will it then be possible to say “our long national nightmare is over”? Dean replied with one word: “Yes.”
But for some, the nightmare will just be beginning. Wiener notes:
He quickly added, “I do feel strongly that the Republicans have so abused the law and embedded so many people within the system, within the executive branch, that’s it’s going to take a couple of terms of Democratic presidents before you have people there who are representing the American people.”
(Hat tip: Steve Benen, Crooks & Liars)
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