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So, am I to understand that the guy jumping from the roof of the waterslide is, in fact, Bill Murphy Jr celebrating (or lamenting) the 48th anniversary of President Nixon's resignation?

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founding

Now I’ll make it about me, lol.

Sometime in my junior high or early high school career I had to write a report about a President. I had long ago established my left-leanings for politics (in kindergarten voted for Carter in our Weekly Reader balloting). My dad, who had been president of the Young Republicans in college, was a long-standing supporter of Nixon’s. I remember him suggesting I pick Nixon. Part of me did because I was still enough of daddy’s little girl to go along with his recommendation. But I also remember my teen rebellious nature beginning to appear, and I wanted to prove my dad wrong in his admiration for this disgraced president.

However, I found myself admiring the man and most of his actions and policies as President. Researching and writing that report really helped me to start seeing the gray in the world and to understand the many nuances of good and evil and all they lies in between.

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We are all a composite of the good things and bad things. Not very many people are totally evil, although we are quick to think of a few. Even they have done some good for someone. But celebrities only get known for the sensational news. Just went to the JFK museum and left feeling really good about America- yet I’m sure he was human like the rest of us. Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.

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Nixon’s resignation also made an impact on my life as a conservative Republican. I was in college and a friend suggested that I listen to the Watergate tapes, “especially if I supported Nixon, to see him defend himself”. Gullible, I went to listen. OMG,Talk about a wake-up call! He was no Eisenhower Republican. This was my entry into becoming a political being and keeping an eye on what was going on in politics.

On another note about being young and unaware of politics, when I had just entered high school, the Vietnam war was getting under way. I inherently knew that so many young men would be dying without even understanding what they were fighting for. Trade routes?? So when I went to bed one night, I asked how to end the war. I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote the answer down on a pad near my bed. When I woke up the next morning, I read the answer….”just leave”. I was so disappointed that I “didn’t get an answer”, yet that’s exactly how the war ended.

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My earliest political comment was when I was 3, "I Like Ike" when I was at the polls with my parents. I don't know if I remember it or it was a family story often made reference to. Fast forward to Jan. 1971, St. John, Virgin Islands, Nixon was there for R&R. I knew someone who worked at the resort, and I was part of the welcoming crowd. When it was my turn on the receiving line, I shook his hand and said I believe we should get out of the Vietnam War. He ignored me of course. Most of the crowd were well-heeled Republicans, I a vacationing college student. So I walked away thinking I had just spoken to the most powerful leader in the world and he did not acknowledge my existence. What happened is what I should have expected to happen,. He looked old and ashen and tired. That's my Nixon story.

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Thanks for this reminder of Nixon's accomplishments. And for personalizing your experiences on that day. Democracy is a messy process. I would be interested to know your yake on term limits for members of Congess

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Bad idea. No doubt. Well, not much doubt. Well, I mean..... He coulda been a hero, I suppose. Hmmm....

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How can I get rid of the email and just read in the app?

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Re: the judges... I'd like to see a study on doctors using the internet for diagnosing illness.

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Nixon did not end the war in Vietnam. Let's be clear. We lost that war, just as we lost the war in Afghanistan. No need to sugar coat or spin. We lost.

Considering the many maudlin and pants on fire speeches Nixon had made in the past, I thought this was his finest hour. Which may not be saying much, but it was a sad night. No one was dancing in the street.

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laughing my ass off over the idiot flying high at the water park. I did have to mute the sound because of the loudmouth in the background or the fool doing the jumping and making all the noise. The entire clip was binge worthy enough to watch multiple times. Watching him after he gets airborne is what really gets me going. So much windmilling! And then the kersplash! This was worth the price of admission today. Thanks Bill.

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That’s ok to do every once in a while Bill. Btw, are you still in touch with Kate? I hope she’s doing well these days. My sons and I will be heading her way in a month. This is our postponed 2020 trip.

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Bill, you were pretty smart at your young age, but I'm afraid you don't have strong bragging rights compared to me. (Here's me bragging:) At my ripe old age of three, my parents were too busy taking care of my sick 20-months-younger brother, so . . . , I taught myself to tie my shoelaces in a bow, I started on the road to teaching myself to read, learned to wipe my own rear end (cleanly), and threw away my dad's opera recordings (probably shellac recordings) because I didn't like them. We had a cabinet-sized wind-up gramophone at the time (1931). I was reading science fiction magazines by the time I was five, and even tried my hand on the Sunday Times crossword puzzles, but never completely finished one, even with my dad's help. When I was 47 years old I took the Mensa entry test and passed with a score of 168. Let's start a contest among your members. Anyone? Microphone drops.

On another subject, I think Democratic Party elitism will ruin this country. "When they go low, we go high?????" So much nonsense in the face of the last 11 years of the opposing party's intransigence and criminal duplicity! And the Inflation Reduction Act is (I believe) a step toward that end. It's far from enough of what we need right now. Manchin and Sinema should have been condemned, threatened and/or ostracized long ago for their obvious selfish reasons for obstructing progress. The final version of the bill would have been more appropriate to the need and better digested by Democrats and Independents.

One more subject: So many judges use Wikipedia? Isn't that because so many of them were nominated by Trump and pushed through approval by partisan votes in the Senate?

One thing more! That's not you in the video, is it, Bill? If so, you're far braver than I am (and heavier).

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I was of draft age when Nixon was president, and my lottery number was quite low - so I was more than delighted when he ended the draft. But…. He ended the draft because there was tremendous resistance by the drafted troops to fight. Fragging and drug use were epidemic. It was politically expedient. Nixon’s new plan was to bomb the vietcong into the stone age. At the time I thought he had no morals, and was a criminal. But now.. he looks like a good guy compared to Trump. OMG, have we come a long way :(

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My husband tells the story: I was of draft age when Nixon was president. My lottery number was pretty low, and so I was more than delighted when he ended the draft. But he did it because it was politically expedient. The troops were resisting fighting. Fragging and drug abuse were epidemic. At the time I thought he was without any morals, and a criminal. Today, compared to Trump, he seems like not that bad of a guy. OMG, we have come a long way.😳

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Now thay may have been a belly flop.

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