Comparing Bush to Nixon

last updated 8 January 2015

What happened

Ron Howard, director of the new film Frost/Nixon, said during a panel discussion Tuesday that President Bush had abused his powers as clearly as Richard Nixon did. FOX News Sunday host Chris Wallace defended Bush, saying that the comparison trivialized Nixon's crimes and unfairly demonized Bush. (U.S. News & World Report online)

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"Abuse of power is abuse of power," said Roger Simon in Politico, "no matter whether the rationalization is national security or political security." But there's bound to be disagreement whenever discussion turns to Nixon. So get used to arguments about his legacy—with the release of Howard's movie the same week as the unveiling of 200 hours of Nixon White House tapes, "Richard Nixon is hot again."

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