What was Thompson’s role in, for example, the attempt to destroy John Dean? Inquiring minds want to know.
Now that it looks as if all three of the “first-tier” declared Republican Presidential candidates are going to self-destruct before launch, the best bet to get the nomination would seem to be former Senator, actor, and lobbyist Fred Thompson (R-K Street). Time to crank up the oppo research.
Here’s a place to start: the Watergate hearings. At the end of the day, Thompson’s boss Howard Baker bailed on Nixon. But when the outcome was still in question, I recall Baker carrying a lot of water for the White House, even as Lowell Weicker was earning a place in history and the undying enmity of his party by doing the right thing. I’d bet there are some people still around — including John Dean — with some interesting Fred Thompson stories to tell.
Let him put that in his illegal Cuban cigar and smoke it.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
View all posts by Mark Kleiman