Your Moment Of Nixon, Ctd

A reader writes:

That YouTube you posted was fascinating. Infuriating and funny at the same time. Through most of it I was feeling increasingly appalled and reflexively angry. But you know, when he was talking about the misogyny of fashion designers I chuckled a dark chuckle (I'm a gay guy, and no I don't work in the clothing or any design industry.) And then when they all agreed that hot pants were a good thing I chuckled a light chuckle.

Politically I find Nixon pretty loathsome. But we can as a community (and a society at large) keep our "eyes on the prize" of full equality while perhaps having a smidge of forgiveness for these guys for being human and living in the time and place that they did.

I know this ignores all the specious historical arguments Nixon threw in to justify keeping the fags out of the public sphere. My Irish immigrant grandfather has said many times "forgive, but don't forget."

Another, after listening to the tape, reminds me of the genius of Jonah Goldberg:

As for the war on drugs part, I think you make a perfectly fine point, except I would argue that Nixon was not a particularly conservative guy. Measured by today's standards and today's issues, Nixon would be in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.