Robert Scheer has a new podcast on KCRW. In it, he talks to Dean, former White House Counsel under Richard Nixon, who served during the Watergate scandal.
In the first 32-minute podcast, Dean says things the G.W. Bush administration did were far worse than Watergate.
Dean also talks about today’s Republicans in the House and Senate:
“They have never been more polarized. There is no room for any dissent in the Republican ranks. … The base that’s being so uncompromising, that’s the tea party movement. (Former U.S. House Speaker John) Boehner is a moderate by their standards. That’s why he was ousted from his job in a power play. They wanted a scalp because he wouldn’t use extortion as a means to ends. …
“There’s somewhere between two dozen and four dozen Republicans who do not want to govern. In fact, they want to do everything they can to destroy the government and make it not work. That to me has always been a mind-blowing attitude — to even get into government if you want to destroy the government, and try to obstruct the government.
“I think it is unconstitutional. I think there may be criminal implications in what these people are doing. And no one’s ever dug out the fact that this is a near-treasonous type of mentality this party has at its core. It’s very troubling. These people are incapable of governing. … (Dean mentions one of his books.) Republican rule destroyed the executive, legislative and judicial branches. This mentality doesn’t work in a democracy.”
Scheer and Dean also talk about Eisenhower, Goldwater and Nixon, and say they would never be considered conservative by today’s GOP.
Scheer is one of the frequent voices heard on the weekly news show “KCRW Left, Right and Center.” He is the journalist who did the interview with Jimmy Carter when Carter said said he “lusted in his heart.” Scheer’s new show, called “Scheer Intelligence,” was named by someone other than Scheer, who says the title sounds arrogant.
– Randy Rendfeld is a retired newspaper editor and reporter.
Links:
http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/scheer-intelligence/john-dean-and-the-abuse-of-power
