For Chapter 7, I'll Need, Oh, 12 Years

Robert Stein, a distinguished figure in U.S. publishing circles, notes the correlation between the methodology of President Bush's upcoming memoir, Decision Points, which will study 12 epochal moments in his Presidency, and Richard Nixon's first book, Six Crises. Predicting that W. will use the format to evade unpleasant subjects such as the aftermath of his decision to invade Iraq, Stein writes:

Nixon's "Six Crises" similarly stopped short of Watergate by only covering events until 1960.

Six Crises stopped short of Watergate because it was published in 1962. It also stopped short of Vietnam and the breakup of the Beatles. Watergate got a third of the space in RN's post-Presidential memoir.

Puritans In America

At a site called "The Moderate Voice," I look in occasionally to see if they have anything pleasant to say about the ultimate moderate, Richard Nixon. Not hardly. Today Robert Stein is upset about Chuck Colson receiving a Presidential Citizens Medal from President Bush:

Just as Bush himself discovered God after half a lifetime of hell-raising, Colson in a jailhouse epiphany rehabilitated himself into Religious Right respectability after a career as Nixon’s White House counsel, the brains behind the Watergate break-in and countless other assaults on the rule of law.

"The Moderate Voice" doesn't spend immoderately on fact checkers. Colson was never charged with anything related to the Watergate break-in or coverup.

Stein also says that Colson's Christian conversion was fake. How does he know? I have a lovingly inscribed Bible, presented by the Colsons on my ordination, that says otherwise. Tens of thousands of men, women, and children have been touched and changed by Colson's Prison Fellowship.

Meanwhile Stein is a perfect example of American Puritan rectitude. Nobody can change. No forgiveness. Branded forever. Moderate, shmoderate.