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"I reject the cynical view that politics is inevitably or even usually a dirty business. Let us not allow what a few over-zealous people did in Watergate to tar the reputation of the millions of ded icated Americans who fought hard but clean for the candidates of their choice in 1972."
Then, trying to explain the origins of recent political skulduggery, Nixon sought to link the Watergate case with the civil disobedience of the 1960s, which, he said, "brought a rising spiral of violence and fear, of riots and arson and bombings, all in the name of peace and justice . . . The notion that the end justifies the means proved contagious."
It was not surprising, he continued, "even though it is deplorable, that some persons in 1972 adopted the morality that they themselves had rightly condemned and committed acts that have no place in our political system."
Though Nixon was obviously right in condemning all varieties of illegality, and although he may well have been right when he said that the White House was reacting to threats of violence from the left, he failed to make a distinction between the protests of citizens and the misuse of the vast police powers of the state. Commented the Washington Post:
"What is the President trying to tell us?
That Abbie Hoffman set a bad exam ple for John Mitchell and that the for mer chief law officer of the land was very impressionable?"
ON THE NEED TO GET ON WITH IT
Nixon spoke with commendable hope about the need for a new attitude in American politics and for "a renewed respect for the mutual restraints that are the mark of a free and civilized society." For his own part, he pledged "a new level of political decency and integrity." Yet even as he did so, he could not resist a partisan shot or two. In a particularly sharp rebuke to the Ervin committee, he seemed to be implying that all Government good works had been stalled by the Senate investigation of Watergate.
"Legislation vital to your health and well-being sits unattended on the congressional calendar," the President com plained, obscuring the fact that it is the Executive Branch — and not Congress — that has been paralyzed by Water gate. "Confidence at home and abroad in our foreign policy is being sapped by uncertainty," said Nixon, as if Phase IV and the price of beef depended upon the support of Senator Sam Ervin.
"These are matters that will not wait," said Nixon. "They cry out for action now. Either we, as your elected representatives here in Washington, ought to get on with the jobs that need to be done —for you—or every one of you ought to be demanding to know why."