Watergate co-conspirator Charles Colson, one of Nixon’s right hand men, died over the weekend. Much controversy surrounds Colson, who, during his short stint in jail for his role in the fiasco, turned to God and started a prison ministry which he has worked at ever since. I admire both his faith and dedication, but I don’t think anyone should forget the first Colson who pretty much wrecked the presidency of Richard Nixon. You see, Watergate did bother me, mostly because it was so unnecessary. Nixon was riding a strong wave of popularity in ’70 and ’71, even though the country was torn up about Vietnam. It looked like he and his henchmen were finally getting a handle on the peace talks, and the war might soon be over. The democratic candidate, McGovern was perhaps the weakest opponent that the Dems could put up for the ’72 election. Nevertheless, a paranoid Nixon was worried and wanted to know what the other side was planning in terms of strategy. It would be really interesting to know whose bloody idea it was to burglarize the Watergate where the Dems had their offices, take a look at their documents and bug their headquarters. Liddy, Colson, Haldeman, Erlichman, Hunt, Dean, McCord, Mcgruder, Mitchel would all become household names, a sort of Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP) rogue’s gallery of inept and paranoid clowns. In 1972 there was no chance that Nixon was going to lose, with or without spying on the Democrats at the Watergate. The real truth about who did what in the planning stages will never be known. I suspect that the plan was cooked up between Liddy,Mitchell, Mcgruder and Colson regarding possible information that Democratic chair, Larry O’Brien, might have had regarding Nixon. But all the involved parties have lied so much that ever finding out the truth about any of it is impossible. Nixon was paranoid and worried, but he should never have allowed Colson, his chief Whitehouse counsel, or Mitchell, the attorney general of the United States, to even suggest such a thing. Nixon was eventually forced to resign his presidency, and most of the clowns opted for plea deals and reduced sentences. As a fourteen-year-old teenager I was thoroughly disgusted by the whole sordid affair, with Nixon unceremoniously booted out of office as an un-indicted co-conspirator in this disgraceful mess. Burglary and wiretapping are low and vile crimes and the office of the president should not be involved at any level. A dozen men could have put their foot down and ended Liddy’s insane plan at any moment along the way, but nobody did. Colson could have, Mitchell could have, or even the president could have. What was so disappointing about the break-in was that nobody said, “no.” So I still blame them all and Colson was right in the middle of it. They thought they were above the law, and if they hadn’t been so bad at breaking and entering, they might have gotten away with it. In the end, they all should have known better, but I guess it was easier to pay Nixon lip service than to tell him that Liddy’s idiot plan was exactly that, idiot. As an end note to all of this, I would like to give my thanks to Gerald Ford. When he pardoned Nixon, I was furious, as were a lot of people, but later on in life I realized that he threw himself under the bus, forsaking a chance to be elected president so that the American people could put Watergate behind them. He was a real man. Anyway, this June will be the fortieth anniversary of the arraignment of the original burglars.