Nixon: The unexpurgated words of a President close to the edge.

Oh, how we love it when new Nixon tapes are released. They never change what we think of the man, rather they always confirm previous expectations. The latest batch does not disappoint.

It was a day after the Supreme Court legalised abortion in its Roe vs Wade ruling, and Mr Nixon wonders aloud about wisdom of the judgement with his senior aide Charles Colson. He worries that abortion "breaks the family" and its legalisation could encourage "permissiveness".

On the other hand, he offers: "There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white. Or a rape."

The election of Obama, born from a white mother and a Kenyan father, shows just how far the US has traveled since Nixon made those remarks in the Oval office.

And there's this extraordinary exchange between Nixon and Coulson regarding who they think is against the Republican party:

"The blacks and the poor," Colson offers, and Nixon adds, "And the intellectuals." For good measure, Colson throws in, "the lavender shirt mob... the homos and the queers."

Reading that today, one realises that the US may have come a long way in the past 40 years, but the Republicans haven't changed that much at all.

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Tags: Nixon, Republicans