Glenn G remembers Jerry terHorst's resignation after the Nixon pardon as something "that would not happen today"

Let's see, at last count the total number of Obama administration officials who have quit in protest of White House retention and enforcement of Republican policies is . . . er . . . wait, let me check my notes . . . hold on . . . um, roughly zero.

"The principle in which [Ford press secretary Jerald terHorst's] resignation was grounded -- that the highest political elites should be held to the same standards as ordinary Americans when it comes to breaking the law -- is one of the most widely mocked and explicitly rejected ideas in our current political culture."

-- Glenn Greenwald in his Friday Salon.com post,

"Things that would not happen today"

by Ken

I'm just catching up with Glenn Greenwald's Friday post, "Things that would not happen today," spurred by news of the death of Jerald terHorst, who served as White House press secretary for 30 days after Gerald Ford succeeded the resigned-in-disgrace Richard Nixon as president in 1974 -- until he resigned the day after President Ford issued his blanket pardon of Nixon, writing in his resignation letter:

As your spokesman, I do not know how I could credibly defend that action in the absence of a like decision to grant absolute pardon to the young men who evaded Vietnam military service as a matter of conscience and the absence of pardons for former aides and associates of Mr. Nixon who have been charged with crimes -- and imprisoned -- stemming from the same Watergate situation.

More power to Glenn for jumping on this. As he writes:

It's virtually impossible to imagine anyone undertaking an act like this in contemporary Washington. Indeed, the principle in which his resignation was grounded -- that the highest political elites should be held to the same standards as ordinary Americans when it comes to breaking the law -- is one of the most widely mocked and explicitly rejected ideas in our current political culture (Look Forward, Not Backward -- for Elite Crimes). Beyond that, anyone who sacrificed a position of political power, and did so based on an announced principle, would be derided by our power-worshiping political media as UnSerious, UnSavvy, and an overly earnest loser.

Ain't that the truth? The post obviously struck a nerve. The last time I looked, it had drawn 438 comments. I haven't even tried to read through them. I have a pretty good idea what they're saying, and I agree. Here's one near the beginning of the procession from commenter Ed Miller: "Politicians vet their underlings for moral integrity and disqualify them if they have any. They need people with more flexibility."

The case of former Secretary of State Colin Powell comes up, I note, on the ground that he eventually revealed that he thought about quitting over the Bush regime's campaign of lies about Iraq. In fact, the Powell case is a perfect illustration of Glenn's point. Powell gets no points, zero, for thinking about quitting. He had his chance to quit, and chose not to. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference, but we'll never know. At least Powell could have claimed to have some principles.

As Glenn writes (with abundant links onsite):

A decade of government radicalism and lawbreaking that included torture, aggressive war, indefinite detentions, and illegal domestic surveillance did not generate a single resignation of this kind. We had a handful of truly brave whistle-blowers, but other than that, the most that happened was that officials were willing to reveal and condemn the corruption in which they actively participated -- only long after it happened and once they needed a way to sell a book and rehabilitate their reputation.

Interestingly, in his updates, Glenn records reports of "a couple mid-level resignations" in the Bush regime "in protest over the core unfairness of the military commissions system -- notably from members of the U.S. military who apparently took concepts of 'honor' seriously," and another, similar example in " the recent resignation of former Marine Capt. Matthew Hoh in protest over the futility of the war in Afghanistan," adding: "It is interesting that such conscience resignations occur among mid-level current and former military members, but not among the political class."

This all rises a level or two of chillingness when Glenn raises his speculative stakes:

Then again, it's virtually impossible to imagine Richard Nixon being forced to resign in today's political culture. After all, a federal court just ruled that the prior President violated the criminal law in how he spied for years on American citizens, while the current administration did everything possible to shield those crimes from judicial review (by claiming they were "state secrets"), and it barely caused a ripple.

For today's pols, getting caught in a sex scandal or a financial one can trigger the unraveling of a career. (Note that I say "can trigger," not "will trigger" career demise. While John Ensign seems on political death watch -- if not headed for the slammer, for his parlay of sex + financial scandal -- David "The Diaper Man" Vitter continues to mouth loony-right faux pieties as he slithers his way to reelection.) Short of that, it's all a question of how good your P.R. operation is.

Sigh.

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