Nixon’s resignation a year later added a new argument to conservative media’s response to Watergate. His abuse of power proved the federal government needed to be constrained. Prior to the resignation the argument found little purchase among people like Manion and Buckley and Regnery, all of whom held that neither the original break-in and bugging nor the attempts at cover-up amounted to anything outside ordinary political dealings. Once the White House tapes revealed the depth of Nixon’s involvement and his resignation made shoring him up unnecessary, they dropped all pretenses. This, they
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