Anybody Here Remember Oliver North, LOL ???

[Rubyshoo]

Link to tweet

[central scrutinizer]

1. Thank you, Al Gore

[DoBW]

2. can't write this sh*t

another act in the freak show

[Sneederbunk]

3. A big chink in Reagan's armor.

[NBachers]

4. Ollie North had a few spook cameos in the early "JAG" series.

[struggle4progress]

5. I remember that era. Some jerk named Trump was regularly in the news.

A doddering liar named Reagan was president. America was murdering peasants in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Nicaragua and was propping-up the racist South African government

Back then, it was the worst time I could remember since Jeezus H Keyrice was working a gas-powered pogo-stick to sell shoes in El Paso

[GenThePerservering]

6. The host of "War Stories"?

Oh...just stop!

[haele]

7. Yes, unfortunately.

He took the fall for others in the Reagan administration.
But he's still a sleazeball fake patriot who would have no problems being an officer under a dictator so long as he got paid well to destroy people he doesn't agree with.

Haele

[VMA131Marine]

8. North was, and continues to be,

a disgrace to the Marine Corps.

[Sky Jewels]

9. I see that he is still wasting oxygen.

What a shame.

[Bmoboy]

10. And he got rich

... and famous. He never went to jail, some Republicans paid his lawyers, and he got a TV show.

What a lesson.

[susanr516]

11. That's a blast from the past

I was visiting DC during the Iran Contra investigation. Bought a t-shirt with stick person graphics, which said, "This is Fawn. See Fawn shred. Shred, Fawn, shred." I lost it during one of my moves. Wish I still had it.

[Rebl2]

17. More like

a dumb ass from the past.

[Blue Owl]

12. Oliver North went south awhile ago

[peppertree]

13. Reagan's favorite drug trafficker

He just couldn't say no to him.

[niyad]

14. I once had the privilege of telling him to his face what a traitorous asshole

I thought he was. I also knew several men who had served with him in Vietnam. To say they absolutely despised him would be putting it quite mildly.

[Buckeyeblue]

15. I remember the Iran Contra hearings

All the TV networks showed them. Oliver North came off as crazy. He gave these long speeches about how much of a patriot he was. But nothing ever really happened.

[republianmushroom]

16. The internet has a long memory.

[surfered]

18. As a result of the scandal and before trials to find the truth, President H. W Bush pardoned...

..Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense
Robert McFarlane, National Security Advisor
Elliot Abrams, Secretary of State
Alan Fiers, Chief of the CIA's Central American Task Force
Clair George, Chief of Covert Ops-CIA
Duane Clarridge, CIA senior official


Oliver North 's conviction was overturned on appeal because of Fifth Amendment's rights

But move along, nothing to see here.

[Bucky]

19. Congress should've never given him immunity. His main crime was embezzlement.

Yes, the arms sales to Iran violated the law. That's a bad crime. But proceeds from the sale of US weapons belonged to the US treasury. He sent that money to thugs and terrorists in Nicaraguan--another prohibited act. But they never worked the case like the organized racket it was. They should've nailed him for an embezzlement change and then tried to flip him to rat out Reagan, McFarlane, and Weinberger.

[StClone]

20. Situational Relativism strikes again.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

21. yes.. remember him. wow..time passes

[Marcuse]

22. In a nutshell.

[Dave Bowman]

23. Unbelievable that this criminal became famous and made a lot of money out of this.

[DiverDave]

24. The TRAITOR?

Yeah, I'll never forget him
He should STILL be in Leavenworth.
Fucking TRAITOR!

[calimary]

25. Sure do. HA! I remember how much was made of his attire when he showed up to testify.

He hadn't worn any of his nation's uniforms for awhile, but boy-oh-boy did he arrived decked out in full military dress. Evidently someone advised him that showing himself in a military uniform would speak louder to the American people than the nebbishes in suits and ties who were members of the Congressional panel that had summoned him to testify.

The visual cue took the day. There he was, in his uniform, holding his hand up to pledge allegiance to The Flag, and embarrassingly enough, THOSE VISUALS (pardon the pun) trumped any other signals or messaging or the catchiest sloganeering on parade. It was an unforgettable front-page/magazine-cover visual. And he made sure to wear his best facial expression to signal "I risked my life for my country and here you sit, smearing me and trashed me when I shed blood for you". When I watched that, live, before whatever House or Senate committee hearing, I Could Not HELP seeing the subtext that was being messaged. It hit me in the face like a flying cream pie.

And America swooned over him, and those heartless inquisitors DARED to torture this faithful red-white-and-blue fighting man by asking him questions. ANY misdeeds he carried out or had a hand in that any of those lawmaker panelists wanted to ask him about, it ALL went right out the window. Nobody cared anymore. The very vision of him standing ramrod straight with his hand held up to swear in just completelly deep-six'd any facts that might have come out, or testimony that might have sealed his fate in the wrong direction. Just GONE. He was the beleaguered, put-upon war hero-fighting-for-your-freedom and facing death FOR YOU. They almost freakin' canonized him. It was awfully hard to watch.

IMAGING.

VISUALS. (The vast majority of Americans process information visually.) The visuals told you this was a victim, who'd shed his very blood to keep YOU free, standing up to the Devil himself so you wouldn't have to, the closest thing a contemporary poseur/media manipulator could come to Dying-on-the-Cross-for-YOUR-SINS. The visual manipulations just dropped my jaw.

And it worked. America, you've been HAD. ROYALLY HAD. He became a hero and pop-culture figure by now, probably with an agent making sure he could get that seven-or-eight-figure book deal and his mug on TV as often as possible. And he's never paid much of a price for it.

[eShirl]

26. "Wait! Who's Oliver North?"