Reply #5: Basically worse.

[CBHagman]

Granted, there are a lot of things that Nixon is justly reviled for -- anti-Semitism, the break-in, the involvement in the Chilean coup, etc. But he did pursue some policies which led to long-term good (for example, in the environmental area).

Bush may be fairly close to Nixon in terms of secrecy and vindictiveness, though only a team of historians and psychologists could do justice to that topic! But Bush never had to work his way to the top the way Nixon did, and no, I'm not just taking the Checkers speech and running with it. Nixon did not come from the lap of luxury and all the right connections. I can understand a bit the bitterness and frustration, for example, Pat Nixon seemed to feel at all the sacrifices she had to make as a young woman.

But Bush has the Nixonian resentment without ever having suffered anything worse than one defeat at the polls. Can you think of a single mistake for which Bush has paid the price? Do you think George and Laura Bush struggled for much of anything in this life?

And Bush richly deserves criticism for trying to undo the post-Watergate reforms involving disclosure. The executive orders creating further restrictions on release of documents are utterly shameful.