Top Comments: the Nixon Enemies List edition

    In the words of the late Dean Martin, “Keep those cards and letters coming in, folks”.

A famous list (actually, two) that caused a good deal of consternation in 1973 ….

But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).

Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.

I am not so naïve as to think various Presidents or governors have not had a list of their political opponents, for easy reference. That goes for Democrats, too. Yet I believe that the Nixon Enemies List is unlike no other, in that: a)  They put it on paper (rather than committing it to memory, etc.) b)  They sought (unsuccessfully, for the most part) to have the IRS audit those on it c)   It listed many who’d never crossed paths with the Nixon Administration d)   And it had celebrities not overly political (at least, not to the naked eye). There were, in reality, two such lists. The first (with began with only twenty names) was one that was compiled by Charles Colson in 1971 — and not revealed until 1973, after John Dean broke with the White House and testified to the list at the Senate Watergate Committee:   Arnold PickerAlexander E. BarkanEdwin GuthmanMaxwell DaneCharles DysonHoward SteinAllard LowensteinMorton HalperinLeonard WoodcockS. Sterling Munro, Jr.Bernard T. FeldSidney DavidoffJohn ConyersSamuel M. LambertStewart Rawlings MottRon DellumsDaniel SchorrS. Harrison DogolePaul NewmanMary McGrory That first Top Twenty list also had a Political Opponents corollary, with many familiar names .. and thus the first list became quite long. The second (and far more comprehensive) one was also compiled by Colson, referred to as the Master List— and was constantly changing; thus no complete version exists. Yet it, too, covered a wide range of names and occupations. Two years ago, one site sought to list the living members of the list (though some have died since) and this site has a searchable database. PBS had one section of a Nixon video devoted to the list, indicating its popularity. And while this diary is truly inadequate for an in-depth look at the names: a look at some of the more notable (or odd) inclusions is worth a look. CBS News reporter Daniel Schorr began reading the names on the list (one-by-one) on-air until he came to ………. umm ….. his own name. Later as NPR commentator Paul Newman, at least, had been politically active (compared to others listed). He told TIME magazine that he did so after Vietnam and that “My highest single honor is that I was No. 19 on Nixon's enemies list”  — plus, his children were also similarly impressed.  He won other awards, too. Carol Channing has won three Tony awards and a Golden Globe, and her inclusion on the list appears to be her re-working of her signature tune “Hello Dolly” for the 1964 election campaign of the Democratic candidate: Hello, Lyndon. She, too, considers her inclusion as a career highlight (and she just turned age 95). An Oscar nominee, as well One individual on the list is (widely believed) to have voted twice for Richard Nixon, yet still wound up on The List. If anyone needed proof that Nixon did not personally compile this list, Exhibit A was a then-star athlete: Joe Namath, listed as “Quarterback, New York Giants” (sic) ….. which football fan Nixon very knew who he played for.    New York Jets, of course In a Top Comments three months ago, I reviewed a book that chronicled the four people who helped make the Birth Control pill a reality — which if you have not read, can be seen at this link.

Someone who was not connected to that effort, yet did pioneering work on synthetic progesterone (an important piece of the puzzle) was Carl Djerassi — who received a National Medal of Science from Nixon at the White House in 1973, two months before he was named …. on the second Enemies List.

   Carl Djerassi (1923-2015)

And finally, while it appears they did not make it into the final Second List: for a time, the singer-songwriter duo of Brewer & Shipley made it onto The List. Their hit single One Toke Over the Line has an incredible back-story, which I also wrote about in a previous Top Comments diary …. which at this link you can read.

Brewer & Shipley: early 70’s  …. and in recent years

In the same year (1971), they and their song were denounced by Vice President Agnew as being "subversive to American youth" (cackle) … and yet their song was performed (in as white-bread a version as possible) on the Lawrence Welk show … which led Mike Brewer to jokingly ask the Establishment: “Make up your minds!"

x YouTube Video Now, on to Top Comments: -------------------------------------

From ZenTrainer:

In my diary about having DK readers help to register new voters— I thought this was a top comment by Assaf … I had a goofy thought about inspiring kids to get involved and what if you could harness something like the sheer numbers of the Duggar family and use that for power for good?

From highacidity:

In the front-page story about the guy who threw a sucker punch at a Trump rally and was later arrested— leave it to blue aardvark to supply the best comment.

From Avilyn:

In today’s Cheers & Jeers diary, I nominate a comment by none other than the diary’s author Bill in Portland Maine — which highlights quite simply and beautifully the difference between Democrats & Republicans.  

From sendtheasteroid:

In the diary by Leslie Salzillo about the address given on the Senate floor today (detailing the 7-year obstruction by the GOP) given by Elizabeth Warren— a succinct summation was given by Mimikins — Elizabeth Warren couldn't have said it better (but would probably have to be a bit less blunt).

And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........

In the front-page story about a Breitbart associate claiming that she was roughed-up by the Trumpster’s campaign manager Cory Lewandoski  — I Love OCD throws her hands up, citing an old filmmaker as an analogy.

TOP PHOTOS March 9, 2016 Next - enjoy jotter's wonderful *PictureQuilt™* below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo.   NOTE: Any missing images in the Quilt were removed because (a) they were from an unapproved source that somehow snuck through in the comments, or (b) it was an image from the DailyKos Image Library which didn't have permissions set to allow others to use it.)

And lastly: yesterday's *Top Mojo* - mega-mojo to the intrepid *mik* ...... who rescued this feature from oblivion:

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