HARK! HARK! THERE MAY BE "BARBARIANS AT THE GATES"!

 It seems like yesterday that it was early 1972 and the Watergate scandal was breaking. Names like Hunt, Haldeman, Dean, Magruder, Colson,  Liddy and Erlichman daily made their way into the news broadcasts of CBS, NBC, and ABC. Not only was it eventually learned that the  White House was complicit in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex, it  became known that the president's office had used the IRS to punish and harass political opponents. By 1974, it was obvious that the president was going to experience impeachment and a likely conviction.  Americans were roiled as they were put through a constitutional crisis, which climaxed with a presidential resignation in 1974.

1996 Political Cartoon from the Columbia, S.C., State on Travelgate

Now, once again, it appears that just such another crisis is in the making; and, at  of the eye of the political  hurricane forming, is a lady who is no stranger to controversy and hardball power-games.  We must not forget  that, as a twenty-seven-year-old attorney, Hillary Clinton was let go from her House Judiciary Committee staff  job in the midst of the Watergate investigation for putting together a fraudulent legal brief and then confiscating public documents to disguise her unethical behavior.

In fact, charges of deception and deceit have dogged Hillary Clinton throughout her political career.  There was Whitewater, the commodities trading story, big money received for an obscure education report, the missing billings for work for "friends" Jim and Susan McDougal's savings and loan and "Travelgate", in which it was alleged that the Clintons had attempted to turn the White House Travel Office over to political cronies.  And now it seems that Hillary's earlier "gates" are going to be surpassed by what is shaping up as "Benghazigate."  If Bill Clinton's problem was physical lust, it has to be pure, old unadulterated power that Hillary has always longed for.

Maybe, it is too early to tell where all this is going; but, in comparison to Benghazigate, Watergate comes off like a frat boys' prank.  And, remember, Watergate brought down a presidency.

Some have asked how Benghazi differs from Watergate .  For starters, four brave Americans died.  And it is beginning to look like they died as sacrificial victims to White House politics.  Watergate, indeed, was a monumental blunder, but Benghazi has the makings of the mother- of -all- blunders, and possibly a Tsunami of a blunder! If Hillary and her minions had simply done their jobs professionally and honestly, they would not today be staring political oblivion in the face.  If they had reported to the American people what was going on and how it was going to be handled, they might have retained credibility.  And, if administration "spin-masters" had not massaged the truth,  Americans might now be far more likely to be indulgent of the White House's version of reality.

And to cap it all off, now we have revelations of a possible "Taxgate."  Combined with the Benghazi story, IRS "special treatment" and scrutiny of conservative organizations like the Tea Party sounds exactly like the bully-boy politics of Chicago.  But even political bully-boys should know what happened because of  IRS abuses associated with Watergate.  In the words of George Santayana, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  Once again, the barbarians who somehow manage to install themselves in the seats of power are poised on the brink of downfall and disgrace.   So much for those vaunted Ivy League products, who seemingly did not receive beneficial instruction in history during their posh educations. Hold on, dear readers, I believe there might be some more "gates" just ahead!