Opinion of Nelson Rockefeller

[The Dowager Mod]

Dude went out like a champ.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

A vile, vile man. Reading his biography only made me hate him more.

I'm curious as to why you put Mr. Nixon on a pedestal, yet hate the dreaded Rockefeller. I know my reasons, I'm wondering about yours.

Nixon was a man who was handed absolutely nothing. He was fueled by pure ambition and drive. Rockefeller just wanted another fancy title for his resume. Nixon was a man with a vision. Rocky had no such thing.

Preceisly. For all his (serious) flaws and (huge) personal ambitions, Nixon has a vision. Rockefeller wanted to be President for sake of being President.

[Citizen Hats]

While his skillful de-fanging of Robert Moses was indeed salutary, Moses was on the way down after 1960.  The "World's Fair" in 1964, Jane Jacobs, and some politically dunder-headed projects that alienated more powerful voters than the poor people he was used to pushing around were all undermining his power and ability to push his projects through. It was only a matter of time before he was through

[traininthedistance]

While his skillful de-fanging of Robert Moses was indeed salutary, Moses was on the way down after 1960.  The "World's Fair" in 1964, Jane Jacobs, and some politically dunder-headed projects that alienated more powerful voters than the poor people he was used to pushing around were all undermining his power and ability to push his projects through. It was only a matter of time before he was through

Um, he may have made more enemies, but the sort of rotating bond tricks he used to maintain complete control of Triborough didn't care about public opinion. No matter how unpopular he got, he would have remained safely ensconced in power (at least those portions of it that were most important and damaging), were it not for Nelson basically colluding with his banker brother David to make sure that he wouldn't be able to fall back on them. It was most certainly not "only a matter of time".

[PJ]

Pushed for some pretty bad drug laws, regardless of his other "moderate" credentials. People with a lot of money who try to run for president simply because they can afford it are almost always terrible.