| Get Jonathan Bernstein's newsletter every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. The two Republican figures in the news Tuesday were U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida and Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy. Gaetz started the day dealing with reports that he might leave the House for a gig at Newsmax and ended it defending himself against reports of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Liddy died on Tuesday. Yes, the two are connected. Liddy was one of the White House "plumbers" in the early 1970s, a group of staffers who were given the job of harassing President Richard Nixon's enemies, often by violating the law. Most famously, Liddy and E. Howard Hunt broke into the offices of a psychiatrist to get the file of Daniel Ellsberg, the RAND Corporation analyst who had leaked the Pentagon Papers to the media. Later, Liddy was shifted to Nixon's re-election campaign, where he was put in charge of developing the plan that eventually included breaking in to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex in Washington. Liddy's original plan? As Fred Emery described it in his book, "Watergate": He started with DIAMOND. This was his plan to counter antiwar demonstrations at the Republican convention, at that time still scheduled for San Diego. Liddy contended the site was indefensible, so DIAMOND would kidnap the demonstration leaders before trouble occurred, drug them, spirit them over the nearby border to Mexico, and hold them until after the convention was over. These sudden disappearances Liddy labeled Nacht und Nebel — the night and fog of Nazi storm-trooper tactics. The charts listed Liddy operatives as a Special Action Group, an SS euphemism for death squad. By Liddy's account, John Mitchell interrupted to doubt whether such a team could operate the way Liddy proposed…Liddy went on to explain that his men included professional killers.To Mitchell's question of where he would find such men, Liddy said they were from organized crime, and they did not come cheap. Mitchell commented, "Let's not contribute any more than we have to to the coffers of organized crime." Liddy...plowed on. RUBY was to infiltrate spies into Democrat campaigns, including the nominee's. COAL was a program to furnish money clandestinely to the campaign of black New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm [the first woman ever to announce for president]; Liddy says Mitchell ruled that out, saying that Nelson Rockefeller [then governor of New York] was "already taking care of that." Then came EMERALD. This was for a "chase plane" to pursue the Democratic nominee's airliner and buses and bug their radio communications. QUARTZ was to intercept microwave telephone traffic. Liddy explained he already had an option to lease a houseboat in Miami Beach to which prostitutes in SAPPHIRE would lure top Democrats, and CRYSTAL, a communications center, would eavesdrop their pillow talk... And so to the buggings. OPAL I-IV were four black bag jobs designed to place microphone surveillance as well as TOPAZ document photography teams in Muskie and McGovern headquarters in Washington, a Miami Beach hotel for the convention, and one reserve target of opportunity Mitchell might wish to designate... There were two disruption operations: GARNET for outrageous demonstrations "supporting" Democratic candidates and TURQUOISE, which called for a Cuban commando team to sabotage the Democrats' convention hall air-conditioning system during the worst of the midsummer heat. Liddy closed with the spending flow chart, showing high initial outlays on equipment purchases, then the total budget: $1 million.
Liddy would eventually spend time in prison, but unlike most of the others involved he never did turn on Nixon. And soon enough, after leaving prison, Liddy was welcomed back to the party — or at least to its media wing, which was in the process of becoming the dominant part. He was one of the first to jump into the conservative radio talk-show game after Rush Limbaugh's success, with a show that ran for 20 years beginning in 1992. Liddy was among the first Republicans who had to do very little to rehabilitate themselves after scandals, even if it involved criminal conviction; he was eventually joined by Watergate figure Chuck Colson, Iran-contra figure Ollie North, and many more, right up to President Donald Trump's grants of clemency for disgraced figures like Joe Arpaio, the ex-Arizona sheriff convicted of contempt of court, Dinesh D'Souza, the conspiracy theorist who pleaded guilty to campaign violations. Not every scandal-plagued Republican is welcomed back; former Speaker Denny Hastert, for example, is still shunned. Many don't want to return to politics. Of those who do, the barrier appears to be very low indeed. It's way too early to know whether Gaetz is guilty of anything improper, let alone illegal. But thinking more broadly, there's little question that the Republican Party from Liddy on has had extremely low barriers for remaining in good standing. A few Democrats have also gotten into real trouble and survived it, although I can't think of anyone who resumed a career within the party after a prison sentence. And we shouldn't forget that Democrats rehabilitated Watergate criminal John Dean, Nixon's White House counsel, once Dean was prepared to criticize Republicans in public. But there really is a difference between the parties. Compare, for example, disgraced Democratic Speaker Jim Wright, who retreated from politics after leaving the House, and disgraced Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, who remained a prominent party leader and presidential candidate. Liddy also pioneered the shift from operative to media figure, a lucrative career path. He wasn't the first; Nixon speechwriters Pat Buchanan and William Safire became syndicated columnists, and before them President Lyndon Johnson's press secretary Bill Moyers began a long media career. There are many examples. But Liddy wasn't a former journalist, or a writer. Nor was he, like Limbaugh, a skilled broadcaster. He was, basically, a crook who demonstrated that anyone with enough bravado and outrage could succeed in Republican-aligned media — that the key qualifications were the outrage and the party loyalty. Given that, I suppose it's no surprise that so many members of today's House GOP seem more interested in auditioning for TV contracts than they do in legislating or otherwise pursuing public-policy goals. Gaetz, of course, is no G. Gordon Liddy. We'll see whether he finishes his third term. But he's a living reminder that a party that treats Liddy's career path as a model is going to have all kinds of problems. 1. Nathan Kar Ming Chan, Jae Yeon Kim and Vivien Leung at the Monkey Cage on Asian-American voters. 2. Dan Drezner on President Joe Biden and bipartisanship. 3. Nicholas Florko on Operation Warp Speed and the Biden administration. 4. Here at Bloomberg Opinion, Rachel Sanderson on Italy's chance to get its act together. 5. And Biden is no Trump, but he certainly has been known to shoot his mouth off rather than stick to the facts. Glenn Kessler does a fact check on Biden and the new Georgia election law. Get Early Returns every morning in your inbox. Click here to subscribe. Also subscribe to Bloomberg All Access and get much, much more. You'll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, the Bloomberg Open and the Bloomberg Close. | 
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