Bush Awards Presidential Citizen Medal To Watergate Crook Chuck Colson
Bush Awards Presidential Citizen Medal To Watergate Crook Chuck Colson
Established in 1969, the Presidential Citizens Medal is the second highest honor for a civilian, recognizing Americans “who have performed exemplary deeds of service for the nation.” Past recipients include boxer Muhammad Ali, baseball great Henry “Hank” Aaron, civil rights icon Dorothy Height, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Today, President Bush honored 24 recipients of this year’s award, including actor Gary Sinise and Teach for America founder Wendy Kopp. Also included in that mix was Chuck Colson, “the first member of the Nixon administration to serve prison time for Watergate-related offenses.” Colson was President Nixon’s counsel from 1969-1973 and pleaded guilty in 1974 to obstruction of justice. Colson received a one to three year sentence, but served just seven months. David Plotz at Slate described Colson’s role in the Nixon administration:
As special counsel to the president, he was Richard Nixon’s hard man, the “evil genius” of an evil administration. According to Watergate historian Stanley Kutler, Colson sought to hire Teamsters thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators, and he plotted to raid or firebomb the Brookings Institution. He eventually pleaded guilty to scheming to defame Daniel Ellsberg and interfering with his trial.
Since that time, Colson has become an evangelical prison reformer, running the nonprofit Prison Fellowship, which advocates for “privately run prisons and the delivery of all social services by faith-based groups.” However, according to author Allan Lichtman in “White Protestant Nation,” Colson has also remained involved in conservative politics:
Colson brought together politically conservative Catholics and Protestands for a statement of common beliefs, advised conservative politicians including Texas governor George W. Bush, and worked with Christian right leaders Pat Robertson and James Dobson on the development of political strategy. He disseminated conservative messages on sex roles, abortion, homosexuality, pornography, gay rights, and separation of church and state in his radio broadcasts and columns, reaching millions of Americans.
On October 3, 2002, Colson was also one of the co-signers of a letter from prominent evangelical leaders supporting an invasion of Iraq. More recently he has spoken out in favor of California’s Prop. 8, accusing the LGBT community of “anti-religious bigotry.”
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Good grief. That’s disgusting. Who’s next, Charles Manson??
December 10th, 2008 at 5:28 pmOh. Come. On.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:33 pmThis White House has absolutely no shame.
big surprise gary sinise…he was featured in a special report on one of those celebrity “news” programs on how hard it is to be a republican in hollywood. partisanship til the very end with these bozos.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:34 pmShould be illegal if it isn’t…
So, christains, what’s up with christians being for war?
December 10th, 2008 at 5:35 pmAnd assult anti-war protesters, let’s not leave that out.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:39 pmWell, it’s one way to make an award that used to mean something meaningless.
And he wanted to firebomb the Brookings Institute? If this is what being a Christian is all about, then count me out. If there are any real Christians, they should stand up and be outraged by this gutter scum. Well Darryl, bitblt, etc? Where in the HELL are you NOW?!
December 10th, 2008 at 5:39 pmHeckuva job, Dubya. Heckuva job
December 10th, 2008 at 5:41 pmWhat happened to the real christains in America? Why are they so quiet about what has been done in thier name?
December 10th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Chuck Colson? A Presidential Citizen Medal?
From George W. Bush?
Who ELSE would have given that felon a medal?
But not a pardon, I see…
December 10th, 2008 at 5:42 pmI don’t get it. Lets take as truth that Colson had a jail cell conversion and was born again. He started some prayer groups.
But what did he do in the last 15 or so years that was so earth-shattering to deserve this medal ?
December 10th, 2008 at 5:42 pmThe republicans are starting to remind me of mob people. When they get out of prison they are put right back in the game and everyone goes on as if nothing had happened.
prison time for obstruction of justice should disqualify you for consideration……….
December 10th, 2008 at 5:44 pmChimpy’s handlers based their imperial presidency on Nixon’s so this should come as no surprise. Giving an award to a convicted felon whose crimes involved covering up the illegal actions of a lawless administration says far more about Bush than it does Colson’s (lack of) worthiness as a recipient.
On a related note, if Dobson and Robertson are exposed as Republican operatives, shouldn’t their alleged churches be losing their tax exempt status about now?
December 10th, 2008 at 5:46 pmBush is continuing down the path of ruining America as best he can. Time’s running out and he still has some traditions he can defile.
Pathetic, disgusting POS. I have more respect for a coyote feasting on three day old road kill than I do for that bastard. I would definitely swerve of the road to catch Bush with a bumper.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:49 pmIt’s the Republican motto: Laud your screw-ups. Reward your failures.
December 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pmcaption…
December 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pmChuck the Plumber
We’ve filed complaints on 4 churches in our area that pushed republican politics and the war. Complete with petitions from registered voters.
We will continue to follow up on them until we get some attention on the matter…
File here
December 10th, 2008 at 5:56 pmWhen Dubya awards Preznitential Medals of Freedom to failures like Tenet, Franks, and Bremer, getting a medal from Dubya becomes an insult … at least to those that aren’t brain-dead. Maybe Dubya can show some of his patented ‘classiness’ and recommend that Colson not to “sell it on E-bay”….
Cheers,
December 10th, 2008 at 6:01 pmChimpy is ruining prizes for everyone. :(
December 10th, 2008 at 6:01 pmI would like to believe Chuck Colson also had an experience that brought him to reality (in his case, defined as being “born again”.) However, his program pushes for privatized prison systems with all services provided by faith-based groups. If he actually wanted to reform the prison system, as he claims, one way would be to protest against locking up people for offenses that would be better handled through treatment. One major example: punishing drug users. As far as I’m concerned, drug pushers can be locked up for good (or more severe resolutions), but the users need to be helped. Some huge percentage of people in this country (which already locks up more people than anywhere on earth) are incarcerated for what should be treatable issues.
I think he just saw another way to be relevant and make money writing books. The guy lives a few miles south of me in Naples, FL and he’s not living in the low-rent district for sure. Living very well, in fact. It hardly surprises me that Bush awarded him a Presidential Citizens Medal, considering who he awarded a Medal of Freedom to. And let’s not forget had a few ex-criminals in his administration (i.e, Elliot Abrams for one).
December 10th, 2008 at 6:07 pm#12 MapleStreet:
I don’t get it. Lets take as truth that Colson had a jail cell conversion and was born again. He started some prayer groups.
But what did he do in the last 15 or so years that was so earth-shattering to deserve this medal ?
Aw, c’mon. You’re smarter than that. Colson stuck with the program and didn’t turn and start stabbing Dubya (in the back, front, or noogies) when the political tides changed. Colson’s a good conservative, a Hofferian “True Believer”.
Cheers,
December 10th, 2008 at 6:08 pmIt’s no big secret that Nixon thought George’s father was a twit. Giving CREEP member Colson a medal would be a presidential way of giving his father the finger.
The little shit.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:17 pm#21 impeachcheneythenbush:
However, his program pushes for privatized prison systems with all services provided by faith-based groups.
But of course. Such programs have been proven to be the “most effective”. You’d be amased at the number of “jailhouse conversions” … and that usually does the trick (except for poor Karla Faye Tucker, whose great misfortune was to have lib’ruls get on her side).
It’s really great belonging to a religion that insists that we’re all sinners from the moment of conception (which makes you wonder why the RW fundies keep talking about the “killing of millions of innocent children in the womb”) with the resultant excuse: “everyone’s a sinner” even for serial axe-murdering pederasts, and the ‘get out of jail free’ card: “I found Jaaayyyyzzzzuussss!!! Praise the Lord!”, as the easy out. TFB for me I’m an atheist. I have to act morally; it’s in my nature.
Cheers,
December 10th, 2008 at 6:19 pmLet it be known if you get on the cross for the GOP, you will be rewarded by the god of the fools.
So will Herb Klein now be getting his own show on Faux News? I want the rest of the nation to see what the hand of Nixon does to a person…at least physically…from the grave.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:24 pmSinise, Voigt, Bruce Willis, Kelsey Grammar, Victoria Jackson — why not medals for all of Hollywood’s B-list wing-nut apologists? Heck, that ceremony would fill up nearly 15 or even 20 minutes of Chimpy’s last few days, give the poor maroon something to do. He likes handing out medals. Maybe he can pass out some commemorative cowboy boots.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:31 pm-The only medal chimpy bush should give out is a peice of chocolate wrapped in tin foil on a chain of paper clips
December 10th, 2008 at 6:34 pmI guess this puts Bush as being officially on record as pro-Watergate.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:36 pmMayhaps Chuckles will be ministering to Rove, Bush or Cheney in his near future.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:36 pmJebus – that mook looks like an old Drew Carey.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:38 pmIn a way it’s kind of reassuring that Bush continues to degrade every thing he touches.
The Presidential Citizens Medal now has the same approximate redeeming value as a Chuck E. Cheese token.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:39 pmNow, now…there are plenty of actors, actresses and comedians who aren’t Republicans and are total embarrassments on their own merits.
I certainly didn’t like it at all when Spielberg, Will Smith, Leo DiCaprio and everyone else were making those hoy polloi PSA’s that talked down to everyone and seemed to be self-serving for their egos.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:47 pmAll is forgiven those who find the Baby Jesus, whether it be in jail or in a white house.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:54 pmHoly sh!t!
Chuck Colson, the felon, is awarded a medal by the stupid monkey in the White House.
Further proof that Bush has no moral integrity — everything is desecrated. If I were one of the other 23, I would have taken my medal, thrown it to the floor and stomped on it. It means nothing.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:02 pmThey work hard to take away a minority’s civil rights. When that minority objects and complains, they call it “anti-religious bigotry.”
Sorry, that just fries my ass every time I think about it. Are these people freaking crazy?!
December 10th, 2008 at 7:10 pmIt’s bad, but not quite as bad as giving the Medal of Freedom to the guy you’ve just blamed and continue to blame for letting the 9-11 attack happen.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:11 pmWell, if this moron supposedly ‘found’ the baby Jesus he must have lost Him again: On October 3, 2002, Colson was also one of the co-signers of a letter from prominent evangelical leaders supporting an invasion of Iraq. Correct me if I am wrong but I was under the impression Jesus was against war! You know, the Prince of Peace? Is that unless there is money to be made? Wow, the hypocracy!
December 10th, 2008 at 7:22 pm“Prince of Peace”?? That’s when conservative christians suddenly find orthodox catholicism and lurch toward St. Augustine or whomever it was that concocted the concept of the “just war.” This dogma has faced logical challenges for two millenia. They’ve got a million ways to justify whatever it is they want to do.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:38 pmHow come he wasn’t also charged with stealing Kissinger’s glasses?
December 10th, 2008 at 7:42 pmColson sought to hire Teamsters thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators, and he plotted to raid or firebomb the Brookings Institution. He eventually pleaded guilty to scheming to defame Daniel Ellsberg and interfering with his trial.
Why is Bush pal’in around with terrorists?
December 10th, 2008 at 7:43 pmSorry to point to another blog. Over at alternet.org there is a piece about religion becoming the principle cause of warfare. What a sad thing. Coopting pagan holidays to make money and coming to the forefront as the cause of war. How did religion get so dominated by such hypocrites?
December 10th, 2008 at 7:59 pmThis medal purports to recognize courage amongst other qualities. Let’s see whether any of the other named recipients or former recipients have the courage to say no thanks, I do not want to be identified with an award so cheap and meaningless that Chuck Colson would be part of the club.
December 10th, 2008 at 8:14 pmThis makes since as the Bush Administration used the Nixon play book of crimes. Yes Cheney had hair back then as he was a student of Nixon’s. Look for awards to be given to all the Watergate criminals. Great example for the young people to see a corrupt President award one of the worse criminals in the History of the USA. Now those who have held or even died saving the USA are tossed out like nothing.
December 10th, 2008 at 8:36 pmJust think, this criminal found God in Prison. How is it they find God before they break the law? And now Bush wants to pardon him. No surprise here.
If Bush could pardon himself he would. This will be the beginning of all the pardons he will give before he leaves. Of course wisdom would say, that if his administration has done nothing illegal, why the pardons?
December 10th, 2008 at 8:59 pmBush just needs to pack his things now and leave our White House and spend the rest of his term at Crawford cutting brush, getting drunk and doing whatever else he can do to keep himself out of trouble. He is meaningless and he knows it so he keeps trying to do something meaningful and just ends up screwing the rest of us. Good bye George and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Or do – who cares?
December 10th, 2008 at 9:40 pmThis just goes to prove that Bush’s term is basically Nixon II. Cheney and Rumsfeld both worked for Nixon, and so did many other people at lower levels in the Bush White House.
“Unitary Executive Theory.” Secrecy. Wiretapping. Refusing Congressional subpeonas. Suspension of Habeus Corpus. Starting and escalating unecessary wars. No exit strategies for said wars. The Southern strategy. Divide-and-conquer politics based on wedge issues.
We need to remain ever-vigilant that some twenty years from now the third incarnation of Nixon’s White House (i.e. the 2nd incarnation of Bush’s) doesn’t rear its ugly head to sneak into power once more. Because if they do, they’ll just do all the exact same things all over again. Just like they did this time.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:01 pmWhat has been done to a Christianity by these people is disgusting. I am a Christian and I have read the good book and the letters in red within and these people do not live the way they should if they were real Christians. Here’s a little bit of interesting information. In 2000, then Florida governor Jeb Bush reinstated Colson’s right to vote the was taken away by Colson’s felony conviction. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Think about that.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:39 pmhow come i don’t get one?
i’ve done more than chuck.
^
December 10th, 2008 at 11:42 pm.
You know what they say …
… Carrying a cross and wrapped in a flag.
.
December 11th, 2008 at 1:55 amIsn’t there some kind of GOP neocon anti-American medal that shit-for-brains could give to his loyal supporters? I mean none of these medal recipients have done anything to better our Nation. They HAVE aided and abetted the Republican cause, though. Rove, Rummy, Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz etc were all seeds planted during the Nixon Administration under the watchful eyes of such traitors as Fred Malek, Donald Segretti and Lee Atwater. They have come to bear GOP fruit to the detriment of our Constitution, rule of law and balance of powers in government. Let us not forget that through late appointments, the systematic replacement in the DOJ with loyal Bush operatives and an impressive cadre of both Rove and Gingrich toadies quietly working their ways up in Gov’t from lawyers, advisers, junior House Reps and young Republican Senators, the shit-stink of the worst and most corrupt elements of the Nixon and Bush Administrations is guaranteed to continue infecting American politics and policy for a long, long time. This is a long planned concerted effort to mantain the neocon dream. They mey be relegated to the shadows for a time but unless there is some serious house cleaning and indictments of current law breakers, the incentive to gain power by these scum bags will continue unhindered with zealous anticipation. I’m no conspiracy theorist, but one need only study up a bit on the Nixon era and take a serious look at the career paths of those who walked away unscathed from Watergate to see that it is a movement determined to continue raping our Nations wealth, power and resources to their selfish ends.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:45 amWhat has Colson EVER done to merit an award of this nature?
He was a crook in the Nixon White House, went to jail, and now heads a right-wing evangelical prison “ministry”.
I so cannot wait for Bush to be out of the White House. I am sick of seeing people be given recognition who absolutely don’t deserve it.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:47 amThe fact that none of the criminals from the Watergate era ever faced serious consequences for their actions, if anything have been unjustly rewarded for their traitorous actions, have emboldened these leaches to continue their work safe in the knowlege that they will NEVER be made to pay the piper. The failure of Congress to impeach and imprison these thugs in the current Administration only strengthens their resolve further. Dick Cheney has been avoiding justice and responsibility his whole life. He weasled his way out of service in Vietnam through five referrals, he was integral in Watergate but went untouched, he has overstepped his Constitutional powers, led us into war in Iraq so he could make a profit at the expense of the rest of us, all with the swagger of someone who knows that they will never be called on it.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:54 amI’d have thought that, “and he plotted to raid or firebomb the Brookings Institution” would count as terrorism. Doesn’t this count as ‘palling around with terrorists’?
December 11th, 2008 at 9:30 amAnother legacy of our moron in chief is devaluing as many American rewards as possible with the roster of criminals that he has bestowed them upon. In the future, the hallmark of a distinguished American will be an individual who has declined such an “honor”.
December 11th, 2008 at 1:29 pm“You will know them by their deeds!”
December 12th, 2008 at 7:57 amFreespirit–read up on what Mr. Colson has been doing for the last 30 years. As a Christian, you should understand that people can still be productive members of society, even if they have done something aggregious in their past.
A Patriot Acting–Colson DID face (and incur) serious consequnces for his actions.
Why does this article NOT give the reason for the award? Colson was tried, convicted and served time in prison for his crime. Since then he has been working with individuals who have been incarcerated, giving them hope in a place where there is no hope. There’s not much room for personal agenda in doing what he is doing.
December 12th, 2008 at 3:06 pm