Nixon Archives - Mark Rubin

Happy 91st Birthday, Tuck!

January 25, 2015

So maybe you’ve seen Tuck. Slight, old, with shorts in all kinds of weather, and bright red knee socks. If you’re in Tucson you’re almost surely seeing Dick Tuck.

Who is Dick Tuck? First of all, today, he’s “birthday boy,” 91 years young. Second, he’s the now retired political consultant, and the bane of Richard Nixon’s existence.

You know, political consultant really doesn’t accurately describe Tuck. There are lots of political consultants out there. Many are drawn to placing ads for candidates, with those fat 15% commissions. Others advise on reaching this or that segment of voters, helping candidates be for and against the set of policies that maximizes votes.

Not Tuck. Prankster best describes him. Here are a

Dick Tuck, Nixon, political operatives, prankster, Red socks, Watergate

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Chicken Hawks and Blowhards!

December 13, 2014

Mark Rubin

The War Hero and the Chicken Hawk appeared on my screen early Tuesday morning. Written by Timothy Egan for the New York Times, it is—in the word of Mona Lisa Vito (Lisa Tomei) in My Cousin Vinny—“dead on balls accurate” in explaining why, on torture, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) is right, and former Vice President Richard Cheney is not.

About chicken hawks. There are three conditions for being one: 1. You had a chance to fight; 2. You did not fight; and 3. You’ve never met a war you did not think America should fight. Famous chicken hawks include … gee, so little space, so little time. No, seriously, The New Hampshire Gazette offers up the Chickenhawk Hall of