Rose Colored Glasses

. The media's view of Nixon is overly sympathetic.

His death was so unlike his life. Quiet, private, and dignified. After his stroke last week, Richard Milhous Nixon slipped into a deep coma and then, late last Friday, completed his journey to the hereafter. For a man who was responsible for the most serious governmental disgrace in the history of this land, the reaction to his passing was surprisingly sympathetic.

For those who has a genetic or personal attachment to our 37th President, my deepest sympathies. His surviving relatives must endure the pain of losing a father or a grandfather. Friends will miss the personal warmth and company that was shared with him.

But most American were neither personal friends nor direct descendents of Richard Nixon, so theirs must be a more balanced response. After all, even in death, the facts remain immutable.

Richard Milhous Nixon was the only American president ever to resign. His treachery and deceit while at the pinnacle of power in the free world sullied the Oval Office and betrayed the trust implicit in the most sacred of American possesions, the vote.

Nixon's contempt for the principles that our government is founded upon were never more clear than on an October night in 1973 when he ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, in what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre."

The thuggery and deception that was Watergate dealt such a severe blow to the American political psyche that the vernacular was forever changed to reflect its importance. It became the standard by which all other scandals are measured; Irangate, Whitewatergate, even Skategate.

Anyone who thinks that the legacy of Watergate died with its creator needs to watch the bright lights of the White House Press room or see the saliva dripping from the Washington press corps when they think they have a new "smoking gun."

Yet one could have lost sight of that in recent years. Thanks to a public rehabilitation in the media and the kind words of subsequent presidents, the defining event of the 37th presidency was moved from a Washington office building to somewhere in China.

To be sure, Nixon presided over some of the most momentous events in our foreign policy, as well as expanding the war in Southeast Asia to include secret bombing of Cambodia. These successes prevented his reign from being an unmitigated disaster, but it in no way excuses or dilutes the betrayal of Watergate.

Add to this the fact that Nixon, remained largely unreformed and unrepentant. He told David Frost in 1977 that "When the president does it, that means it is not illegal."

In a uniquely Nixonian feat, the moral turpitude that marred his presidency will continue even after his death. In his book Beyond Peace, which is due out next month, Nixon writes, "Today, China's economic power makes U.S. lectures about human rights imprudent. Within a decade it will make them irrelevant. Within two decades it will make them laughable."

Two decades after his disgraceful flight from Washington and a number of televised ressurrections later, Nixon still believed that might, in this case economic might, makes right. Even more disturbing is the supposition that criticism of China's dismal human rights record will seem humorous in the year 2009.

While we should mourn the loss of a fellow human being, Nixon's mistakes must be remembered.

Edward F. Mulkerin III's column appears on alternate Mondays.