Now forced into a run-off election, Georgia’s incumbent Republican United States senator, and heavyweight champion sleazebag, Saxby Chambliss has unleashed a new series of ads with footage of 9/11 in an attempt to suggest that his upstart Democratic challenger was in cahoots with the boxcutter wielding terrorists. This, from the man who so infamously did the same to triple amputee Viet Nam war hero Max Cleeland who rightly questioned the sweeping form of Bush’s proposed office of “homeland security.” How can Chambiss once again resort both to taking the good people of Georgia for fools by resorting to pure, unadulterated sleaze? Simple, because it works. It works like a charm, in fact, and has become a hallowed art form since its invention during the presidential election of 1968. In that election, Richard M. Nixon, the Thomas Edison of contemporary American politics, unveiled his lightbulb- divisiveness. While some level of divisiveness is obviously inherent in political contest, Nixon’s great innovation was to remove what had once been a natural law of the sport and of society, common decency. Rather than being qualities to admire, for Nixon, decency and truthfulness were quite literally barriers to success to be boldly overcome, and in the so doing was the test of one’s mettle. His example has been the gold standard ever since.

More than the pathetic man himself, the shadow of Richard Nixon is the underlying subject of Rick Perlstein’s excellent new book, Nixonland. Nixon is the grim triumph of the naked supremacy of winning at any and all costs and any means to that end being fully justified. What is particularly striking about Perlstein’s book is not simply that Nixon was a cesspool of moral hollowness, but the breathtaking depths the man was willing to plumb. Nixon had nothing to lose and did not so much as bat an eyelash at breaking the law if it would help him at the polls.

The starting place is a dismal one. Like George W. Bush, Nixon not only grew up in the shadow of the favored son, but was actually not liked. In Nixon’s case, the result was a grown man devoid of a functioning emotional center. Like most losers and felons, Nixon was incapable of emotional relationships and instead viewed the rest of the world as a dark and cynical adversary that had to be fought every step of the way in order to prove his own worth. From the outset, Nixon equated that validation with votes and electoral success became the obsession of his life. Recognizing his lack of physical gifts or personal charm limited the potential of his appeal, from his very first race for congress against Jerry Voorhis, Nixon focused upon tearing the other guy down. Where most politicians work on fluffing their resumes by taking undue credit and dodging blame, Nixon focused exclusively on questioning the integrity and throwing mud on his opponents. Not only did it get him into congress, but he made a national name for himself slinging accusations, deservedly or not, against the integrity and patriotism of others.

But just being a sleazy politician is not the story of Nixonland. The real story is also not limited to the way this country allowed itself to be manipulated and lied to and divided by so lowly and damaged a personality as Richard Nixon. Certainly it was a confusing and tumultuous time, but equally true was that Nixon, or “Tricky Dicky” as he was already popularly known, was a clearly dark and divisive figure. The big story of Nixonland is how Nixon’s blueprint of lying and smearing people to divide an increasingly diverse nation through fear has been replayed over and over ever since. The story, so wonderfully researched and written, is how Nixon branded George McGovern as the candidate of communist sympathy, abortion on demand and legalized drugs- things the Democrat never supported- and how Micheal Dukakis subsequently became the champion of rapists and murderers and John Kerry a Viet Nam coward. Nixonland is the story of a nation that lost the ability to differentiate between winning, cheating and losing. It is a sad story indeed, but one we all need to understand if we are ever to escape his shadow- especially when we look at Saxy Chambliss.