Forty-seven years after his own run for the office, RN is making a cameo in the race for California governor. The Sacramento Bee reports:
More than a decade before Jerry Brown’s current incarnation as undeclared gubernatorial front-runner, he hit the airwaves of liberal Berkeley radio station KPFA five days a week to speak his mind. What he said then, as he interviewed poets, activists and the likes of leftist icon Noam Chomsky, promises to resurface this coming year as the 71-year-old former governor ponders running for a historic third gubernatorial term. During his three years on the air, Brown repeatedly blamed corporate malfeasance and political corruption for undermining American democracy and even causing deaths, according to edited excerpts of the radio broadcasts.
Brown regularly attacked President Bill Clinton as a lackey for business interests and in one excerpt stated, “I don’t believe Clinton is different from Richard Nixon.“
Of course, Brown’s observation was not original. Many people saw similarities between Clinton and Nixon, including Nixon himself.
You know, he came from dirt and I came from dirt. He lost a gubernatorial race and came back to win the Presidency, and I lost a gubernatorial race and came back to win the Presidency. He overcame a scandal in his first campaign for national office and I overcame a scandal in my first national campaign. We both just gutted it out. He was an outsider from the South and I was an outsider from the West.
Obviously, though, Brown did not mean it as a compliment. That is one reason why Clinton is campaigning for Brown’s primary opponent, Gavin Newsom.