Here's a passage from Hunter Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail that's haunted me for almost forty years:

The tragedy of all this is that George McGovern, for all his mistakes and all his imprecise talk about "new politics" and "honesty in government" is one of the few men who've run for President of the United States in this century who really understands what a fantastic monument to all the best instincts of the human race this country might have been, if we could have kept it out of the hands of greedy little hustlers like Richard Nixon.  McGovern made some stupid mistakes, but in context they seem almost frivolous compared to the things Richard Nixon does every day of his life, on purpose, as a matter of policy and a perfect expression of everything he stands for.  Jesus!  Where will it end?  How low do you have to stoop in this country to be President?

Maybe it ends here, Hunter. Me, I'm gonna have a glass of Wild Turkey tomorrow night, in honor of a man who knew what it meant to love America. Maybe it ends here.