My old man is a three tour 'Nam vet. He remembers stories circulating about North being a lunatic that nobody wanted to work with. He was seen "babbling incoherently and running around naked, waving a .45 caliber pistol," apparently ready to commit suicide. North reportedly told the officer that "he didn't have anything to live for and was going to shoot himself."

Jesus. The dude attempted to burglarize his own military medical records to hide his injuries and mental evaluation records.

Doesn't anybody remember him telling just whopping crazy lies about William Casey giving him "suicide pills" and shit like that?

Yup. Sounds qualified to run an organization of lunatic gun nuts, alright.

It's amazing how far that guy coasted on his own over-the-top mythology and faux-patriot theater.

I think it is fair to say that a mistake was made here.

But remember, he violated no laws.

"North wasted no time declaring himself "totally exonerated, completely"—even though he'd admitted to shredding documents, lying to Congress, and more."

He also accepted a bribe.. in lieu of a $16k alarm system paid for by Richard Secord, and when it was discovered after he was fired, he tried to forge documents to make it that he paid for it..

The "Bribe" was explained by North as necessary because he was a target of Abu Nidal, even though he dealt with arm dealers and did business with associates of Abu Nidal..

Relyblicans are horrible people.

Well, he knows how to sell weapons, which is really all the gun manufacturers who run the NRA these days care about.

@5 what?

Good ole Ollie, comes from shredding the Constitution in Raygun's White House basement to all-hate far-alt-right wing AM radio host to CEO of the most callous pusher of weapons of mass murder the Planet has known. Oh, my, what a Patriot.

Go, Ollie!
Just fucking go

Holee-fucking shit, this is just beyond nuts!
@1 Knat, @2 Dr. Zaius, @3 & @7 GermanSausage, @4 dvs99, @6 ferret, @8 Catalina Vel-DuRay, @9 COMTE, @10 JonnoN, and @11 kristofarian: Thank you all for so beautifully summing everything up already, and @1 Knat, for calling it spot on again on the inevitably ensuing shitshow.
@5 Eilabun: Any chance you're just being sarcastic here?

@8 The score might be a bit closer in the Legislative division, but the current Executive branch criminal-convictions-during-my-lifetime (starting with Nixon) game is a walloping 89-1, Republicans*.

*https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/11/1619079/-Comparing-Presidential-Administrations-by-Arrests-and-Convictions-A-Warning-for-Trump-Appointees

Even worse, Ollie looks like Dubya's fraternal twin brother. Jesus wept.

@10....Perhaps you are too young to remember but "I violated no laws" was North"s catchphrase when he was first accused.

@ Eilabun: Okay--thanks for the history lesson. That's right--I'd forgotten about North's chickenshit self defense quotation at his indictment. No matter, Oliver North is STILL the worst candidate for leading the NRA, as all his fellow RepubliKKKans are.

Citizens and youth of Mein Trumpfy's AmeriKKKa: Viva le Resistance!

Committing perjury, "contempt of congress," obstruction of justice, selling arms to terrorists, and violating the Boland Amendment were all laws he broke.

@16

But he has a little girl!

1

As long as nobody says anything bad about Jordan B Peterson we'll be ok.

@12: Maybe not, auntie grizelda. When the NRA chooses as its president a man who committed high treason - in addition to all those other offenses listed by Dr.Zaius @16 - maybe even the resident conservatives have enough sense to not defend this. We'll see.

Marvelous, he can go from selling arms to Iranian terrorists to selling arms to domestic terrorists, RepuliKKKans, Nazis, abusers and incels! This is why we can't have nice things!

The whole Iran-Contra deal was undone by Eugene Hasenfus's split-second decision to hit the silk when his plane was shot down on a supply drop to the Contras. That's all it took.

"Values Voter" my ass.

It has been years since North has been in the news, but I don't really recall anyone defending him or championing him, regardless of personal politics. He was just kind of seen as a disgrace.

Granted, that was back when you could actually have personal politics.

Trivia: Fawn Hall is now 58 years old.

@24: If you don't count FOX giving him a regular gig for 15 years, sure. And what better host for a show about military history than a guy convicted of destroying records of his own military history?

@24 You must have a terrible memory, Ollie North was considered a hero and patriot by many right-wing, bible-toting, God fearing 'Muricans.