Politics & Power Quote by G. Gordon Liddy

Liddy turns his own notoriety into a twisted pep talk, and the joke lands because it’s half confession, half dare. The line leans on Watergate’s ugliest irony: a “burglar for the government” is both literal (the break-ins) and institutional (the sense that the state itself can deputize criminality when power feels entitled). By calling it that so bluntly, he strips the euphemisms away, then immediately cashes the scandal in for reinvention: talk show host. The punchline isn’t redemption; it’s career portability.

The second clause pivots from autobiography to recruitment, aimed at a celebrity-to-politics pipeline that was already forming in late-20th-century America. Liddy’s subtext is ruthless: in a culture that rewards visibility more than virtue, the skills that get you attention can be mistaken for the skills that earn you authority. “Entertainer” becomes a credential, not an impediment. He’s not arguing that entertainers make good lawmakers; he’s implying that the bar for entry is low, the electorate’s memory is short, and the whole system is porous enough to be hacked by charisma.

It’s also an absolution-by-comparison maneuver. If a Watergate felon can be rebranded as media personality, then a performer has no excuse not to chase office. The line flatters ambition while indicting the marketplace that makes such a leap plausible: America doesn’t just forgive scandals; it monetizes them, then invites the monetized back into the arena.