The introductory quote comes from Hunter S. Thompson's eulogy of Nixon in the Atlantic Monthly.[0]
It is very enjoyable read (though not balanced in any sense of the word).
> Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.
> Nixon laughed when I told him this. "Don't worry," he said, "I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you."
I wish I could remember who said it, but apparently at one time somebody cheered up a depressed or suicidal Hunter S. Thompson by reminding him that he hadn't written Nixon's obituary yet: Nixon was still alive. Apparently it had never even occurred to Thompson and the thought really warmed him.
If the right people had been in charge of Nixon's funeral, his casket would have been launched into one of those open-sewage canals that empty into the ocean just south of Los Angeles. He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin.
> Nixon had the unique ability to make his enemies seem honorable, and we developed a keen sense of fraternity. Some of my best friends have hated Nixon all their lives. My mother hates Nixon, my son hates Nixon, I hate Nixon, and this hatred has brought us together.
> Nixon laughed when I told him this. "Don't worry," he said, "I, too, am a family man, and we feel the same way about you."
[0]: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-a...