Agree with everything you say. They ravaged him; they ravaged his wife. The difference between him and Palin is that she seems to be psychologically tougher. Take her at her word that she keeps falling back on her family for support. As I see it, she is ambitious and what is more thinks she measures up to the other guys. How good she is, remains to be seen.
I think Nixon may have been more psychologically prepared to take the Presidency in 1960. In ‘60, we were still like the ‘50s in many ways, still stable and unified. After JFK & LBJ, this country was a disaster by 1968, divided, radicalized, total basketcase. I think Nixon’s Presidency from a 1961-1969 period would’ve kept the country more unified, he’d have made a more moderate approach to Civil Rights issues that wouldn’t have led to radicalization (and more to the point, not leading Blacks over 90% into the Dem party), I think he would’ve gone balls-to-the-walls with respect to freeing Cuba and not dicked around on Vietnam and achieved a victory far earlier. He’d not have given a damn about appeasing closeted Marxist idiots like Walter Cronkite and other fellow traveller media types, just charging ahead and doing what he thought was right. As I said earlier, I think we would’ve been a far different country today.