Watergate was the left’s revenge against Nixon for his taking out Helen Gahagan Douglas in the 1950 CA senate race along with his other anti-commie work.
Don't forget about Alger Hiss and the pumpkin papers. It was Nixon who brought the case against Hiss. Exposing Communist infiltration of the US government is always a dangerous thing and something the Left will never forget.
BTW I admit I could be wrong about this but didn't Bradlee start a communist newspaper in NH in the late fifties?