At the height of Watergate, President Nixon explained to his aides how the bad-memory defense could help them elude perjury charges in front of grand juries. Unfortunately for him, the tutorial was caught on tape.

“You say, ‘I don’t remember.’ You can say, ‘I can’t recall. I can’t give an answer to that, that I can recall.’ “

Subsequent presidents have ditched the taping system but have had no trouble remembering the upside of a bad memory. Salon magazine helpfully compiled historic examples.

Here’s President Reagan explaining arms sales to the Tower Commission investigating the Iran-Contra scandal: “The only honest answer is to state that try as I might, I cannot recall anything whatsoever about whether I approved an Israeli (arms) sale in advance. My answer therefore and the simple truth is, I don’t remember – period.”

Here’s President Clinton in front of a grand jury: “That is not my recollection. My recollection is that I did not have sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, and I’m staying on my former statement about that.”

The lesson extends beyond presidents and has been remembered by Bush administration officials. And, apparently, the more important the matter, the harder it is to recall.

Did Vice President Dick Cheney send then-Chief of Staff Andy Card and then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to the bedside of an ailing attorney general to get his approval of the Terrorist Surveillance Program? “I don’t recall that I was the one who sent them to the hospital,” Cheney said Tuesday on “The Larry King Show.”

In April testimony before Congress, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales invoked “I don’t recall” and its variants 64 times, according to a Washington Post article. The explanation for Scooter Libby’s lies in the Valerie Plame case is that he is famous for having a bad memory. What better person for a secretive vice president to hire as chief of staff.

A French proverb goes: “A liar needs a good memory.” Not in politics.

It’s just business. On Thursday, the U.S. Senate conjured an astonishing 68 votes in passing a bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which is enough to withstand a threatened veto by President Bush.

“Covering these children is worth every cent,” said U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

That’s commie talk! And now it’s coming out of the mouths of Republicans! What’s going on here?

Increasingly, the cry of “socialism” has lost its political pull when it comes to health care. Businesses want out from under a burden their global competitors don’t have to bear. Plus, the longer Republicans have to deal with the ravages of rising health care costs on budgets, the less likely they are to believe that the status quo of private care is the answer.