The talking heads and pundits are saying that the “Deep Throat” fascination is misguided hype. W. Mark Felt, the old FBI man who fed information to the Watergate reporters, would’ve been prosecuted back in the day if he’d revealed his identity, and that’s why he was so secretive. Deep Throat leaked information about an ongoing criminal investigation and may have also leaked secret grand jury testimony.
But who really cares anymore? It’s all about the money now. I’m enjoying the spectacle of old liberal politicians reliving their triumph over a defeated Nixon and old liberal journalists reveling in what’s so far been a first and only and probably never-to-be-repeated Golden Age of journalism.
Watergate is likely one of the reasons the media lean left. Idealist young liberals with fuzzy-headed dreams of “changing the world” flocked to journalism schools to be the next Woodward and Bernstein. I shouldn’t laugh too loudly, though. When I’m an old woman, I’m sure someone will be laughing at me about something.
I’m more interested in the movie than the real life drama. Check out the old trailer for “All the President’s Men.”
Related post: Former FBI Man Is Deep Throat
Sources: How Mark Felt Became “Deep Throat” — “Felt sounded nervous. He said off the record — meaning I could not use the information — that Hunt was a prime suspect in the burglary at the Watergate for many reasons beyond the address books…”
Deep Throat revealed is no hero — “The man who says he exposed the Nixon administration’s cover-up of the break-in at the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic Party is the same man who authorized illegal break-ins targeting antiwar activists.”
Were Felt’s Leaks Illegal? — “If Felt were doing his leaking today and came forward to identify himself as the leaker, he would potentially be in much bigger trouble…”
Deep Throat and Genocide — “Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POW’s, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China…”
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“I’m enjoying the spectacle of old liberal politicians reliving their triumph over a defeated Nixon and old liberal journalists reveling in what’s so far been a first and only and probably never-to-be-repeated Golden Age of journalism.”
I’m enjoying the guys who went to jail talking about Felt’s ethics.
I have been waiting for the news to finally come out that this was all about the money. It all seemed odd that his family was doing all the talking earlier this week (I thought the man was dead when his grandson held a press conference).
You gotta love family don’t ya? Glad to see how much they love Dad (Grandpa).
LB, my first political memory was Watergate. As a kid, for some reason, I wanted all of the information I could read about Watergate. I was naive and idealistic, I thought that the president would not be a person who lied. I thought politicians were people who would not lie.
When Nixon left office, I stayed indoors to watch his plane leave D.C. instead of going outside to play.
Lastly, I guess you are also missing the former Nixon aides and administration members losing their danged minds over Felt. They are all over the “liberal media” calling the man, who definitely is not a saint, everything but the devil himself.
I’m still waiting Redford to play a character. He always plays the same guy! Truth is I studied acting for a while and I really looked up to Mr. Redford. Too bad he’s morphed into such a freak! And his Sundance Channel should be re-named the gay-lesbo-arab-moslem-democrat-commie-anything-BUT-America channel!
Actus. Would you like a bowl of milk to go with your shadenfreude?
Actus,
Felt was just as guilty of criminal activity as the rest of those guys. He revealed a lot of information, including secret grand jury testimony which was and is illegal to do. Did the ends justify the means? I don’t know. A lot of bloggers are making excuses for Nixon’s actions by saying that everybody ( as in JFK, LBJ, etc.)did it. It reminds me of people I have stopped for traffic infractions saying “Hey, that guy’s speeding too” as though it should let them off the hook. My answer to that is usually “Yes, but you’re the one I caught”.
Nixon got caught and paid the price, and we’d all like to think what happened to him put an end to those types of activities during political campaigns…..yeah, right!
What happened to Nixon was a low point in the political history of this country, but I can only think that a McGovern Presidency would have been far more damaging to the country as a whole in the long run.
Montie, that and the fact that everytime the office is demeaned, it hurts all of us with regards to trust in God’s appointed leaders.
La Shawn,
I think you are right. That’s why the left tried to make such a fuss over the “Iran-Contra” affair, Abu Ghraib, and Gitmo. It is also why there are no TV specials about Abu Ghraib under Saddam. It is why there is no retrospective of 9-11 with people leaping to their deaths as the towers collapsed. It’s also why the lies of LBJ, JFK, or I-did-not-have-sex-with-that-woman WJC.
Oops. That why the lies of … WJC do not matter to the media.
Pat’sRick,
You are absolutely right. The better informed one becomes, the more blatant the mainstream media’s bias appears. The number of things that should be of major importance that are/have been covered up by simply ommitting to do any stories on them is amazing. As is the number of non-stories which become major topics of national interest by simply being repeated over and over by the MSM.
“What happened to Nixon was a low point in the political history of this country”
The tyranny of the passive voice!
Ultimately, Nixon did himself in.
But the mainstream media, drunk on the illusion that they brought him down, has been searching – whoring, even – for the next Watergate for the past 30 years that practically everything is looked at as a potential scandal of massive proportions.
Now, it seems, scandals are found around every corner and under every rock – and no, conservatives on the Web are not immune from this. Consequently, honest differences of opinion are now seen as “lies!†“scandal!†and “corruption!â€, and the result is that the public has scandal fatigue.
The hounding of Richard Nixon out of office has also poisoned the good will between both parties so much so that it seems that when the Democrats went after Reagan, Republicans reciprocated by going after Clinton, and Democrats reciprocated by going after Bush…
It’s the reason why I never officially joined the GOP in the late 90s because it seemed like too many GOPers were simply out to “get†Clinton, and likewise it’s one of the reasons why I campaigned hard for Bush last year. Most of the Democratic Party and MSM is geared toward playing the “gothca!†game with Bush and are doing their damnedest to bring him down. (Hasn’t worked so far, thank goodness, though I truly expect Democrats to try to impeach Bush during the next three years over Iraq or something else.)
The ultimate result of Watergate and Nixon is that today we have a media trained like Pavlov’s dog to salivate at the barest hint of scandal, and the knee-jerk Democrat “NO!†party that opposes Bush at every turn simply to oppose Bush at every turn. If, heaven forbid, H. Clinton is elected in 2008, Republicans would do the country an immense service by setting their default mode to “loyal†opposition instead of “knee-jerk†opposition.
Well, I knew it was about the money days ago. I forget what site I saw it on, but Felt’s daughter had said she urged him to come forward now so that they could pay off her kids’ college bills.
“Follow the money”. At least they’re not being coy about it…they said up front they wanted money for the story.
I posted on my site why I don’t think Felt was a hero, but I make no bones about the fact that Nixon was a president who had to go.
Actus wrote, “I’m enjoying the guys who went to jail talking about Felt’s ethics.”
It wasn’t just ethics. It was law breaking. 2 wrongs don’t make a right.
Big Mo wrote, “the knee-jerk Democrat “NO!†party that opposes Bush at every turn”
That is happening in the CA state government right now. Arnold had a bill for fresh fruits in schools costing about 18 million. Democrats voted no on it. They don’t want to give Arnold anyhing that he can claim credit for.
I agree, La Shawn. It’s hard to care much about this.
“The media is not liberal. It’s LAZY!”
Sounds like Neil Gabler. The media is liberal AND lazy.
Peggy Noonan is correct. Felt is no hero. If he was a hero he wouldn’t have hidden for so long. If he was a hero he’d have quit his job at the FBI, and gone open about it.
He’s a snitch who scurried around like a rat in the dark.
leftbasher, you mean he wanted his cake and to eat it too? LOL
Reminds me of a former friend 11 years ago ranting and raving about US military hegemony, nevermind Clinton as CINC. He was reading Earth In Balance and was just full of moonbatic zeal, such as “there ought to be a law that anyone who smokes should be made to eat their filters”. Seriously.
Nowadays, he’s supposed to be some rising star in the NY Green Party, and I hear he has a PT gig as a substitute teacher but I digress.
I pointed out to him that if he was so against the military, then why on earth was he still living off the free housing, SOFA ID bennies etc as a civilian. Why not quit on principle and if he wanted to continue living in Berlin, then live as the Germans do?
Needless to say, that didn’t compute with him and he remained firmly clenched to that bit of teat until it was ripped from him by the withdrawal of the forces from Berlin.
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