Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Deep Throat Spinning
Update: Eschaton points to this piece by Robert George, which says pretty much what I did below. Mark Felt is a hero for having the guts to become Deep Throat.
Yes, let the spin begin -- the rightwing is already trying to impugn W. Mark Felt, the man who admitted this week that he was Deep Throat, the source who led Woodward & Bernstein to the heart of the Watergate conspiracy, bringing down Richard Nixon in the process.
There are various grumblings and mutterings from the right. He violated rules, he did bad things, he shouldn't have blabbed. He was just upset he didn't get the #1 job at the FBI. But it doesn't change one thing. W. Mark Felt saw the law being broken, and he did what he could to see the felons brought to justice. There's a word for that. Hero. Say what you want about him -- as long as you're willing to admit that Nixon was a borderline sociopath who violated many laws and abused the office of the Presidency, and he deserved what he got, although he got off easy and should have served time in prison along with many of his co-conspirators.
Why did Felt come forward now? Simply because he's old, in my opinion. The clock is ticking, he probably never expected to make it into his 90s, and better he basks in the limelight a bit while he's still alive than to have W&B spill the beans when he's dead. But I'd like to think that Mr. Felt had something else in mind. Perhaps he was sending a message, the message being, "Any whistleblowers out there, do your thing now. I got away with it for over thirty years, and so can you." Given his position, #2 man at the FBI, I would like to think that leagues of bureaucrats in Washington are taking notice.
Although, nowadays, they'd do better to give their info to their friendly neighborhood blogger. Because the days of Woodward & Bernstein are long since gone. An informant could walk up to any reporter for any major daily in the US with photos, documents, videos, sworn statements and the like proving beyond any doubt that a member of the administration was guilty of (fill in the blank) and the story would never run. "Oh, we don't want to do what Newsweek did," their editors will purr as they spike the story and then kiss Karl Rove's fat white ass.
Well, what Mr. Felt did was nothing short of wonderful. Justice was served thanks to his actions. We need more people like him and we need them now.
So, ignore the blather and character assassination from the right. And if you're in a position to do now what Mr. Felt did then, do it. Speak your conscience, tell the truth, dish the dirt.
Save the world.
Yes, let the spin begin -- the rightwing is already trying to impugn W. Mark Felt, the man who admitted this week that he was Deep Throat, the source who led Woodward & Bernstein to the heart of the Watergate conspiracy, bringing down Richard Nixon in the process.
There are various grumblings and mutterings from the right. He violated rules, he did bad things, he shouldn't have blabbed. He was just upset he didn't get the #1 job at the FBI. But it doesn't change one thing. W. Mark Felt saw the law being broken, and he did what he could to see the felons brought to justice. There's a word for that. Hero. Say what you want about him -- as long as you're willing to admit that Nixon was a borderline sociopath who violated many laws and abused the office of the Presidency, and he deserved what he got, although he got off easy and should have served time in prison along with many of his co-conspirators.
Why did Felt come forward now? Simply because he's old, in my opinion. The clock is ticking, he probably never expected to make it into his 90s, and better he basks in the limelight a bit while he's still alive than to have W&B spill the beans when he's dead. But I'd like to think that Mr. Felt had something else in mind. Perhaps he was sending a message, the message being, "Any whistleblowers out there, do your thing now. I got away with it for over thirty years, and so can you." Given his position, #2 man at the FBI, I would like to think that leagues of bureaucrats in Washington are taking notice.
Although, nowadays, they'd do better to give their info to their friendly neighborhood blogger. Because the days of Woodward & Bernstein are long since gone. An informant could walk up to any reporter for any major daily in the US with photos, documents, videos, sworn statements and the like proving beyond any doubt that a member of the administration was guilty of (fill in the blank) and the story would never run. "Oh, we don't want to do what Newsweek did," their editors will purr as they spike the story and then kiss Karl Rove's fat white ass.
Well, what Mr. Felt did was nothing short of wonderful. Justice was served thanks to his actions. We need more people like him and we need them now.
So, ignore the blather and character assassination from the right. And if you're in a position to do now what Mr. Felt did then, do it. Speak your conscience, tell the truth, dish the dirt.
Save the world.
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