I like John Podheretz's opinion on this one:

A hero? Perhaps. Also possible: He was an FBI man with an axe to grind against Nixon because he didn't get the top job at his agency after J. Edgar Hoover's death. He used the Washington Post not because he wanted to reveal the "truth" but in a classic petty score-settling vendetta -- in which he represented not the forces of progress and change, but the forces of Hooverism. Only in Felt's case, he didn't merely threaten to destroy elected politicians using classified FBI information -- he actually went ahead and did it.

Works for me.

Actaully, they get to talk about themselves while bashing their one of their favorite Republican easy targets: Nixon. Fun times for the MSM. For most of us, who really cares?

Ace, you might be thinking of this story from the late '90s: A nineteen-year-old ID'd Felt years after being told by Bernstein's kid at summer camp years before.

Ironic that Podheretz portrays Nixon as an "elected politican" who was a victim of Hooverism. I seem to remember that Nixon misused classified information a time or two.

Looks like Felt was pretty torqued at not getting the FBI Director job, and was looking for payback against Nixon.

Great patriot, indeed.

Hey ace, out of curiosity, what was your 4-year degree major?

I'm going to guess pre-law.

I always hoped it would be somebody cool, like Kissinger or a celebrity or something, you know, the last one I'd ever suspect.

If I were a refugee from the collapse of South Vietnam I'd be seriously pissed at this guy. His actions left the Nixon Administration weakened to the point that the Democrats were able to vote any continued support for the South Vietnamese forces who were perfectly able to hold the line against the largely defeated North if they just had enough bullets and other supplies. Instead the support was withdrawn and the South fell at the cost of countless deaths, imprisonments, tortures, and drownings among those fleeing by sea.

Good job, Mr. Felt!

I use to hate Nixon. Now, I love him. He certainly wasn't the most corrupt President. And, he was right about all the communists that infiltrated the state department. But, most of all, he wasn't/isn't a bore. What the hell did Clinton ever do during his two terms in office besides stick a cigar up . . .

I rememember well the date that 'deep throat' made his knowledge known and Richard Nixon was in trouble. At the time, I did not like Nixon, but must confess, that in retrospect, he was not such a bad president. He got us out of Viet Nam, was an intelligent thinker, and ended the draft.

Our current president cannot has taken this country down into a deep economic, social and moral hole, in my humble opinoin.

Barb: I'm sure your opinion will change when he's dead too. Whoop de fucking doo.

Now now, Mr. Anonymous. We don't often get opposing viewpoints here at Ace Of Spades HQ (except when Ace, wearing his Hoke mask, is predicting John Kerry electoral coups like winning Virginia). Let's be nice and see if there's something we can learn from how The Other Half live.

Mr. Anonymous was me. I'm through being nice. If I want to see what the other half thinks I'll turn on the tv or read the NY Times.

To hell with Nixon. I've never understood why some conservatives reflexively defend him. Is it because he had an "(R)" after his name? Is it because liberals hate him, so he must be good?

If you know your political history, then you know that the Republican party had two branches at that point. Nixon was in the branch that was very liberal. You think Bush is too Big Government (well, yeah, I do)? Well, Nixon was for price controls, national health care, etc. The guy was to the left of many, probably most, of today's Democrats. And the guy was a damn crook, for heaven's sake.

He's not one of us. Toss him overboard. When the Left gleefully starts kicking the corpse, happily join right in. If nothing else, you'll enjoy seeing the confused looks on their faces.

Sorry, Barbara, but though "he got out out of Vietnam" he screwed over our allies there by not being able to stand up to Congress because he had to get involved with his shady dealings. What a jerk. An intelligent thinker? Big deal. You could apply that description to a lot of people that ended up messing everything up. Ending the draft is a good thing, but not enough to redeem him. Conservatives, especially those of the small-government Goldwater/Reagan branch, don't need this albatross around our necks.

> I always hoped it would be somebody cool, like Kissinger or a celebrity or something, you know, the last one I'd ever suspect.

Not long ago I read a sizable and moderately-plausible-sounding article suggesting it might have been Ben Stein. Of course, it still could be. He's a tricky one.

Bob...you forgot to mention that Nixon created the EPA.

Thanks a lot, Mr. President!

I think the real story here - after all the recent media trainwrecks - is timely beatification of the anonymous source in "legitimate" journalism. If there exists anywhere a single sacred anonymous source for the MSM to pull out of the fedora in an attempt to sanctify this wretched practice, Felt's on the brim.

Hm.

You all seem to be missing the bigger picture here.

Does he have any sisters?

Not that I feel anything reflexive about Nixon,

but the left never forgave him for pushing the case against Alger Hiss.

Glad he did.

Honestly, no one but God damned baby boomers care about Deep Throat.

Besides, no one has ever been able to explain to me what Nixon's role in Watergate was supposed to be. All I ever hear are terms like "abuse of power" and "enemies list."

They never get specific. Whenever liberals leave out the details, it's because the details don't help them. Can somebody sum it up in 25 words or less? What was so bad that it brought down a presidency?

I dislike Nixon plenty. But it's because he declared that we'd default on our obligations to pay real money for our paper, thereby transforming our monetary system into one totally based on fiat. That alone makes him a party to a massive crime. But the libs don't care about that.

He was accused of covering up the breakend. Sorry, but I think Clinton was guilty of worse. You may not like many of Nixon's policies, but they seemed necessary at the time and he wasn't the only one pushing them.

Alger Hiss -- many on the left still insist he is innocent. Dumbasses.

What Felt did was right/wrong and it makes him a hero/villian. Whoopie.

I'm sorry, but I just can't get all that excited about a three decade old story that only lacked the real name of one character who functioned better as a psuedonym.

Some factoids.

1. W Mark Felt was pardoned by Reagan - only one of 6 pardons Reagan granted in 8 years - for Felt's involvement in 60s-70s COINTELPRO black bag jobs that were directed against Vietnam protestors, ACLU Jews and blacks with ties to Communists, AIM. Basically the same stuff as the Watergate break-in, except not "partisan" in nature.

2. In 1972, Nixon identified Felt as the most likely source of the WashPost articles. In WH tape transcripts Slate published in 1999, Nixon speculated it was because Felt was passed over for the top job after being Hoover's right hand man - and Nixon said he couldn't go after Felt in retaliation because Felt had all the (Hoover files) that if made public would damage the nation (back to FDR's doings). The transcript ID'd Felt as a Jew, which bothered Nixon, who felt the Jews ran the media and Hollywood and were still after him for rooting out the Communists, who were all Jews according to Nixon except Hiss and Chambers...

http://slate.msn.com/id/1003301/

3. As the 3rd highest law enforcement official in the land, Felt could have gone to the Courts or Congress (then controlled by Democrats) - but chose instead to attack through the media - because he was gunning for the highest fish. There is nothing at this point to indicate Felton had family who were Communists or that he was a Zionist who wished to stop Nixon's intense pressure on Israel to give up the Sinai and reopen the Suez after Sadat kicked out the Soviets in July 1972. At this point it just looks like Felt was disgruntled....though he will of course, as will Woodward, be under intense scrutinity to find his motivation to betray the FBI oath and to destroy Nixon...

The jews are going to get you!
The jews are going to get you!
The jews are going to get you!
BOO!

As I pointed out elsewhere, this news has less effect on me than managerial changes at my local 7-11.

I think anonymous is right on the money. The MSM is using Deep Throat to try and give anonymous sourcing a free pass.

I thought Linda Lovelace was DeepThroat?

Good point about about the MSM wanting to legitimize the anonymous source. After all the hits they've been taking lately, they have to go back to the same old well: Watergate, to find something to talk themselves up.

I question the timing.

For what it's worth, I don't think Felt matches the literary character called "Deep Throat." There were numerous sources.

Ace is right to not give less than a rat's ass.

I question the timing, too ... in the sense that Watergate was 30 fucking years ago.

Phinn, do you have a blog? I certainly enjoy your posts.

And I agree with Digitalbrownshirt in that I'm tired of the Other Opinion. I don't have to hear it, I already know it; all I have to do is imagine what a lobotomized monkey would say, think of something more foolish and less original, and I have the Leftist standpoint on any given issue.

Later,
bbeck

But what if Deep Throat was the new night manager at your local 7-11?

Phinn, do you have a blog? I certainly enjoy your posts.

Thanks, bbeck. I did, once.

I had to shut it down. I blogged under my real name, and some of the things I said would have been a liability to my employer.

The thing that really freaked me out was when I posted controversial statements in the comments of blogs of The Enemy, and though I used a pseudonym, some of them figured out it was me and exposed my real name. Right after that, my own site was hacked, and then it was bombed by spam. I figured I had some unpleasant people gunning for me, and even though my blog was rather low profile, it wouldn't have taken much for these cretins to use it to make my life difficult for me with my job.

Ace is anonymous for a good reason.

Well Phinn, I'm sorry you had such trouble. I'll just have to keep reading your stuff here. :)

Later,
bbeck