Watergate's Deep Throat Revealed

[OnyxCougar]

OK, I guess I'm just not old enough or politically savvy enough, but can someone tell me why this is such a huge deal? Does it matter who did the telling or that it was told? Is it just a matter of "Oh! Didn't see that coming!" type of interest, or does this shake the country's politicos to their knickers?

[glatt]

I think people are just excited that the answer has been revealed, and not excited too much about what the answer actually is.

[tw]

Originally Posted by OnyxCougar

OK, I guess I'm just not old enough or politically savvy enough, but can someone tell me why this is such a huge deal?

Literally most everyone above Felt was in on or participating in the Watergate coverup, the plumbers, and numerous other crimes intentionally initiated by the White House. Ironically who was also part of another embarrassment - a previous misuse of power for the same reasons – the McCarthy hearings? Nixon was also involved there.

Name another whistle blower who did more to save the US Government. You can't. Deep Throat was the mother of all whistle blowers in a time when whistle blowing was illegal and never considered neccesary. For almost a year, numerous crimes conducted by high level people in the US Government and absolutely no one to go to about these crimes. No one. Nada. There would be no special Watergate prosecutor for another year. The revelations so massive and - well - every day was another 'punch you in the face' relevation in those Senate hearings. There was no TV all day for weeks - except for the Watergate hearings. Did that ever happen in your lifetime? No, because the foundations of the US government were never so much under attack. Literally everyone in position of power in the White House was involved. And there probably would have been no investigation if Felt had not done as he did - at great risk to himself.

The expression "don't trust anyone over 30" was just another sound byte so accurately describing how corrupt the US Government had become. Everyone did drugs because the government lied. Smoking a joint only proved again what liars our government was. This in a time when so many refused to believe government would lie.

BTW, these are all symptoms of Vietnam - a war conducted without a smoking gun and continued using lies. The Watergate burglars were created because of the Pentagon Papers - the first real facts we had that the American government was lying about Vietnam. The 'everyone hates me' attitude, the enemies list, and so many other gouges in the US Constitution finally came to a head with Watergate - where literally anyone who should be investigating or prosecuting crimes against the government were literally part of the conspiracy.

It may have been 1972. But is it part of the turmoil we call the 60s. Watergate only brought it all to a head.

[kerosene]

Originally Posted by tw

Literally most everyone above Felt was in on or participating in the Watergate coverup, the plumbers, and numerous other crimes intentionally initiated by the White House. Ironically who was also part of another embarrassment - a previous misuse of power for the same reasons – the McCarthy hearings? Nixon was also involved there.

Name another whistle blower who did more to save the US Government. You can't. Deep Throat was the mother of all whistle blowers in a time when whistle blowing was illegal and never considered neccesary. For almost a year, numerous crimes conducted by high level people in the US Government and absolutely no one to go to about these crimes. No one. Nada. There would be no special Watergate prosecutor for another year. The revelations so massive and - well - every day was another 'punch you in the face' relevation in those Senate hearings. There was no TV all day for weeks - except for the Watergate hearings. Did that ever happen in your lifetime? No, because the foundations of the US government were never so much under attack. Literally everyone in position of power in the White House was involved. And there probably would have been no investigation if Felt had not done as he did - at great risk to himself.

The expression "don't trust anyone over 30" was just another sound byte so accurately describing how corrupt the US Government had become. Everyone did drugs because the government lied. Smoking a joint only proved again what liars our government was. This in a time when so many refused to believe government would lie.

BTW, these are all symptoms of Vietnam - a war conducted without a smoking gun and continued using lies. The Watergate burglars were created because of the Pentagon Papers - the first real facts we had that the American government was lying about Vietnam. The 'everyone hates me' attitude, the enemies list, and so many other gouges in the US Constitution finally came to a head with Watergate - where literally anyone who should be investigating or prosecuting crimes against the government were literally part of the conspiracy.

It may have been 1972. But is it part of the turmoil we call the 60s. Watergate only brought it all to a head.

I am pretty (intentionally) naive when it comes to politics, but this whole post feels very familiar to me...like deja vu, almost.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by case

I am pretty (intentionally) naive when it comes to politics, but this whole post feels very familiar to me...like deja vu, almost.

You've pegged it..... only now there is no outrage from anywhere of consequence. They control the press...or enough of it to counter any they don't.

[kerosene]

This is depressing. On to another thread with my drunk self.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You've pegged it..... only now there is no outrage from anywhere of consequence. They control the press...or enough of it to counter any they don't.

If middle class kids were being drafted for the shit you'd have outrage.

BINGHAMTON -- When Lester Goodwin of Binghamton spotted his daughter Carmen Renee Goodwin at Hancock International Airport in Syracuse on Wednesday afternoon, he hid behind the crowd, then grasped her in a surprise hug.

His "baby" was finally home after a tour of duty with the U.S. Air Force in Iraq.

"It was the happiest moment of my life," the 52-year-old father said Thursday.

And it was only the beginning of many happy moments for the 26-year-old Goodwin. After five months in Iraq, the Binghamton native could finally hold her son -- a smiling 2-year-old named Tygi.

Her time at an air base in Tallil was the longest time she had ever been away from her son.

"Being separated from him for months and months at a time was torture," she said

[richlevy]

Apparently, Liddy said that Felt was dishonorable. Coming from a thug and criminal conspirator, I find the definition of 'dishonorable' interesting. Buchanan was all over Felt on Hardball. Chris Matthews saved the last word for Ben-Veniste, who was on the Watergate Task Force.

Richard Ben-Veniste was the chief of the Watergate task force of the Watergate special prosecutor‘s office from 1973 through 1975.

Pat Buchanan, Richard, says that the real villains of Watergate were the ones who caught Nixon.

RICHARD BEN-VENISTE, 9/11 COMMISSION: Well, of course he would. His team lost. It‘s absurd to listen to guys say now tonight that—that Mark Felt was disloyal to Richard Nixon.

Just get your arms around that. The deputy director of the FBI, who provides information that the FBI itself is being corrupted by the president of the United States, the deputy director of CIA sent to the FBI chief to tell...

MATTHEWS: Vernon Walters, right.

BEN-VENISTE: To tell L. Patrick Gray, stop the investigation. You‘re treading on national security interests in Mexico. All bogus. A lie.

And so, all of that, all the efforts to corrupt the CIA and the FBI came to naught when the plot unraveled. They weren‘t the only agencies. There were—the IRS. All of the other abuses which John Mitchell called the White House horrors, all unraveled little by little. But the start of it was Woodward and Bernstein with a lot of help backstage from somebody who knew where to look.

You have to give G.W. Bush and Rumsfeld credit. They spent yesterday tap-dancing around the hero-villain question. They're smart enough to know a political live wire when they see one.

[mrnoodle]

I can't imagine any sitting president commenting on Watergate. Lots of potential for sticking your foot in your mouth, and absolutely no political capital to be gained. It's an interesting historic footnote, nothing more. There have been scads of Deep Throats since then, but presidents have gotten better at dodging their fire because of the lesson of Nixon.

[tw]

Originally Posted by mrnoodle

... but presidents have gotten better at dodging their fire because of the lesson of Nixon.

It didn't take lessons from Watergate to teach presidents how to act. Lesson 1: when planning crimes against the US Constitution, then don't record them.

[warch]

#2. create layers of political insulation, and #3 slowly erode the freedom of information act.

[tw]

Originally Posted by warch

#2. create layers of political insulation, and #3 slowly erode the freedom of information act.

I don't believe there was a Freedom of Information Act back then. As I remember it, the crimes of Richard Nixon were the force that created a Freedom of Information Act.

Nixon did not really use political insulation. During Watergate, Nixon successfully put blame at the lowest level, blaming misguided subordinates for all problems, until Watergate was directly traceable to his two top lieutenants - Halderman and Erhlichman. Why? Thank your god for people like Mark Felt.

A personal note. Attorney General Richard Kleindienst even denied Watergate crimes to his own kids. Crimes that Kleindienst was knowledgeable of, and that he hindered the investigation of. Mitchell, the original Nixon AG, was also fully involved in Watergate. Kleindienst was Mitchell's #1 then.

I am surprised that OnyxCougar would ask:

... but can someone tell me why this is such a huge deal?

I would have thought this was routinely taught in school history classes. But then I lived those times. I sometimes take for granted that others are equally informed of how dangerous Watergate was. Again, the movie "All the President's Men" does not do justice to the real Constitutional threat. Literally every day during those Senate Watergate hearings was about as exciting as the original Star Wars movie.

Those times are why I saw so many lies in what George Jr administration was saying concerning WMDs, the unilateral invasion of Iraq, the half truths about social security, the protection of high drug prices to the outright and unjustified benefit of drug manufacturers, the protection of First Energy to the risk of Toledo, and the repeated destruction of science for political gain.

George Jr was doing (in attitude) what Nixon did. George Jr just did it while using propaganda with stunning success. Nixon would simply make claims and most people blindly believed him. When innocent students were shot dead at Kent State, how did the nation respond? Long haired kids were then denied service in restaurants. Yes, we so blindly believed Nixon that he would out rightly lie - and so many would not doubt (especially those with lesser education).

Nixon was not good at propaganda. But back then, propaganda was not necessary since FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy had earned the presidency such prestige and credibility. Again, I am surprised (and should not be) that anyone would have to ask what Oynxcougar has asked. Those were wild times.

[warch]

I don't believe there was a Freedom of Information Act back then

yeah it came outta Nixon and has eroded under Bush.
I was talking about what the Presidents Men today have learned from history beyond not to record themselves.

[wolf]

Mommy signed up. She served. She has equality.

You want to set the women's movement back 50 years, you go right on ahead with that line of reasoning.

[lookout123]

no woman has been forced or drafted into the military. each and everyone has signed up for the military and then volunteered for a combat position (if they are in one). if we didn't let them go, would you support a lawsuit against the government for sexual discrimination?

people who sign up for the military know there is a chance(or extreme likeliness) they will leave their families.