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Navy_Navy_Navy
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Joined: 07 May 2004
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 Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 10:58 pm Post subject: "Deep Throat" Exposed |
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After all this time.
I guess round two of the canonization of Woodward and Bernstein was due, hm? 
(Yes, I know - what a cynic!  )
| Quote: |
Washington Post Confirms Felt Was 'Deep Throat'
Woodward, Bernstein and Bradlee Reveal Former FBI Official as Secret Watergate Source
By William Branigin and David Von Drehle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, May 31, 2005; 6:33 PM
The Washington Post today confirmed that W. Mark Felt, a former number-two official at the FBI, was "Deep Throat," the secretive source who provided information that helped unravel the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s and contributed to the resignation of president Richard M. Nixon.
The confirmation came from Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post reporters who broke the Watergate story, and their former top editor, Benjamin C. Bradlee. The three spoke after Felt's family and Vanity Fair magazine identified the 91-year-old Felt, now a retiree in California, as the long-anonymous source who provided crucial guidance for some of the newspaper's groundbreaking Watergate stories.
The Vanity Fair story said Felt had admitted his "historic, anonymous role" following years of denial.
In a statement today, Woodward and Bernstein said, "W. Mark Felt was 'Deep Throat' and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage. However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories that were written in The Washington Post about Watergate."
Felt's guidance to Woodward -- provided on "deep background" in secret meetings -- helped keep public attention focused on the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington's Watergate office and apartment complex, and on a subsequent cover-up effort. This ultimately led to a congressional investigation that revealed the role of Nixon and a number of his top aides. Under threat of impeachment, Nixon resigned in 1974.
Woodward, Bernstein and Bradlee had kept the identity of "Deep Throat" secret at the source's request, saying his name would be revealed upon his death. "We've kept that secret because we keep our word," Woodward said.
But with the Vanity Fair article and the family's statement, the three decided today to break their silence.
Bradlee said today, "The thing that stuns me is that the goddamn secret has lasted this long." He was the Post's executive editor during Watergate and now is a vice president of the newspaper.
Woodward agreed to confirm his source's identity despite skepticism that the former FBI official was competent to decide to change the ground rules of their secret relationship. Felt has been in declining health since suffering a stroke in 2001.
Woodward, now a Post assistant managing editor, said he is writing an article for Thursday's newspaper that will provide a personal account of his and Bernstein's experience in covering Watergate. Bernstein left the Post in 1976 and is now a freelance writer.
Woodward said Felt helped The Post at a time of tense relations between the White House and much of the FBI hierarchy. He said the Watergate break-in came shortly after the death of legendary FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, Felt's mentor, and that Felt and other bureau officials wanted to see an FBI veteran promoted to succeed Hoover.
Felt himself had hopes that he would be the next FBI director, but Nixon instead appointed an administration insider, assistant attorney general L. Patrick Gray, to the post.
Bradlee, in an interview this afternoon, said that knowing that "Deep Throat" was a high-ranking FBI official helped him feel confident about the information that the paper was publishing about Watergate. He said that he knew the "positional identity" of "Deep Throat" as the Post was breaking its Watergate stories and that he learned his name within a couple of weeks after Nixon's resignation.
"The number-two guy at the FBI, that was a pretty good source," he said.
"I knew the paper was on the right track," Bradlee said. The "quality of the source" and the soundness of his guidance made him sure of that, he said.
"We made only one mistake . . . and that had nothing to do with 'Deep Throat,' " Bradlee said, referring to an error in reporting grand jury testimony.
Bradlee said that over the years, "it was interesting to watch people flounder around with odd choices" about the identity of "Deep Throat," a nickname borrowed from the title of a pornographic film. Although he knew the source's identity, Bradlee said, "I've never met Felt. I wouldn't know him if I fell on him."
In a family statement released today, Felt's grandson, Nick Jones, said, "The family believes my grandfather, Mark Felt Sr., is a great American hero who went well above and beyond the call of duty at much risk to himself to save his country from a horrible injustice." The statement added, "We all sincerely hope the country will see him this way as well."
Jones said in the statement, "My grandfather is pleased he is being honored for his role as 'Deep Throat' with his friend Bob Woodward. As he recently told my mother, 'I guess people used to think "Deep Throat" was a criminal, but now they think he was a hero.'"
In a subsequent appearance before reporters outside their Santa Rosa, Calif., home, Felt's daughter, Joan Felt, and her son Nick said the family, including Mark Felt, feels relieved now that the secret is out.
"We're so proud of him, not only for his role in history . . . but for the person he is," Joan Felt said of her father. She said he is aware that Woodward has confirmed he was "Deep Throat" and is pleased about the disclosure. She said Felt "always remembers Bob very fondly."
"We're all relieved," Joan Felt said. She said her father is "in good health" and "says he's going to live to be a centenarian." Asked how he is feeling today, she said, "He's happy. He's grinning from ear to ear."
"He's always lived with honor," Joan Felt said. "He's a great patriot."
The Vanity Fair article, by California attorney John D. O'Connor, described Felt as conflicted over his role in the Watergate revelations and over whether he should publicly reveal that he was the anonymous source whose identity has been a closely guarded secret for more than three decades.
"On several occasions he confided to me, 'I'm the guy they used to call "Deep Throat," ' " O'Connor wrote. The author wrote that Felt "still has qualms about his actions, but he also knows that historic events compelled him to behave as he did: standing up to an executive branch intent on obstructing his agency's pursuit of the truth."
The article concluded, "Felt, having long harbored the ambivalent emotions of pride and self-reproach, has lived for more than 30 years in a prison of his own making, a prison built upon his strong moral principles and his unwavering loyalty to country and cause. But now, buoyed by his family's revelations and support, he need feel imprisoned no longer." |
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GM Strong
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:21 am Post subject: |
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W&B got burned here. They thought they had a lock on the greatest journalistic secret of the age. PHHT!! Gone along with the book deals. This guy was a leaker who should have been rposecuted as it seems now. In the middle of an FBI investigation this guy is doing a Patrick Leahy. This clown is no hero. It's long over, so it doesn't do much to moan. I wonder what Liddy thinks about this kind of irresponible agency unethical subterfuge.
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:30 am Post subject: |
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I must ask, "why now?" Seems suspect to me.......then enquiring minds want to know........  |
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GM Strong
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy
Joined: 18 Sep 2004
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:50 am Post subject: |
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| doll wrote: | | I must ask, "why now?" Seems suspect to me.......then enquiring minds want to know........ |
I posit this. Felt is 91 years old and may be declining. Somebody else discovered the truth and wants to scoop B&W. Bammo, celebrity status. Gotcha, Washington comPost.
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shawa
CNO
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Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 1:58 am Post subject: |
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Guess I'm a cynic too, EJ.
When this story first broke earlier today, I thought 'Who cares'?
So some poor old man admits he was Deep Throat. WHOOP DEE DOO!!
Now we're going to be subjected to a week of self-aggrandizement by the press and
a rehashing of Watergate AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN.
Oh, spare me!!!
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:22 am Post subject: |
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| shawa wrote: | Guess I'm a cynic too, EJ.
When this story first broke earlier today, I thought 'Who cares'?
So some poor old man admits he was Deep Throat. WHOOP DEE DOO!!
Now we're going to be subjected to a week of self-aggrandizement by the press and
a rehashing of Watergate AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN.
Oh, spare me!!! |
You are absolutely correct shawa.....I actually turned off Fox News today. Is there not more important issues we must deal with in this country...but then I am a cynic and must repeat....enquiring minds want to know. To what end? 
And what gauled me is that Vanity Fair had to get in on the show.....who is Vanity Fair..........ah vanity, vanity...............
| Quote: |
Vanity Fair Reveals Watergate Source 'Deep Throat'
The elusive source known as Watergates' "Deep Throat", has been revealed in a Vanity Fair article to be W. Mark Felt, assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Felt was Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward' s crucial but anonymous Watergate informer in the scandal that forced President Richard M. Nixon to resign.
Felt, who was second-in-command at the FBI in the early 1970s, kept the secret even from his family until 2002, when he reportedly confided to a friend that he had been Woodward' s source, the magazine said.
"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat," he told lawyer John D. O'Connor, the author of Vanity Fair's exclusive that appears in its July issue.
Felt, now 91 and living in Santa Rosa, Calif., reportedly gave O'Connor permission to disclose his identity.
Carl Bernstein, who with Bob Woodward broke the famous story as Washington Post reporters, issued a statement neither confirming nor denying Felt's claim. Bernstein indicated that he and Woodward would be keeping their pledge to reveal the identity of 'Deep Throat' only after the source dies.
NBC News commentator Chris Matthews, who wrote a book about Watergate, said on MSNBC this a.m. that he wasn't surprised, adding that Felt "has always been the leading suspect." "There is no reason to doubt it"
When asked if he could ask Felt any one question, Matthews said "Why did you keep it secret so long.. You should be proud of what you did."
NBC commentator Pat Buchanan had a different take saying it was "almost certainly a criminal act"
In the summer of 1999, [Bob] Woodward reportedly showed up unexpectedly at the home of Felt's daughter, Joan, in Santa Rosa, California, north of San Francisco, and took him to lunch.
Felt is one of the many people who have been reportedly named over the years as the source whose disclosures helped bring down the Nixon presidency. Others include Deputy White House counsel Fred Fielding, Assistant Attorney General Henry Peterson, and even Diane Sawyer, the ABC newswoman who then worked in the White House press office, according to wire reports.
In 1999, Felt denied he was the man.
Felt is a retiree living in Santa Rosa, Calif., with his daughter, Joan, the magazine said. |
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LewWaters
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 3:09 am Post subject: |
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Add me to the list of cynics. After over 30 years, and 6 Presidents, with Nixon being dead and nearly all involved being way over the hill, what does it matter anymore? Hell, most today don't even know what "Deep Throat" beyond a porn movie.
To me, it's much ado about nothing now, unless they are reviving it to somehow compare it to Bush. Guess time will tell.
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:23 am Post subject: |
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| LewWaters wrote: | | Hell, most today don't even know what "Deep Throat" beyond a porn movie. |
LOL......LOL.............LOL............. 
My husband had to explain that one to me....even I did not know about that "Deep Throat"..............
Gosh, what a waste of journalistic time, energy, and good news reporting...though good news reporting I think went out after Watergate.......ah.....sometimes it is not a good thing to wish for the good old days........they caused half the mess we are in today. Besides, there are Presidents like Kennedy who did worse than Nixon.......more like Clinton style but all everyone cares about these days is "who" "Deep Throat" was?
Talk about aka's................LOL! Enquiring minds really must know....geez...ugh! |
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Navy_Navy_Navy
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Joined: 07 May 2004
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:34 am Post subject: |
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Lew, I think you're right - that in additon to heaping fresh laurels on these two "hero" journalists, it's also an opportunity to do some in-depth Nixon bashing and yes.... trying to draw comparisons to this President.
Heaven only knows what they're going to come up with, but so far they've deluded themselves into thinking that Afghanistan and Iraq are equivalents to the Vietnam war, so we mustn't underestimate the media's ability to draw inaccurate conclusions from insubstantial and erroneous data.
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Altering course to starboard - On Fire, Keep Clear
Navy woman, Navy wife, Navy mother |
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:06 am Post subject: |
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| Navy_Navy_Navy wrote: | | Heaven only knows what they're going to come up with, but so far they've deluded themselves into thinking that Afghanistan and Iraq are equivalents to the Vietnam war, so we mustn't underestimate the media's ability to draw inaccurate conclusions from insubstantial and erroneous data. |
I find it ridiculous that there are any comparisons made. These wars are like comparing apples to oranges. There is no comparison. The inaccurate conclusions that one could draw and parrallel are weak in the comparison to the greater harm the media causes by its distortions and blatent lies. Worse yet, they know this and do it despite themselves. |
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I B Squidly
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Joined: 26 Aug 2004
Posts: 879
Location: Cactus Patch
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: |
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They had Linda Lovelace....I mean Mark Felt make an appearance from his hospital. You'ld have thought it was the pope.
I don't like Nixon but I can sympathise. He got screwed. Kennedy whacked on speedballs could cavort with Trixie and Dixie in the White House pool and Ben Bradley mixed the drinks (unlike Clinton at least Kennedy chose pros and adults). Anyone too close to LBJ's skeletons got shot (Billie Sol Estes investigator) or packed off to an asylum (secretary in Bobby Baker case). As for crooks...LBJ entered government $3,500 in debt and accrued 65 million after thirty some years (he hid it in Lady Bird's name). LBJ and his good friend and former long time neighbor J Edgar Hoover spied where-ever they liked for some fine evenings of blue movies. Poor Dick had to bribe Hoover with a life term and still got no respect or favors.
Felt's no hero nor were Woodward and Bernstein. Felt's leaking is just the thing that triggered the formation of the 'Plumbers' to begin with. Any dimwit knew from the first announcement of the Watergate breakin that the administration had a finger in it. Did Dean order it? Certainly Nixon didn't and the tapes prove it! All he did was cover it up and anyone who can imagine a different meaning for the word 'is', doesn't care about Craig Livingston, and understands Paula is 'trailer trash' knows that aint no crime.
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PhantomSgt
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:44 am Post subject: |
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Another non-story to allow the liberal media to overlook the real news of the day.
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Snipe
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 11:53 am Post subject: |
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And once again, the "news" IS the news.
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greasepaint
Seaman
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Posts: 177
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 2:26 pm Post subject: |
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'Why now'
The family wants to cash in, while the person involved
is still alive.
Follow the money.
We have no idea, of how money is changing hands, here. |
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Tanya
Senior Chief Petty Officer
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Posts: 570
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:01 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/6/1/114319.shtml
Buchanan: Linda Tripp as Heroic as Felt
"Former Nixon aide Pat Buchanan said Wednesday that the same mainstream reporters who paint newly revealed "Deep Throat" source Mark Felt as a hero couldn't find a good word to say about Linda Tripp, whose secret tapes led to the impeachment of President Clinton.
"The only reason Mark Felt is a hero now [is because he helped] destroy was Richard Milhous Nixon," Buchanan told WABC Radio's John Gambling." |
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