Same here. I think he got a bad rap over the 'I'm in charge' fiasco when Reagan was shot, otherwise I believe he may have been a serious contender.
Posted on 05/31/2005 6:23:17 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Over two years ago, Gen. Alexander Haig was speaking about "Deep Throat” with NewsMax editor Christopher Ruddy.
Gen. Haig told Ruddy bluntly who the likely suspect was: Mark Felt.
"It didn’t come as a surprise to me at all,” Gen. Haig told NewsMax.com Tuesday evening.
"The only good news is that it was revealed by the individual himself so that it deprived the Washington Post of another profit windfall,” he said with a chuckle.
As President Nixon’s chief of staff during the Watergate episode, few know the inside details of how the White House dealt with the scandal and a leaker identified later as "Deep Throat.”
Gen. Haig doubts, however, that Felt alone was the sole, key source that helped hasten Nixon’s resignation.
"There were countless sources, some of which were totally inaccurate, some of which weren’t, some of which were totally politically motivated and some of which were an expression of moral outrage,” he said.
Asked what he thought might have been Marl Felt’s motivations in cooperating with Woodward and Bernstein, General Haig said he didn’t know.
"Having resigned from three presidencies myself for reasons that involved my conscience,” General Haig said. "I can understand how one who has been an enforcer of law and order all of his career would be outraged if he saw something that was not correct.”
Despite the criticism of some that believe Felt had betrayed President Nixon or that he should have gone public with his information, Gen. Haig stood by Felt.
"I do know he was a very highly regarded professional FBI leader and for that he and his family can be very proud,” Gen. Haig said.
He also noted that other sources provided Woodward and Bernstein with critical information.
"There were many sources, one of whom I knew to be the President’s lawyer, J. Fred Buzhardt,” Gen. Haig said.
"He informed me years later that he had been the main source and that’s what provided the accurate aspects of the Woodward and Bernstein books.”
Gen. Haig doesn’t agree that Watergate refers to a political scandal.
"Watergate was a political saga,” he said.
"It wasn’t a saga of good and evil . Some could call it a coup d’etat. It certainly involved the efforts to reverse a landslide election.”
Deep Throat was just part of the effort to get President Nixon, Haig recalled. But Deep Throat didn’t play the key role.
"What overthrew President Nixon were the tapes which were just too tough for the American people to absorb,” Gen. Haig said.
"Taping was very common to almost every White House I was in, one way or the other,” he said.
"Nixon’s big mistake was that he didn’t destroy the tapes.”
I'm in charge.
What of Clinton's tapes, emails, and Kennedy's tapes?
LBJ's trickled out decades late.
Heh, heh. That was a pretty good deal Woodwork and Beerstain worked out with Felt. They "pledged" not to reveal Deep Throat's identity until after DT died.
Sounds like at least one of his kids or grandkids finally figured it out.
"Nixon’s big mistake was that he didn’t destroy the tapes.”
Nixon's big mistake was that he didn't know about,
Arkancide.
I wish we'd elected Haig in '88. I've always thought Haig would have made a great president.
Could Vince Foster have been about to 'leak' something?
Couldn't Nixon's lawyer be disbarred for this?
Perhaps so. He and John Glenn were both incredibly boring candidates that year who would never catch fire. Can you believe that Zorba the Clerk rose above the other talent on the Dem side?
OMG you can not be serious.
Amen! Watergate was chump change compared to what the Clinton's got a way with. Nixon was no better or worse than Presidents before him, i.e. Kennedy. He just got exposed. If he HAD destroyed the tapes, would he have survived? Then they would have hounded him to account for the tapes and how they got destroyed. Would have been interesting all right.
Maybe so, we'll never know. But one thing I recall that hurt him, when Reagan was shot and Al Haig declared himself to be in control, Americans thought they saw a power hungry soul, it scared them and they didn't like it. He was probably misinterpreted but the damage was done.
I still think that Haig and Kissinger played a role in the whole thing. I think "Deep Throat" was a composite and Woodward and Bernstein are using Felt's disclosure as a way to end other speculation.
There are reasons Haig was chief of staff, his contacts ran far and deep, very deep. Sorry but an ex general who for a point in his life had the supreme say about all things military IMHO would not make a good president. AH was and imho still is a globalist, much like GHWB, they know so much they are scary.
I truly believe that LBJ was the most evil corrupt man to ever hold the presidency. I really wish that the MSM would delve into his crimes.
I would respectfully raise some points that would disagree with General Haig. As a soldier, he should know that the rules should be followed. There is a chain of command.
In my view, there can be no excuse for a trusted employee to approach the press (such as it is). Nor can there be an excuse, if one is indeed approached. Felt did not follow any protocol. He was and indeed still is, nothing more than a tool to be used by the Nixon hating press.Two Nixon quotes herewith:
"I brought myself down.I impeached myself by resigning". Further. "Those who hate you don't win unless you hate them,and then you destroy yourself".
Rest in peace Mr President.
Perhaps in modern times. I've read a lot about LBJ. Old school guy. Once took a leak outside his ranch during a press interview. Supposedly did someone on Air Force One while Lady Bird was on board. A real piece of work.
This is what Haig actually said. Now, he was wrong about the order after the VP, but the press took only a small part of what he said and used it to kill him:
"Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and should the president decide he wants to transfer the helm to the vice president, he will do so. As for now, I'm in control here, in the White House, pending the return of the vice president and in close touch with him. If something came up, I would check with him, of course."
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