Buchanan: Linda Tripp as Heroic as Felt

NewsMax ^ | 6/1/05

[areafiftyone]

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.

But when it came to President Clinton, he noted, reporters suddenly developed a distaste for whistleblowers. "I mean, did they make Linda Tripp a hero?" the former Nixon speechwriter asked plaintively. "At least she was public about it."

Buchanan said that when Felt leaked information about the FBI's ongoing Watergate probe to the press, he set a dangerous precedent that should concern reporter and citizen alike.

"Let's realize that the FBI has secret files from full field investigations on everybody that served in the highest offices of government," he noted. "And if they start deciding who and what investigations they're gonna leak to the Washington Post - you've got a police state."

[Old North State]

I think that Buchanan feels Felt was dishonorable because he betrayed hid sworn oath, violated US law, and sold out his Agency. Linda Tripp acted as a private citizen whose information was not the product of a government investigation and her actions did not fall under the aegis of law or oath.

[SmithL]

I have a pretty low tolerance for Buchanan, but I sure agree with him on this issue.

[laconic]

Nixon's post presidency books (especially the one on Leaders) were especially good and insightful. Unlike one of his predecessors, he wrote his own books. So no one can say, Profiles in Courage, a prize-winning book written by Arthur Schlesinger under the pen name, John F. Kennedy.

[areafiftyone]

Me too.

[Non-Sequitur]

I think that Buchanan feels Felt was dishonorable because he betrayed hid sworn oath, violated US law, and sold out his Agency. Linda Tripp acted as a private citizen whose information was not the product of a government investigation and her actions did not fall under the aegis of law or oath.

No, I think Buchanan feels Felt is dishonorable because he ratted out Richard Nixon while Linda Tripp only turned on Bill Clinton.

[advance_copy]

Linda Tripp acted as a private citizen whose information was not the product of a government investigation and her actions did not fall under the aegis of law or oath.

AND, Linda Tripp did not leak to the press. She gave the information she had about crimes to the proper authorities.

[Jedidah]

Personally, I think both Felts and Tripp are kinda sleazy, but I'm glad they both ratted. Why does it need to be one against the other? Corruption is corruption, and it shouldn't be excused in any political party.

[Publius6961]

I agree.
She was not a rat, sneaking in the shadows.

She was up front, in the open, accepting the consequences of her decisions.
She has more b***s than the treasonous SOB!

[Ditto]

She is more so.

Tripp acted in self-defense when being pressured to perjure herself in the Jones depositions. She was not a high-ranking Federal law enforcement official with the ability to immediately bring information she possessed to the proper judicial authorities. In fact, she had good reason to believe that those same authorities would themselves persecute her if she approached them.

Felt, OTOH, had the full ability to present the information he had to a Federal Grand Jury, or to Congressional Committees. He instead violated both the law, and fundamental ethical rules of law enforcement by anomalously leaking information to the media for purely political motives.

[Publius6961]

You have once more validated your perfect choice of forum name...

[Milhous]

Yet another great leftist myth falls into the ash can of history.

[Ditto]

You forget that Tripp was being pressured to commit perjury in the Jones depositions. Her actions were defensive in nature and other than committing a felony, decided to use the information she had to protect herself. It would appear that Felt, who had many legal and ethical options to handle the information he possessed, instead chose an illegal and unethical option.

[nikos1121]

I think he's saying that if you look at both of them, and assume that Felt was a hero then Tripp should be also.

nick

[nikos1121]

"Let's realize that the FBI has secret files from full field investigations on everybody that served in the highest offices of government," he noted. "And if they start deciding who and what investigations they're gonna leak to the Washington Post - you've got a police state."


--Pat Buchanan

If Felt is a hero, then heaven help this country. We are one step away from a police state.

[Spirited]

AMEN!

[PISANO]

He is correct the ONLY difference is NIXON was a Republican and Clinton was a Gimmiecrap.

A demonstrable case of BIAS if ever there was one. Felt is LIONIZED and Tripp lost virtually everything and was demonized.

[nikos1121]

Do you have proof that Kennedy did not write Profiles? He wrote it while recuperating in the hospital did he not?

nick

[Grampa Dave]

Felt is another prime example of why liberal DemonicRats should never be in the Military, the FBI, the CIA, and the State Dept..

[Grampa Dave]

Your summation of Felt, below, is superb!

Felt, OTOH, had the full ability to present the information he had to a Federal Grand Jury, or to Congressional Committees. He instead violated both the law, and fundamental ethical rules of law enforcement by anomalously leaking information to the media for purely political motives.

[AmishDude]

Tripp did exactly what someone in her position should have done. If not for a goofy Maryland law, there wouldn't have been any issue of legality.

Felt broke a number of laws (statute of limitations is long gone) including leaking FBI files. He had the power to act on his information. He could have gone to his boss. If he didn't trust him, then Congress. Failing that, he should have gone public and resigned.

The great hero Deep Throat turned out to be a disgruntled bureaucrat who acted cowardly and criminally. Funny, Nixon has more integrity now than

• Al Gore -- he didn't contest the 1960 election
• Bill Clinton -- he resigned for the sake of the country
• Mark Felt -- Nixon's lawbreaking was much less far-reaching.