Posted on 06/02/2005 8:21:22 PM PDT by John Robertson
While many MSM'ers (sorry, most) are lionizing this guy as "a hero," someone who "did what he had to do," something big is being missed.
Our side has pointed out that he authorized/engineered illegal breakins himself...
And that he turned on the Whitehouse because he didn't get the top FBI job. Now think about that....
Felt became a snitch because he didn't get something he wanted! He was an opportunist, plain and simple (and it runs in the family, apparently, as they shamelessly say they urged the old man to do it so they could all get some money). Yeah, a real hero.
But here's what I haven't seen....
If they had made him the head of the FBI, he WOULD NOT have turned on the Whitehouse.
In fact, as head of the FBI....
HE WOULD HAVE HELPED THEM BURY WATERGATE!
He had information, which had value, and he sold it (his price was vengeance, and pique, and if those Watergate-era photos are sending any messages across the decades, smugness).
Just because Nixon and his people didn't know the terms (make me FBI head and I won't leak like a wooden boat that sat out back in the yard for fourteen years), doesn't mean a deal wasn't there for their making. If Nixon had appointed him, he would have kept his mouth shut, so the Nixon government wouldn't unravel, and cost him the job he so openly coveted.
And does anyone really doubt that such an amoral opportunist wouldn't have proactively gotten involved in defending his position within the regime that was threatened? And taken action to protect himself within that regime?
It's interesting to contrast and compare attitudes towards Mark Felt and Linda Tripp.
Boy, now THERE'S an interesting alternate universe...
We're not even sure he wasn't blackmailing the Deep-Throat Juniors he had to be getting info from!
Yes, Tripp compared to Felt....
Tripp: Victimized, threatened, demeaned, diminished, finances challenged and lost. Yet still retained dignity.
Felt: Victimizer, nefarious plotter, revenge-motivated op, challenged finances about to be boosted. Never had any real dignity to start with.
You pick the hero.
Even moreso, the media portrayal of Mark Felt and Gary Aldrich.
But the for a decision-flip--Yeah, put Felt in that job--so much of history would have been so very different.
In fact...do you know those novels where Hitler won the war--what the world would be like?
Think of a novel where Watergate was a blip, then went away.
Nixon finishes his term.
Finishes much of his agenda.
Ford, probably two terms, in spite of himself.
We would never have had to up with Jimmah Cahtah.
And probably no Clinton (southern governor, etc.).
Only two dem presidents in 40 years...Carter and Toon.
And if Nixon had given Felt the job, we wouldn't have had to put up with them.
The lingering "triumph" of the Left bringing down Nixon never would have saturated the culture.
And liberalism would be far, far paler than it is today.
All in all, how it all turned out seems relatively well.
"We're not even sure he wasn't blackmailing the Deep-Throat Juniors he had to be getting info from!"
Exactly. Or somesuch nefarious behavior. He has already demonstrated that he would do anything--follow orders loyally...betray you (under cover of darkness)...then one day cash in....
But, you know, would there have been a Ronald Reagan?
Would we have had the Shining City on the Hill?
Hey Joan Felt and greedy son.....you have exposed your father and grandfather to an ugly ruin yourselves.....kind of takes the hero worship right out.
What's the Erlichman/Felt connection?
I'll gladly suffer through Carter in order to have been blessed with Ronald Reagan as my President
Aldrich is the model for a "hero" declaring chicanery of a high-level boss.
Felt, a "hero"?
Heroes step up and say, Hey, this is going on! They don't skulk around, hiding, fearful and vengeful at the same time. That's not a hero.
And we will never know if ALL the stuff Felt gave the reporters was even true, because he's a dithering jerk, and nearly all of the key players are dead.
See my #8.
And you know what the real kicker is? When he was on trial, just guess who Felt asked to come to court and testify on his behalf that sometimes things like black bag jobs have to be done?
Just guess.
"But, you know, would there have been a Ronald Reagan? Would we have had the Shining City on the Hill?"
Well, you have something here.
But then again: Reagan was a once in a century leader... perhaps a once in a country's lifetime leader. And he think he would have risen to the top anyway.
Hitting nails directly on heads dittoes.
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