Posted on 06/02/2005 8:48:23 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Deep Throat is Mark Felt, the former deputy associate director of the FBI — except for the parts of Deep Throat that clearly aren't Mark Felt, like all the stuff Throat supposedly confirmed after Felt left the FBI in June, 1973.
Well, that's going to be something of a problem, isn't it?
Dean analyzed the meetings Woodward describes in All The Presidents' Men and methodically analyzes what others have glossed over. For Woodward's version to be literally correct, his source had to be able to have access to specific information (and disinformation — Dean estimated last night that half of what Throat told Woodward was materially wrong) at specific times. He also had to be physically in Washington to conduct the meetings Woodward wrote about in the book, which were presumably relied upon in the vital day-to-day coverage he and Bernstein wrote for the Post in 1972, 1973, and 1974.
For us, he offered the startling fact that possibly the most vital information Throat gave Woodward — that there were "erasures" on at least one of the surreptitious tapes of Richard Nixon's Oval Office conversations (the infamous "18 minute gap") — was dispensed in November, 1973 — nearly five months after Felt had left his position in the FBI.
So where did Felt-Throat get that information? Gossip? Where from?
"How is he going to explain Felt having some of the information he had," Dean continued, "when it just isn't in the realm of possibility that he had access to it, even as third or fourth hand hearsay?"
Dean's e-book for Salon three years ago was called Unmasking Deep Throat, and unlike all the other attempts to identify Throat, it is meticulous and scholarly.
To paraphrase [Senator] Baker, "What did Deep Throat know and when did he know it?"
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Not one person, but at least three people "important" enough: Woodward, Berstein and Bradlee.
Guess I'm being a little stupid here but how does this protect them? You're implying there was no deep throat? They made it all up?
They hit too close to home several times not to have an inside source. The only rationale I can see for assigning one person as deep throat was that it made it more dramatically effective. If that's the reason they said there's only one deep throat it won't necessarily tarnish their image.
And they completely missed the mark a lot. It's amazing to me that reporters are considered great if they equal the proverbial broken clock. Printing one truth does not make up for ten lies.
"Deep Throat" may have been fictitious composite figure used by Woodward and Bernstein as a cover for every leak that they acquired from every source.
While I agree with you it doesn't explain why they need Felt to be deep throat and why that protects their image.
Especially if the same dishonest journalists are earning their money through accusing politicians of lying.
Haven't you heard? Felt has trouble remembering anything. They can say what they want of him...he doesn't remember.
I don't know what is true. But it is suspicious that DT kept silent for so long and now he comes out but can't remember anything.
You're going to go by Keith Olbermann and John Dean?
My advice is don't.
By the way, his "sudden" coming out has been in the works since at least 2002. Per multiple sources.
>What person would be important enough to them to let Felt take credit at this point?<
Woodstein.
I see on another thread that a possible explanation for the revelation now is simply to change the conversation from modern media follies to a "glorious" past. I can see haw Woodstein and the WAPOST would like to change the subject given that the WAPOST owns Newsweek. At least that's logical.
>What person would be important enough to them to let Felt take credit at this point?<
Woodstein.
I think Dean had his heart set on it being a Nixon insider like Haig or Buchanan and can't stand that it's Felt.
Olbermann will follow Dean's lead.
Clearly John Dean was expecting the same. Since that didn't happen he's out there stirring the conspiracy pot.
I think it would help to have a timeline of what Woodward says Deep Throat told him and when, as well as a list of descriptions Woodward used for Deep Throat, to see how consistently the results fit with Felt=DT equation. I've been putting something like this together but won't be done for a bit yet. In any case, whether Felt was Deep Throat or not, some key questions about Watergate remain unanswered, particularly about the burglary itself and about the role of John Dean.
Regarding the transcript, I've seen pieces of that before, but not read the whole thing in context, which I'd want to do before trying to interpret it.
There was a discussion about Felt's knowledge of the erasures on Batchelor's show tonight, but I only heard a snippet of the discussion.
Batchelor and his guest were wondering how Felt could have learned about the erasures, after he left the FBI. They were also saying, people who were aware of the *"deliberate"* erasures were legally bound to give the information to the investigators connected with the Grand Jury.
*as described in All the President's Men
I might be wrong, but just now, on the Larry King rerun, the transcript seemed to say...
Was Nixon expressing surprise because he thought Hoover was an anti-Semite?
The conjecture that this sudden "revelation" could be a ploy, to get Newsweek out of all of its hot water, and to "glorify" the golden days of the liberal media, which brought down a Republican president, makes sense to me.
They grab a forgetful 91 year old who can barely stand up at his front door, and who is waving at reporters and photographers as though he thinks they are representatives of PUBLISHER'S CLEARING HOUSE, coming to hand him his winning check.......and they tell us, VOILA! This is "Deep Throat!"
Make no mistake. This media and this current bunch of Democrat "leaders" (who aren't worthy of the term) are dreaming of bringing down yet another Republican president.
I'm not convinced that this is DT at all. I sense that whoever cooked this up might have "stepped in it," as Rush would say.
Char :)
I thought I'd seen that line transcribed differently elsewhere, also.
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