According to John Dean, Bob Woodward has informed him that “Deep Throat,” the member of Nixon’s administration who exposed his crimes to the Washington Post, is gravely ill and possibly near death. Upon his death, Woodword and Bernstein will be released from their obligation to protect his identity. We will at long last learn who “Deep Throat” was, and we can write the final chapter on Watergate.
Watergate was really before my time. I read about it when I was young, and absorbed the implied narrative, i.e., brave leftists bringing down a corrupt president. Only later did it occur to me that, really, Nixon was brought down by Republicans, not Democrats or even Left-leaning reporters.
First and foremost, there was “Deep Throat,” who handed them the key evidence on a silver platter. It is important to remember that “Deep Throat” came to Woodward and Berstien, they didn’t track him down by dint of their investigative powers.
Second, there were the Republicans in the house and Senate who ruthlessly pursued Nixon even at the cost of their own party’s power. Many Republicans didn’t, of course, but enough did to seal his fate.
Just something to remember if Deep Throat dies and we all have to live through two weeks or so of major media reliving their glory days.
I’d think twice before taking anything that John Dean or Bob Woodward says at face value.
ahem… I’ll confess. I am Deep Throat.
Interesting. We’ll wait till Deep Throat dies so them he can’t deny it. It will be interesting to see what documentation they offer, especially if it is Rehnquist.
Perhaps they’ll offer as much documentation as Bob Woodward did for his deathbed “interviews” with Robert Casey, in which Casey supposedly repudiated core beliefs and agreed that the liberals had been right all along. I’ll have to keep an eye out for Wesley Pruden’s next scathing column about “Mortuary Bob” (Woodward).
There’s speculation that Deep Throat is Rehnquist. Crazy, if true.
http://frontburner2.dmagazine.com/archives/007885.html#more
The Pope????
I’ve just heard Alexandre Adler say on French public radio (France Culture) that it was George Bush(senior)! Adler is a serious commentator and seems to be free of the usual anti-americanism so often found here. If I can find a link to his spiel I will post it.
Re Adler: his talk is not yet posted but may well be by the time the sun rises on the USA. The link should be:-
Link
Sorry I don’t know how to make this a live link so you will have to paste it into your browser.
[live link added — JG]
It was all over the UK press yesterday that it was Bush Snr
Gravely ill and near death?
If it is Rehnquist I wonder if he will be suddenly converted from demon to saint within Leftist circles after he is dead. Rehnquist is seriously ill so that would fit.
Bush Sr. doesn’t fit the pattern right now because he is not ill.
The US press is concerned about the feelings of a dying ex-member of the Nixon administration? It’s so sensitive an issue that the UK press, with its notoriously deep understanding of American political history, will discuss it but the US press won’t? Oh yeah. I think the entire story is bullshit. Is Dean or Woodward about to release a book?
Maybe it’s Linda Lovelace?
Ralf, that’s the most insightful comment so far. Hey, I’ve never seen a photo of Incognito and Linda Lovelace together. Do you think. ..
Rehnquist or Gerald Ford.
Jonathan G ewirtz,
“The US press is concerned about the feelings of a dying ex-member of the Nixon administration?”
It’s not the press as a body but rather just Woodward, Berstein and their editor at the time. Supposedly, only those three individuals know the identity of “Deep Throat” and they are bound by a personal oath not to reveal his identity until after his death.
The U.S. press as a body speculates on the identity of “Deep Throat” all the time but the fact remains nobody but three above actually have any solid information. Every one else just guesses.
What will be truly funny is if “Deep Throat” turns out to be “Bob the Janitor.”
My point is that neither Dean nor Woodward is trustworthy. Deep Throat could be someone who just died, whom they identify as Deep Throat (how convenient). Or Deep Throat could be a composite of several individuals. Or Deep Throat could be a complete fiction. There is no way to know and little reason to trust the claims of the people who do know.
Jonathan G ewirtz,
“My point is that neither Dean nor Woodward is trustworthy.
Well I am with you on that one. I will not trust their word without some kind of corroboration.
However, I do think that DT was a single individual. The information credited to DT was to high quality. If the info did come from multiple individuals or from the investigations of the reporters, then that implies that they really are the journalistic gods they imagine themselves to be.
I think we will be able to tell for certain whether the person they finger really was DT. DT will have been well aware of his role in history and will probably leave behind some kind of statement or memoir explaining and detailing his actions.
If we don’t get something like that then we can feel confident that Woodward and crew are pulling a fast one.
Points taken. Perhaps time will tell.
What is Haig’s current state of health? Although I think he has been discounted in the past as not quite in the right circle.
Sandy: Maybe Rehnquist is secretly the Pope (and the nice old Polish man in the Vatican is a cover!), and also Deep Throat.
Or maybe it’s Elvis.
Deep Throat – evan if he is 91 years old, he should be put in jail for the rest of his life. He broke the oath of secrecey and therefore should be punished to the full extent of the law.