Wednesday, June 01, 2005



Give him a medal

The Washington Post has confirmed that former FBI Deputy Director Mark Felt was Watergate's "Deep Throat".

So, what medal is appropriate for saving US democracy from Nixon?

7 comments:

Two tickets to the "Nixon in China" opera.

Posted by Ewen : 6/01/2005 03:12:00 PM

As perhaps the ultimate example of a whistle blower in American history I believe the highest civilian honour that Congress can bestow is the Medal of Freedom.

Posted by Bomber : 6/01/2005 08:55:00 PM

Saving? I think you're overstating things a wee bit.

Nixon managed to win the 1972 election, despite Watergate being broken the year before.

What most people forget is Woodward and Bernstien spent TWO YEARS working on that story. What media organisation in America today would give their reporters such leeway (let alone in teeny New Zealand).

This is one reason Hunter S Thompson got so deranged; he covered an election won by a crook. Although, admittedly, only a few read the deep politics pages and realised this...

Nixon won in '72, Republicans controlled the White House even after he stood down.

Still, Felt deserves praise. He only showed the institutions of democracy can self-correct - albeit they take their time.

Bring on my benevolent dictatorship.

Whatever Felt gets, it should be more than Jonathan Hunt's ONZ...

Posted by Matt : 6/01/2005 09:20:00 PM

Before you get too carried away, read this - http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak/
cst-nws-novak01.html

Wiremu1306

Posted by Anonymous : 6/01/2005 10:16:00 PM

Robert Novak is, in impolite terms, a conservate meat-head.

And by meat, I mean cheap mince, not rib-eye.

He was, if I recall, the distributor of the Valerie Plame leak that outed a CIA agent in order to smear former ambassador Joseph Wilson (Plame's wife), after Wilson said the Iraq-Niger uranium link in Bush's state of the union address was bollocks.

Further, journalists Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller are facing jail-time over the issue of who leaked the Plame link.

Novak, meanwhile, seems to have cut a deal with prosecutors.

Wiremu1306, I normally wouldn't respond to anonymous crap, but I'm drunk, and pissed.

Your parrot is dead. Not asleep. Dead.

Stop parroting powerline.

Posted by Matt : 6/01/2005 10:49:00 PM

Thank you Matt (is that less anonymous than wiremu?) for your erudite contribution. I do so admire you talented blokes who can be both drunk and pissed at the same time. In fact the quote came from the Chicago Tribune, and if you have the attention span I suggest you take a look at some of the major dailies and see what others, in addition to the disreputable Mr. Novak (on that I do agree with you) have to say about the wannabe Deep Throat. I'd take huskynuts advice too, if I were you.

I wish you well for your recovery.

Posted by Anonymous : 6/02/2005 11:38:00 AM

Wiremu. Drunk and pissed is possible combining anger and several standard drinks.

What's really got me going is the odd right-wing nutter (including G Gordon Liddy) saying Felt was "unethical" because he leaked. There's surely the matter of a greater good here.

Sure, Felt had an ulterior motive. Then again, pure altruism rules you out of any position in power. As long as a journalist is aware of these, and doesn't rely on anonymous sources for the whole story (Deep Throad, by my recollection, didn't offer information, only corroberated it).

As for a vast Woodward/CIA/Pentagon/military-industrial complex theory, I'll wait for (corroberated evidence).

Apologies for tone. I need to wean myself off blogs.

As for anonymity, click through the blogger profile link. Nothing to hide here.

Posted by Matt : 6/03/2005 03:08:00 PM