THE GREAT WHITE BEAR

You have probably noticed the paucity of posts emanating from the great white one this week. He was (is) a bit under the weather. However, he couldn't let the week go by without commenting on the outing of that mysterious character of Watergate fame, Deep Throat.

If you've seen the movie ALL THE PRESIDENTS MEN (and if you haven't, you must rent it), you remember Hal Holbrooke as Deep Throat, standing in the shadows, breathily telling Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) to "follow the money", which Woodward and Bernstein did, straight to a Pulitzer prize. Their articles in the Washington Post forced Richard Nixon to resign, and saved the Union from a president bent on running roughshod over the legislature and the Constitution.

Now the Nixon loyalists and right wing jackals are all over the news trashing W. Mark Feld, then the #2 man at the FBI, as a traitor. Pat Buchanan, Bill Sapphire, G. Gordon Liddy, Charles Colson, all have had plenty to say about Feld's role as Deep Throat. Notice however, that none of these "gentlemen" has ever apologized for there participation in or support of the greatest act of executive malfeasance in the history of the Union.

Make no mistake, W. Mark Feld was a hero. Nixon had appointed one of his close political insiders (and protege of Attorney General John Mitchell), L. Patrick Grey, as FBI director. It was clearly an attempt to manage the FBI investigation from inside the Oval office. Had Feld attempted to take his case to a grand jury (as Mr. Liddy has suggested), his career, and possibly his life, would have been in serious jeopardy. And L. Patrick Grey would certainly have found a way to quash the investigation. By telling Woodward and Bernstein when they were on the right track, Feld not only brought a group of villains to justice, but saved the Union from the precedents of a rogue presidency (well, till now, anyhow).

The saddest legacy of Watergate isn't that picture of Nixon waving good bye as he stepped on Air Force 1 for the last time, on his way to a long exile on San Clemente island. It is the damage it did to the political landscape and, oddly the press. Within five years, most of the moderate wing of the Republican party was gone. Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald Ford and congressional and senatorial factions they led virtually disappeared. Those left to rebuild the party were radical right wing ideologues, so far from the political mainstream that even Barry Goldwater would have little to do with them. It is these guys who now rule the country.

And the press has been saddled (encouraged by the afore mentioned demagogues), with "Kill The Messenger Syndrome", in which the press gets blamed for bad news, rather than those actually responsible for the bad news. Any time you hear someone bitch about "the liberal media", think "kill the messenger". Gives it a different perspective, doesn't it?

I would encourage all, especially anyone too young to really understand the scandal, to rent ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, and watch Hoffman and Redford as Bernstein and Woodward. It will give you a new perspective on one of the most important events in American history!