Disclaimer: Your definition of “deep thought” may differ
from that of the Editor’s, at least for the purposes of this post.
Trillions of pixels and tankersful of ink have analyzed the Deep Throat story
since last week’s decloaking of Mark Felt. While it’s still in the news cycle, I
thought I would make a few of my own idiosyncratic observations.
singing since morning
skylark, your throat
is parched
ISSA
Bob Ambrogi has explained how Deep Throat’s contribution to the investigative
reporting of Woodward & Bernstein helped (in a rather roundabout way, by
filling up journalism schools) to spur him on to law school — which, then, helped
bring Bob back to his first love of journalism. I had just finished college when
the Watergate scandal began to unfold. Although I had always read newspapers
every day (and delivered them for 5 years as a kid), the reporting that Deep Throat
facilitated had me rushing to the door the first thing every morning to read the Wash-
ington Post. [I had gone to college in Washington, D.C., and was living and working
there after graduation.] The Vietnam War had turned me into a skeptic about getting
the truth from the White House, and I disliked Nixon greatly, so the scent of his blood
was exciting. I decided to go to law school in 1972, during the Nixon dramas, but the
decision had more to do with wanting to prepare myself for an interesting career than
with Watergate. What Deep Throat helped instill in me, though, is a very healthy
distrust for what we’re told by politicians, along with a belief that good people in
Government can make a difference by standing up against corruption.
It was kind of cool, I must admit, that my first job out of
law school was located in the famous, but[t] ugly, Watergate
Building.
FBI official, giving information to the Washington Post rather than to investigators in
the prosecutorial chain of command. John Steele has a good sampling of links to
materials dealing with various perspectives on the ethical issues. I can’t possibly
know Mark Felt’s motives, but I would not be the least bit surprised to find out
Felt sincerely (and correctly) believed that sending his information up the chain of
command would have been futile (and fatal for his career), while causing him to be
either fired or blocked off from addition information on this story.
mountain shade–
deep in a thicket
a kite
ISSA
I agree with two observations of Micheal Getler, the Ombudsman of the Washington
Post (June 5, 2005, free reg. req’d)
“Felt’s story reaffirms the ability of smart and dogged reporters, courageous
editors and owners, and truly informed yet anonymous sources to help get
information before the public that is vital to a democracy’s functioning.” . . .
“[M]uch undoubtedly remains to be written about exactly what motivated
Felt to confide in Woodward. Ultimately, it was not The Post, but the FBI,
a Congress acting in bipartisan fashion and the courts that brought down the
Nixon administration. They saw Watergate and the attempt to cover it up
as a vast abuse of power and attempted corruption of U.S. institutions. But
without that early Post reporting, based frequently on Felt’s guidance, the
linkages from Watergate to the White House might never have been fully
unraveled. So Felt turned out to be the most important — albeit anonymous —
whistle-blower in modern American political history.”
We don’t usually inquire deeply into the motives of people we decide to call patriots
or heroes. We look at the risk taken and results. I am grateful to Mark Felt for his
role in bringing about the fall of the Nixon Administration, and its lessons for any
future Presidents who care to read a little history and reflect humbly upon it.
half of it showing
in the deep grass…
peony
ISSA
by making the revelations before his death. Stephen Amidon made some very
good points in an op/ed piece, in yesterday’s Washington Post (“Deeper Meanings:
It’s All Relative: Telling a Family Secret Can Be Treacherous,” June 5, 2005, reg req’d).
“Until Tuesday, perhaps the only aspect of his role as Deep Throat
that gave the old G-man peace was the knowledge that his brethren
would not know he had broken their trust until after he was gone.” . .
“We can only speculate now, since it is clear that the one person who
can tell us for certain how Mark Felt feels no longer speaks for himself.
. . . Will the family be closer than when they werekeepers of his deepest
secret, and perhaps his deepest shame? Or has Joan Felt instead
opened a Pandora’s box that will create fissures in her family? The
greater risk is that, like some modern-day Cordelia, her frankness
may make her father’s last days as troubled as Lear’s.”
Last Wednesday, on the PBS News Hours, Gwen Ifill moderated a
segment on “Deep Throat Reflections” (June 1, 2005). Gwen had her hands
full trying to keep the guests on topic — analyzing the role of Deep Throat and
Watergate in “shaping our government, our politics, and our journalism”. In
addition to historian Ellen Fitzpatrick, panel members included Herbert Klein,
who served as communications director for President Richard Nixon from 1969
to 1973, and is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Goucher
College president Sanford Ungar.
After saying that thought Deep Throat’s leaks were “a bad thing,” Klein injects
the following issue:
“I think another thing, too — we talked about is the word “Deep
Throat” was added to the fact when they wrote a book, when they
used it for the movie. I wonder if people would really be as excited
about it if (Bob) Woodward and (Carl) Bernstein had not attached
that sexy term ‘Deep Throat.’ ”
That detour appeared to fluster Ifill, who replied: “I’m not sure all these years later
anyone knows what’s sexy about that term, but let me ask you another question to
follow on that. . . .” Shortly thereafter, Ungar says, “This is perhaps the most famous
as Herb Klein points out, the most cleverly named anonymous source.”
I figured that most of the News Hour’s regular viewers are of an age where they
would remember “what’s sexy” about the term Deep Throat. However, I was happy
to see that the main stream media, along with weblogdom, were ready to fill in the
gaps for the innocent and ignorant among us. If you’re still in the dark, see the article
by the Associated Press movie critic, David Germain, which explains that “Before it
became the moniker of journalism’s most famous anonymous source, “Deep Throat”
was the first hard-core pornographic experience for mainstream moviegoers.” (Chicago
Tribune, “Deep Throat Film Lent Its Name to Source,” June 2, 20005) Germain also
outlines the plot and tells how word of mouth made a sleazy porno film into a big cinema
hit.
Recollecting the movie phenomenon (I’ve never seen it), reminded me that its female
protagonist, Linda Lovelace, is considered by many to be the most famous porn star
of all time. Unfortunately, the R-rated Deep Throat Part II (1974) and the soft-X
Linda Lovelace for President (1975) were box-office flops that brought her stardom
to a halt. However — and here’s the socially-redeeming part of the story — a large
part of Linda Lovelace’s fame comes from her later denunciation of the porn industry.
See her autobiography Ordeal (1980), and a follow-up feminist tome called Out of Bondage
(which even has an introduction by Gloria Steinam). Publishers’ Weekly had this to say
in a review of Out of Bondage:
“She lectures at colleges on degradations suffered by women as sex
objects. She appeared before a Senate subcommittee to testify against
the right of porn purveyors to First Amendment protection. Lovelace’s
evidence should engage civilized people in the fight against businesses
that exploit women and children.”
I was suprised to see that Linda Lovelace, nee Linda Boreman, was born the same year
as I (1949) — who thinks of porn starlets as old? Then, I was sorry to learn that she died
in a car accident in 2002. I sure hope the Felt Children get book deals that are even
better than Linda Lovelace got, and that they speak frankly of motives and choices.
one mosquito
flies down my throat
buzzing
update (June 7, 2005): Evan at The Legal Underground is pleased to
see that we’re talking about Watergate again. It’s fun (and important).
Meanwhile, I’m a bit queasy over the attitudes displayed by high school
juniors in Maryland in this Baltimore Sun article. It seems the public just
doesn’t need to know about corruption in government. Woe is me. Woe
to the Republic.
June 6, 2005
Deep Thought
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the old man’s wink
Everyone’s talking about marijuana and abuse of federal power today, with the release of the Raich decision. For a fun treatment of both topics during the Nixon Whitehouse years, and a tie-in to my about-to-be-written post on Deep Throat, see the 1999 flick “Dick,” with Kirsten Dunst (at 17) playing one of a pair of innocent high schoolers who befriend the Trickster.
Meanwhile, predators, risk-takers and thoughtful Americans should
enjoy a trio of small poems from Honored Guest Randy Brooks:
horsefly kicking
in the pond water . . .
a bubble from below
our teenagers
on the whitewater raft . . .
I let go of the rope
bingo boards empty–
another widow intercepts
the old man’s wink
“schoolBrooks” Randy Brooks from School’s Out (Press Here, 1999)
by dagosan
violent thunderstorms
arrive — backing up
my harddrive
[June 6, 2005]
potluck
some great pointers. I’m especially glad to have discovered
Greatest American Lawyer‘s recent provocative post on
lawyer advertising. There are some good Comments, along
with a short ethicalEsq sermon.
JurisPundit was nice enough to point to my mention of
LPOP sua sponte. I wish I had remembered to “nominate”
my pieces last week counsellor or mercenary?, as well as
around awhile, numbering the weekly editions is not as helpful
as including the date. In the alternative, you might consider:
Blawg Review Vol. I, No. X. (2005).
Dean would stop name-calling and start sounding a lot more like
a mature adult who has worthwhile ideas. I’m sure Prof. B concurs.
Comments Off on the old man’s wink