Jun 4th, 2005 · Categories: Uncategorized · No Comments

Politics: "Deep Throat" unworthy of namesake

The original “Deep Throat” was a notorious porn movie. There’s little good to be said of such trash, but at least its producers were honest about its sleazy character. The same can’t be said for FBI turncoat Mark Felt.

Disclaimer: I had many vices in my youth, a fact I take no pride in. Seeing the movie “Deep Throat” was not one of them.

In 1974, I was a recently-retired 20-something hippie – a bit of a drifter with no family of my own, no property, and no real responsibilities. I still saw the world in simple shades of black and white. I was, of course, a liberal who hated Richard Nixon. As the Watergate story broke – and later, as I read All the President’s Men – I thought the mysterious “Deep Throat” was something of a whistle-blower. But while most whistle-blowers showed courage and conviction, this one was different.

We knew the names of others – Karen Silkwood and Daniel Ellsberg, for example – but not this one. This one hid in darkened parking garages and refused to reveal his identity. This one, it seemed, lacked the courage to take responsibility – or credit – for his actions. This one stayed safe and comfortable, never really risking anything. This one was a mole, an untrustworthy official in a position of high trust.

Over the years I have found myself with a career, a family, a house with a mortgage, and many responsibilities. I have come to see that the pallette of the world is indeed black and white – good and evil, God and Satan – but the details are painted in shades of grey, none wholly white or wholly black. Gone is the easy liberalism of the government giving away other people’s money. Now it is my money and my family’s, given away in fraudulent programs that accomplish little and change nothing.

The Nixon that I despiseed was seriously flawed as a President, but his administration got some things right. He was a man with character, also flawed but who, by most accounts, was loving toward his family and kind to strangers. Woodward and Bernstien weren’t heroes wearing white hats; they were ambitious reporters on a mission that rewarded them handsomely. (And when Woodward’s new “Deep Throat” book is rushed into print in July, his rewards will only increase.)

Mark Felt was no hero, no whistle-blower. He was simply a coward who continued to feed at the trough he lacked the courage to disavow. The movie “Deep Throat” was publicized on the marquees of seedy theaters and, I am told, delivered what it promised. Watergate’s “Deep Throat”, Mark Felt, lurked in the shadows and delivered betrayal.

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