Patterico's Pontifications

Mark Felt is an American Hero.
Doing the right thing is not always the most popular, but it is still right!
Too bad we don’t have hero’s like that today. Then maybe the murderous war criminal in the white house today could have been stopped and my first husband would be alive watching his children grown up instead of being buried at Arlington!

Margaret (a17dea) — 12/19/2008 @ 5:18 am

You know they are doing wonderful things with mental health care these days. I’m sure the loser dead end Bush bashers think everyone else is nuts though. At least get your meds adjusted. Yes, so many deaths in defense of freedom, even if the numbers pale in comparison to everyday accidental service deaths over the years or cities like LA and Chicago each have more murders every year that troops are murdered by islamofascists who derive hope and support by traitorous leftards. And when we talk about all those service deaths, the same people are ok with over 4000 abortions daily in the US. But of course that’s so different because peaceful women control their own bodies and men are so war-like?
Why don’t you petition the lord with prayer instead of living in rage and kidding yourself? Do moonbats blame FDR for 400,000 deaths in WWII? Or JFK for Vietnam?

madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 12/19/2008 @ 6:02 am

Mark Felt is an American Hero.
Doing the right thing is not always the most popular, but it is still right!

Mark Felt was a toad who was pissed at Nixon for not getting the top FBI job, and so he decided to snitch like a whiney little sister. A number of details that he told the reporters wasn’t exactly accurate, and he did so with the intention of making it sound like Nixon masterminded and ordered the break in.

Felt did what was best for himself. That it ended up exposing a coverup was secondary to his desire for revenge.

Scott Jacobs (90ff96) — 12/19/2008 @ 6:03 am

Felt now has to answer for his perfidy, as we all ultimately will.

Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 7:02 am

Good news. Felt was a scheming, self-serving, duplicitous, son of a bitch. He set out to ruin one of the finest Presidents we ever had. Certainly nothing courageous about what he or any of those other power/money hungry bastards did at that time, including that sanctimonious phony Archibald Cox, and those opportunistic bloated pricks, Bernstein and Woodward. I hope that all of them get in the afterlife exactly what they earned in this life. Secretary Haig, Doctor Kissinger, please give us your views.

Steve from Maryland (28d744) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:12 am

Mark Felt was not a patriot. Gordon Liddy was. Felt was a mole and a lyin’ slimeball. He and his family tried to cash in on his snitchin’. Felt is and was a SCUMBAG douchbag.

Peter Gackle (a8463b) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:37 am

Felt and Linda Lovelace would make a good pair. If he really were such an American hero, why then did he not come out of the closet sooner? No hidden agenda there.

It seems to me that, unlike Bush’s underlings, various Nixon minions actually made an effort to defend the country against various treasonous leftists who were spilling national secrets to the sacred Times.

For an laugh, check out the link at Powerline of the New York Times parody issue of July 4, 2009. George Bush has been indicted for treason and the Harvard School of Business closed in favor of a School of Integrity that will offer advanced degrees in Integrity and Compassion. Yes indeed, the left sure shows integrity and compassion. Pity Bush didn’t take O’s advice and bail on Iraq without any surge. I’m sure you libtard enablers would be only to happy to witness genocide on the order of Pot Pol.

madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 12/19/2008 @ 9:59 am

“Mark Felt is an American Hero.”

Stinking, lowlife traitor is what he was. Naturally, he’s much admired by Democrats, journalists and other trash of that ilk.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 11:11 am

A question for those who consider Felt to be a traitor: do you believe President Nixon broke the law? If so, is the highest responsibility of a government employee not to the law, rather than to the President per se?

I mean, if in six months President Obama were breaking the law, I would expect government officials to call him on it and/or turn him in for it rather than remaining silent out of a sense of loyalty to him.

aphrael (e0cdc9) — 12/19/2008 @ 12:01 pm

Nixon didn’t break the law till the coverup.

Our point is that Felt didn’t do it because of the law, he was motivated by a sense of needing revenge.

Scott Jacobs (a1c284) — 12/19/2008 @ 12:15 pm

“A question for those who consider Felt to be a traitor: do you believe President Nixon broke the law?”

Nixon’s guys didn’t do anything that the Democrats hadn’t been doing for years. Having government agents snoop on people who couldn’t be trusted only became an issue because it was some Republicans who were doing the snooping instead of lib heroes like that pos Roosevelt or Jack Kennedy.

If FDR personally orders tens of thousands of totally innocent American citizens put into concentration camps it’s no big deal, nevermind minor stuff like the neverending snooping that Roosevelt’s agents were doing. However, if Dick Nixon’s henchmen drop a wiretap on a traitor like Danny Ellberg, it’s the crime of the century.

It isn’t what you do that counts, all that counts is who does it.

And, Mark Felt was a stone cold traitor.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 12:27 pm

Nixon’s guys didn’t do anything that the Democrats hadn’t been doing for years.

That’s really not an answer to the question. “He broke the law too” isn’t a defense. 🙂

If FDR personally orders tens of thousands of totally innocent American citizens put into concentration camps it’s no big deal

I wasn’t alive then, so I have no clue how this was addressed at the time, but most people today consider this to have been just dead wrong, regardless of who did it.

Mark Felt was a stone cold traitor.

Again: if you are a government official and your superior officer is breaking the law, doing nothing about it makes you a traitor, at least in my book: a violator of the oath you swore to uphold the Constitution, and a betrayer of the trust the people have placed in you.

Scott has a point when he talks about Felt’s motives undermining his actions; but I have a hard time understanding the notion that Felt’s actions were a betrayal of the country.

aphrael (e0cdc9) — 12/19/2008 @ 12:36 pm

“That’s really not an answer to the question. “He broke the law too” isn’t a defense.”

Snooping on people without a warrant must not be too terrible a crime, because Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy all did it, and no one ever tried to impeach them or put them on trial or anything else.

And, of course, they’re all big heroes to today’s liberals, while Nixon was hounded from office, and is continually vilified, and he’s vilified for doing exactly what the Dems had been doing for decades.

If dropping a wiretap on someone is such a heinous crime, then why aren’t liberals who did it treated as criminals and villains?

Answer: Because they’re liberal Democrats, and they don’t get treated the same as Republicans, no matter what they do.

Roosevelt personally orders tens of thousands of innocent people put into concentration camps, he’s a hero; Nixon’s henchmen snoop on the DNC, Nixon is the greatest villain of the 20th century.

It isn’t what you do…it’s who you are.

And, Mark Felt was a stone cold traitor.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 1:07 pm

Mark Felt was a bastard and a cowardly snitch who did what he did while hiding in the shadows.

He snitched, not because he was a patriot, but because he wanted to ruin Nixon’s Presidency as a way of getting petty and selfish revenge against Nixon for personal grievances that he had against him.

Mark Felt was a black hearted, deceitful, cowardly bastard and I hope he receives the same agony and despair in the afterlife that he caused Nixon in this life.

Greg (f613fd) — 12/19/2008 @ 1:11 pm

“Again: if you are a government official and your superior officer is breaking the law, doing nothing about it makes you a traitor…”

So if an official refused to enforce a law requiring that black people ride in the back of the bus and one of his underlings did nothing about it, that would make the underling a traitor in your eyes, eh?

If you say so.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 1:19 pm

Ann Coulter has another view of Deep Throat.

DRJ (803bba) — 12/19/2008 @ 1:52 pm

From the NYT Obit: While Watergate was seething, Mr. Felt authorized nine illegal break-ins at the homes of friends and relatives of members of the Weather Underground, a violent left-wing splinter group.

Now they tell us.

Apogee (366e8b) — 12/19/2008 @ 2:26 pm

I wasn’t alive then, so I have no clue how this was addressed at the time,

Mostly – and likely to the man – it went something like “Ok you Japs… Get the hell into the truck, and don’t you talk back to these army folks…”

Scott Jacobs (90ff96) — 12/19/2008 @ 2:27 pm

Dave Surls: now that’s an interesting question. If you are a state employee and the law says do [x], and you believe [x] is immoral, is your responsibility to (a) uphold the law, (b) break the law, or (c) find a new line of work?

I’d argue (b) is the least good option: it is clearly violating your sworn duty to the people. There may be ethical reasons why some other duty – to God, say, or to your personal conscience – trumps your sworn duty to the people whom you have promised to serve; but you’ve still betrayed them.

But I’m generally amazed at the reaction on this thread. Felt may have been a black-hearted, cowardly, deceitful bastard. But I don’t understand how he can be described as a traitor. He did not betray his employers, the people of the United States; he betrayed his boss … by helping uncover the fact that his boss was betraying the people.

Yes, his motives were impure. But that doesn’t make him a traitor.

aphrael (e0cdc9) — 12/19/2008 @ 2:41 pm

Felt’s first responsibility was to take his concerns up the chain-of-command, then to Congress, then to resign, and then, and only then, to go to the press.
There was a Democrat dominated House & Senate at the time, they would not have been indifferent to any perceived illegalities going on in the Nixon Administration, such as the illegal wiretapping of the Weather Underground that Felt was prosecuted for by the Carter Administration.

Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 2:54 pm

“In the early 1970s, Felt oversaw a turbulent period in the FBI’s history. The FBI was pursuing radicals in the Weather Underground who had planted bombs at the Capitol, the Pentagon, and the State Department. Felt, along with Edward S. Miller, authorized FBI agents to break into homes secretly in 1972 and 1973, without a search warrant, on nine separate occasions. These kinds of FBI burglaries were known as “black bag jobs.” The break-ins occurred at five addresses in New York and New Jersey, at the homes of relatives and acquaintances of Weather Underground members, and did not lead to the capture of any fugitives. The use of “black bag jobs” by the FBI was declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the Plamondon case, 407 U.S. 297 (1972).”

“After revelation by the Church Committee of the FBI’s illegal activities, many agents were investigated. Felt in 1976 publicly stated he had ordered break-ins and that individual agents were merely obeying orders and should not be punished for it. Felt also stated Gray also authorized the break-ins, but Gray denied this.”–wiki

Felt obviously had no problem with conducting warrantless searches, so the idea that he ratted out his bosses in the executive branch because he had moral or legal qualms about what they were doing is obviously hooey.

It also seems obvious that Felt set the whole thing up so that the Weathermen could never be prosecuted, and he was clever enough about setting it up, that he was able to avoid doing any jail time himself, while the guys he betrayed, like G. Gordon Liddy went to prison for doing the same thing that Felt admitted he ordered his agents to do.

Smart boy…and a traitor of the first water.

At least that’s sure what it looks like.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 2:57 pm

For those of us alive through the 2 year hell of Watergate, chants of ‘Dick Nixon before he dicks you…’ and ‘Impeach with honor…’ echo from the past.

Ultimately, Felt was a hero for his part in bringing down the Imperial Presidency of Richard Nixon. Bottom line is, if Nixon hadn’t done the crime, he’d not done the time in political purgatory and given up his gig at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Felt didn’t make him do it.

Republicans will cheer. Deep Throat is silenced for good.

DCSCA (d8da01) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:02 pm

Felt doesn’t deserve much praise and probably had very little to do with helping Woodward break this story, but DCSCA is quite right that Nixon had only himself to blame for this scandal.

Yeah, other people also did similar bad things.

Juan (4cdfb7) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:06 pm

It’s never the crime, but the cover – up that gets you in the end. I hope that Obama has learned this lesson well – Clinton sure as hell didn’t.

Dmac (e30284) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:26 pm

Ultimately, Felt was a hero for his part in bringing down the Imperial Presidency of Richard Nixon.

It figures that you would so praise a man guilty of such hypocracy…

Scott Jacobs (90ff96) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:34 pm

the Imperial Presidency of Richard Nixon.

So, talk to me about Vietnam… Who’s responsible for Vietnam, eh?

Scott Jacobs (90ff96) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:46 pm

“Yeah, other people also did similar bad things.”

Ain’t it the truth?

“On October 10, 1963, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy committed what is widely viewed as one of the most ignominious acts in modern American history: he authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation to begin wiretapping the telephones of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.”–The Atlantic

Of course, the great thing about being a liberal Democrat is that you can do everything that Dick Nixon did (and a whole lot more), and not only will you not get ratted out, you’ll also not get hounded from office…and you’ll forever be a hero in the eyes of the liberals and in the eyes of the brainwashed jackasses who make up the bulk of America’s population.

Nixon = villain

Bobby Kennedy = hero.

What a total joke.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:54 pm

“but DCSCA is quite right that Nixon had only himself to blame for this scandal.”

I don’t mean to be nasty (honest), but that is total fucking bullshit.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:56 pm

Dave, I don’t mind the language or tone at all. I do mind the lack of justification for your POV.

Nixon went too far. If Obama does the same I will go apeshit. Kennedy indeed was worse and got away with it because the press loved him. That doesn’t make Nixon’s actions OK.

Juan (4cdfb7) — 12/19/2008 @ 3:59 pm

Ah, but “we must understand the milieu” that these men operated in, or at least that was the BS I always heard from the Social-Anthropology majors who were expert at spouting same out their pie-holes.
The “black-bag jobs” were SOP as long as they were being done by the Left, but were criminal as soon as their opponent did them.
As a reminder, the name Tricky-Dick was hung on Nixon by one Dick Tuck, who was a notorious political (D) trickster of the 40’s & 50’s.

Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 4:09 pm

This DCSCA person writes:

“…Republicans will cheer. Deep Throat is silenced for good….”

Yet I can promise that he/she/it would scream bloody murder if I was to say that all Democrats cheered Bill Clinton’s sexual harassment of an employee.

You see, I know that there are Democrats who reviled Clinton for his actions. And their are Republicans who were pleased to see Nixon go.

Though I do find it ironic how Bobby Kennedy’s actions got a pass from the Left, as Dave Surls points out.

You see it is always different when it is your guy or gal being accused.

Eric Blair (e906af) — 12/19/2008 @ 4:15 pm

Say, does anyone know the original of the term “Lyndon Lightning“? Nothing new under the sun…

Eric Blair (e906af) — 12/19/2008 @ 4:16 pm

“Dave, I don’t mind the language or tone at all.”

Good, because I didn’t want you to think I was jumping on you personally. That opinion just drives me nuts.

“I do mind the lack of justification for your POV.”

Well, basically it boils down to when we’re fighting a war, I WANT the government to keep tabs on people who can’t be trusted or who are trying to sabotage the war effort.

In WWII, the Roosevelt administration put taps on ALL overseas telecommunications, telephone, telegraph, you name it; they also opened mail going overseas, and censored it if they didn’t like what it said…and they didn’t get warrants to do it.

I’m totally fine with that.

And, if they can do that, then Nixon and/or his guys can damn sure snoop on traitors like Daniel Ellsberg or the dickheads in the Democrat Party (who wouldn’t know what loyalty to country was if it jumped up and bit them on the ass…they ought to ALWAYS be spied on…especially since they’ve never hesitated to spy on anyone they didn’t trust).

As far as I’m concerned, Roosevelt and his guys were right to do what they did (as regards snooping…not as regards carting innocent people off to jail), and so were Nixon and/or his guys.

That, and the other things I’ve said are about as much justification as I can manage.

Dave Surls (a39580) — 12/19/2008 @ 5:59 pm

Dave Surls –

I think there’s a big difference between Roosevelt snooping during wartime and Nixon snooping on the political opposition’s election plans.

I agree with you that it’s maddening that Democrats ignore actions of their own that they go apeshit over when Republicans are caught doing the same practices.

That’s why I’m not a Democrat. What we have is a decidedly less than 50% portion of the population that is simultaneously hypocritical and brain dead. They never have, nor will they in the future ever understand why the preservation of a system that allows them to enjoy life and experience progress is superior to one that brings destruction and misery. Their brains simply don’t work.

Just don’t ask me to act like them or think like them.

Apogee (366e8b) — 12/19/2008 @ 6:28 pm

Heck, who was the Senator from Montana who had the great line?

Okay, it was Alan Simpson of Wyoming.

“We have two political parties in this country, the Stupid Party and the Evil Party. I belong to the Stupid Party.”

Here is a nice article from a different time:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/05/12/column.shields.opinion.stupid/

Eric Blair (e906af) — 12/19/2008 @ 6:47 pm

Comment by Eric Blair — 12/19/2008 @ 6:47 pm
I wonder if Mark Shields has written a follow-up to that column in light of the non-public financing scheme used by Obama in this election?

Plus, I too liked the sardonic wit of the good Senator from Wyoming.

Another Drew (efe318) — 12/19/2008 @ 7:19 pm

If Nixon had appointed Mark Felt as head of the FBI, Watergate would never have amounted to much.

I guess it’s ironic that Nixon was brought low by such a petty man. That such pettiness is considered heroism by Democrats shouldn’t be surprising,

Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 12/19/2008 @ 8:02 pm

#25- Walter Cronkite helped bring down Lyndon Johnson. There. Happy now?

DCSCA (d8da01) — 12/19/2008 @ 8:16 pm

Felt certainly was a coward. He hid from the public all his life because he was afraid to lose his pension. He not only betrayed Nixon, but he betrayed Woodward and What’s-his-name by reneging on his promise to them that they would “break the story”… his rotten-ass greedy daughter trotted that old bastard out and got the money for the story. No surprise there is there?

Peter Gackle (a8463b) — 12/21/2008 @ 6:57 pm

12/19/2008

Deep Throat Dies

39 Responses to “Deep Throat Dies”

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