From the BBC
A former deputy chief of the FBI has reportedly admitted to being “Deep Throat”, the source who leaked secrets during the Watergate scandal.
Vanity Fair magazine says that Mark Felt owned up to being the source whose identity has been secret for decades.
The scandal forced the resignation of US President Richard Nixon.
Former Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, who had secret meetings with “Deep Throat” during the affair, did not confirm the claim.
Mr Felt, now 91, told Vanity Fair: “I’m the guy they used to call Deep Throat.”
The name derived from a famous pornographic film of the time.
Felt has previously denied being “Deep Throat,” but for years several investigators into the Deep Throat mystery have speculated that the former Assistant FBI Director’s anger with Nixon for passing him over for the FBI Director job could have fueled his willingness to leak information to Woodward.
Which, that same kinda thing happened between Walter Skinner and Fox Mulder, now that I think about it.
Eerie.
More here, here, here, and here. See also: Wizbang, Captain Ed, Volokh, John Cole, Rexblog, Attaturk, Echidne, Right Wing Nuthouse, Scared Monkeys, divine angst, and Jeremy Gilby
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update: CONFIRMED!
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update 2: More, from Ed Driscoll:
You could make the case that unlike Richard Nixon (who as Chris Matthews once said, spent the rest of his life rebuilding his image and reworking it into that of an elder statesman in anticipation of his death, with arguable degrees of success), and the Republicans (who spent four years in the wilderness only to reemerge triumphantly with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980), the press has never recovered from Watergate. The same impulses that drove Woodward and Bernstein and the Post to bring down the hated Nixon and cause America to abandon Vietnam have been amped-up exponentially in their war against President Bush and America’s war on terror–but with disastrous results for the media: circulation has fallen dramatically in recent years, the Blogosphere is running rings around them, and any shred of the appearance of neutrality or objectivity ended by the time the presidential election was over in November.
That’s obviously not the lesson that the media takes from Watergate of course, but it’s worth noting that critics such as Epstein were trying to point out the media’s hubris even as early as 30 years ago.
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update 3: Along the same lines as Ed’s post, here’s a nice piece from Joe Katzman (h/t Apologist)
He was named after the film? Damn, I thought he came before the film. That’s usually how it is with porn titles anways right? And if he was named after the film, that’s pretty wild, because the way one goes about getting named after a porn flick must be, well, very similar in nature. Could one conclude that since he was named after the film, that he was a cock gobbler. yes no?
Funny, I had read previously (it may have been PW) that it was believed that Deep Throat had been an amalgamation of sources created to add drama to the book. Doesn’t DT indicate when he wants to meet by placing a marker on a certain page of the NY Times?
So, he would have to get by Bernstein’s doorman at around 5:30am, rifle throught the tentants papers to find the right one, then flip through to mark the correct page and replace it in the stack, all without being noticed?
Sounds like bad fiction to me.
I still say it’s Rehnquist. Even if this Felt guy cops to it, Woodward confirms it and somebody comes up with incontrovertible photographic evidence circa 1973 of Felt with a T-shirt that says “I’M DEEP THROAT – DON’T TELL ANYONE.”
It’s just cooler that it’s Rehnquist.
Am I the only one who has no enthusiasm for, or interest in this story? Wait a minute…I’m posting a comment on a blog entry about just that thing. Never mind me then. Discuss amongst yourselves.
I don’t give a rat’s ass either.
You know, I never did trust that Lovelace bitch. But man could she ever suck a mean dick…
Good thing this went down in the 70s. Post-Clinton the source would have been named something less discrete.
Barely Legal Cum Guzzlers 6: Follow the money.
Bob Woodward: What do you mean? Where?
Barely Legal Cum Guzzlers 6: Oh, I can’t tell you that.
Bob Woodward: But you could tell me that.
Barely Legal Cum Guzzlers 6: No, I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I’ll confirm. I’ll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that’s all. Just… follow the money.
Jeff, go read this at Winds of Change. It ties nicely with Ed’s thoughts.
Thanks!
This is really, really furtile ground for conspiracy Theories. Think about it. Hoover dies, Your the second highest ranking in FBI. You expect to be appointed the new head of FBI. In early June, Nixon appointes an outsider to head the FBI. Days later the bugs at the DNC stop working (wink,wink). Require them to be replaced. Then a security guard of a complex, that has been broken into on regular basis by creep, suddenly finds tape on basement door. Don’t ask why burglers already in the building needed to have tape to keep the door open, or even why they replaced the tape after the guard removed it in the first place. They obviously could open the door. Months later Woodward and Bernstein start their series of articles about Watergate. That conveniently got rid of the new acting head of the FBI. But Like Agent Felt’s other plans,they only worked when he actually held their hands and led them to the evidence, it fell flat again with the appointing of another outsider.
This C.T. took me about 10 minutes of research to put it together . The key to any good C.T. is to Keep It Simple.
Oh coarse the MSM wont touch it. Why? Not because it would make Nixon look any better. Because it expose their shining moment of Glory. They were just tools in a power struggle.
Alien Grey –
Jeez. If that theory is true, Deep Throat turned out to be a real cocksucker.
Just spent another moment of research. Read Nixon Biographer editorial. Nixon discounted anybody at FBI and Justice being D.T. ,because DT knew about 18 minutes missing from a tape. Geeeeze
Could anybody think of how Felt knew about the tape. Hello is this Mic on ?
If given a chance would it beyond belief that J Edger Hoover had parts of the White House bugged ? and his number 2 would know about it ?
Have Woodward and Bernstein figure this out too ? If so when ? Would this explain their reluntance to confirmed Felt story ?
Scary want 13 minutes of reading can lead you.