He Ain't No Hero

It was hot in the mess hall. The spring on the door made that peculiar stretching sound and the door slammed shut. The low murmur of voices drowned out the sound on the black and white TV. We were at Boy Scout Camp. It was 1974, and I was 12 years old. In an unprecedented move, the Camp had brought in a TV and we had gathered to watch the unfolding events. I did not really want to go up to the mess hall to watch the TV, I really did not care. The Assistant Scoutmaster told me I really should go, history was in the making. I did not want to, but he was always right in the past with his advise. He was my Dad. I watched Nixon resign that day.

Since that time I have studied Watergate in detail. Read Liddy's updated version of WILL. I am more and more convinced Dean planned the idiotic break in. What happened at Watergate is not the issue. The recent revelations as to the identity of Deep Throat is.

You see, the reporters at the Post did not break open the story as popular myth would have us believe. They reported only what the Justice Department was investigating. As with most criminal investigations, the details were not for public consumption.

Mark Felt, the number 2 guy at the FBI, turned over and leaked information to the Post. Today some call him a hero, a whistleblower. I call him a rat fink bastard stoolie. The guy was only interested in getting back at Nixon for passing him over for the top FBI spot. He knew he was a lying rat bastard or he would have come forward before. If he really wanted to expose "corruption at the highest levels" he would have gone to the Justice Department. If he had new evidence he should have gone to his fellow law enforcement officers. Instead he leaked internal information to get even with his boss because he did not get the promotion he wanted. In the end there is no difference between his actions and those of Linda Tripp, except Tripp had the guts to stand up in public.

Nixon was a crook. The Watergate stuff was idiotic. Felt was a small minded, bitter, cockroach hiding from the light, rat who turned on his boss. Hero, my ass. All he did was prove that Nixon made at least one good decision when he did not name him to the top post at the FBI. The man was unfit to lead a law enforcement agency and he proved it.