MartiniPundit

Mark Felt’s Real Legacy

I’ve been asked what I think of the “Deep Throat” revelation, and the short answer is, “not much.” So a thirty year old mystery of primary interest to journalists has been solved. It couldn’t have gone on forever in any event, as Woodward and Bernstein would have revealed it eventually. As to the question of whether Mark Felt is a hero or a villain, I suspect in this day and age that line falls pretty much in place with one’s political point of view. I tend towards the view that he was a disappointed bureaucratic lifer who turned on Nixon much the same way Richard Clarke turned on Bush and for much the same reason. Felt was just less public about it, which means he was far more effective in the end.

The real problem was Watergate.

I don’t mean the Nixon Administration. Whatever Watergate was actually about, it was still a minor bit of B&E over politics. Tell me Richard Nixon was the only President ever involved in such things and I’ll laugh. Tell me no Democrat ever did (or has since done) something similar and I’ll assume you shouldn’t be allowed outside without proper supervision. No, Nixon’s real mistake was the coverup - not unlike other examples where the obstruction is worse than the crime itself. By attempting to cover it all up, Nixon painted a big target on himself for his enemies, who were legion. Dick Nixon wasn’t all that likeable to begin with, and in the context of the times: Vietnam, the economy, the 60s, the political atmosphere was already pretty poisoned. In the end, it almost looked easy, bringing down a President. And they felt pretty good about themselves at the time too. The Left and the MSM had gotten rid of Nixon, a man they hated, and at the same time had drunk the heady elixir of fame and power. Or at least imagined they did to the lasting detriment of the nation.

A free press is essential to liberty. But an objective press is equally essential. There is little to choose between a Pravda and an MSM that is ideologically committed to one side. Even worse, is an MSM that sees itself as a branch of the government, with a role to play - at least in its own collective mind - that is Constitutional. It’s not, of course, never was, and never will be. But that’s not how journalists saw themselves after Watergate.

They were the good guys, the white hats. They were the ones who keep an eye on the big, bad wolf of government for all the little people. They all knew that the government was corrupt, and it was only a matter of time before Watergate II occurred. It was no accident that the suffix “gate” began to be applied to various other scandals, real and imagined when Republicans were in office. While the self-appointed guardians of the Republic preened and strutted as they fought the good fight, secretly, each of them wished that when Watergate II came, he or she would be Woodward, or Bernstein, or better yet, both. Instead of Redford and Hoffman, it would be Brosnan and Roberts.

Thus has the media evolved over the last thirty years to become an institution that no longer seeks objective truth and to inform the public. Now the purpose is to oppose the government, and filter information accordingly. Practitioners imbibe the Watergate disease at places like the Columbia School of Journalism, and are kept on the reservation by groupthink and peer pressure. They are the last to see the cracks in the foundation: non-credible anonymous sources, forgeries, ideological blinders. The MSM is not a force for good - it is a force for itself.

This is the true legacy of Mark Felt.

1. outstanding piece.

   Posted by Jay  on  06/01  at  01:01 PM

2. The MSM do not oppose all government.  Only government controlled by conservatives.

   Posted by  on  06/01  at  05:59 PM

3. Yes, fair enough. It’s as if the government ceases to exist for the MSM when Democrats are in office.

   Posted by  on  06/01  at  09:09 PM

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