Volume III. No. 39
 06-03-05
 Redefining Watergate For A New Generation
 author: Vance Cureton
 © Copyright 2005
 

 The most famous man to ever lurk in an underground parking garage 
 at 2 AM, now has a name. He is W. Mark Felt. Bob Woodward's mule 
 in the F.B.I. Felt was the mysterious "Deep Throat" who tossed the 
 bread crumbs that Woodward and Bernstein followed such that they 
 could nail the Nixon White House and put an end to the scandal known
 in the history books as "Watergate."

 Young people in school today have no real understanding of Watergate. 
 Like the moon landings, Watergate is the stuff of hastily written term
 papers and faded photographs. A long-ago scandal involving men with 
 strange-sounding names that have no relevance to today. Men who 
 though once important national figures, are now almost all dead, or like 
 W. Mark Felt, all but dead.

 In an age when scandal is defined by home-made porn "accidentally"
 released on the internet, Watergate was genuine. Nixon was as dishonest
 as they come, and tried desperately to subvert a government investigation 
 that was leading directly back to his office. Without the cooperation of 
 W. Mark Felt, Nixon might well have survived the scandal, and the F.B.I. 
 may have been permanently damaged as an independent institution.

 The argument that Felt broke his oath by leaking to Bob Woodward is
 worthy of debate. But this career F.B.I. man, who no doubt, despised the 
 Nixon White House was as equally loathe to see the F.B.I. manipulated 
 the way the Nixon attempted. W. Mark Felt put his country first. His 
 motives may not have been 100% pure but the result is that a man who no 
 longer belonged at the nation's most prestigious address was forced to 
 resign in utter disgrace.

 The mystery of "Deep Throat's" identity has been resolved. Unfortunately,
 the political game over the manner of how W. Mark Felt will be regarded
 by history has just begun. The political right understands only that Nixon 
 belonged to them. Therefore Felt is unworthy and deserves no parade 
 down main street. Defenders of Richard Nixon such as Charles Colson 
 and Patrick  Buchanan are already savaging Felt in the press and on 
 television talk shows. And these men are not alone. How eager is the 
 political right to forgive Nixon's treachery but for another beleagured 
 president such as Bill Clinton they offered no such understanding during 
 his troubles.

 Politics is a cynical game. A dirty game where the truth is always viewed
 through a polarized lens. Deep Throat belonged to another time. It is his 
 misfortune that he waited so late to reveal himself. The country deserved
 to hear from him. To understand his reasoning for talking to a reporter
 and for revealing priviledged government information.

 That will never happen. Felt is frail and weak, and perhaps no longer of 
 a sound mind. And so he must watch without any real understanding 
 of how his heroic acts are now subject to a savage redefining by today's 
 tabloid press and highly politicized cable news networks.

 Deep Throat may never be truly understood until all the players are long
 dead, and the historians who are not yet born can have a second look 
 at his story. Time will have a cleansing effect upon both the lies and the 
 exaggerations. Until then, his true historical legacy must wait patiently, 
 without form like a spectral ghost loitering in a half-lit underground 
 parking garage at 2 AM.
 

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