Deep Throat Redux

Interesting article by Armstrong Williams (yep, that Armstrong Williams) on Mark Felt and Frank Willis. Frank Willis for those who do not know was the security guard who discovered the Watergate Break-in, and didn't get much for his efforts.

After the scandal broke, Willis resigned from his security guard position. He had difficulty finding work after that. Most institutions feared the government would cut their funds if they hired him. In 1990, Willis returned to South Carolina to care for his sick mother. They lived together off her $450 a month Social Security check. When she died in 1992, Willis was too poor to pay for a funeral, and had to donate her body to science. Willis spent the next 10 years living in obscurity. On September 27, 2000, the man whose phone call changed history, died penniless.

I'm not sure why Williams chooses to repeat Willis's story, but it's probably good to remember.

William's overall argument is that Felt is unworthy of our praise. If he was unhappy with what was going on he should have gone public rather than doing his work through Bernstein and Woodward. Standard conservative text (he even quotes Pat Buchanan, although not the bit where Buchanan calls Felt a traitor who's actions led directly to the Khmer Rouge.

It's important that the right wing destroy Felt and erase the significance of Watergate from our minds. Why? Because Watergate was on of the triumphs of journalism, and the right wing isn't a big fan of journalism. They want adversarial journalism when their political enemies are in power, and celebratory journalism when they are in power. And, right now, they are in power.

So a return to the spirited journalism that uncovered Watergate, well, you can understand why they might not be so keen on that.