OK, so I'm a journalist, so I think I should blog on this whole Throat thing (I'm not fond of the nickname the guy had, so I'm not using the full thing).
Nixon was corrupt. Agreed.
He should have been ousted. Sure.
The No. 2 guy at the FBI held information, so he should have shared it. Right.
He violated FBI rules and possibly the law. Yeah.
But the ends justify the means, don't they? ... uh. No.
This was the big glory moment for journalism, especially "investigative" journalism. Turns out Woodward and Bernstein were just taking dictation from a guy at the FBI. Who now is a hero, right?
"The ends justify the means" masks some of the particulars of this case. W. Mark Felt was apparently in line to become the big guy at the FBI when J. Edgar Hoover died. But Nixon didn't install him, he installed a White House crony, L. Patrick Gray (what's with all these guys with initials for first names?!?!). So Felt was angry and he gave info that undermined Nixon.
Thirty-some years later, Felt's daughter needs money to retire debt, so she persuades an addled Felt to go public. She has dollar signs in her eyes ... take a look at the video and tell me otherwise.
So there you have it: Revenge and greed are the two top motivating factors for the information leak and the reveal. Wasn't that what Nixon was being accused of, too?
The FBI has had information on presidents for years and years. Should they have unveiled it? What would've been gained had FDR's mistress had been presented? Or Truman's? Kennedy not only had a mistress (he had many, actually), but one of the most notorious was the girlfriend of a mobster. Wonder how that compromised him. And of course, our previous president had quite a problem with fidelity.
It wasn't all about sex. Johnson shuffled cash around (like Nixon) to keep people quiet.
So why didn't somebody at the FBI tell about any of that information? And if they did, to what end?
Would the ends have justified the means?
-Zube.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Oh, a true journalist you are. You know how nice it is for big news stories to break and I get to be just a reader? I LOVE it.
You get to be "just a reader?"
I'm jealous!
You like that? O feel band when I can't be around the paper for the big stories. I was sick as a dog after election day and felt guilty about it!
By the way, Hi Ann!
Hi ya Ralph! I saw your link on Stef's blog. Check out my blog when you get a chance.
Yes, believe it or not but I do like being just a reader. It is nice when the pope dies and I don't have to worry about being called into work. Never have to avoid the phone--well, unless you don't want to talk to the friend who is calling. :)
Post a Comment