Mark Felt (a.k.a. Deep Throat), 1913-2008. R.I.P.

W. Mark Felt, at one time the Associate Director of the FBI, died yesterday in a hospice in Santa Clara, California. He was 95.

However, Felt became best known to the American public only three years ago as the man who was "Deep Throat", the source that provided inside information to Bob Woodward that ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal.

I recall that Ben Stein, who was a speechwriter for Nixon, was incensed. He wrote an article in The American Spectator after the revelation and laid blame for the fall of Saigon, the rise of the Khmer Rouge in neighboring Cambodia and subsequent slaughter of millions at the feet of Felt. (http://spectator.org/archive/2005/06/01/deep/throat/and/genocide).

Frankly, it's a stretch. Of course, at one point it was speculated that Stein was Deep Throat. Not only did Stein deny he was Deep Throat he denied there was a Deep Throat at all and claimed Woodward falsified information.

Was Mark Felt an American hero? If Nixon had appointed Felt to take over the FBI after J. Edgar Hoover's death would we know the names Woodward and Bernstein? Probably not. Felt acted for self serving reasons. But we all act for self serving reasons. When you take down a big criminal you usually need a bunch of little criminals to help.

One can only wonder what Felt thought about Obama's association with Bill Ayers. Felt investigated the Weather Underground in the early 1970's and on several occasions authorized break ins without warrants in an effort to find WU fugitives like Ayers. Unfortunately, these efforts bore no fruit and Felt would eventually be charged with conspiracy to violate the Constitutional rights. He was convicted for this in November 1980 and fined $5,000. Interestingly, several former Attorney Generals including Ramsey Clark (who has defended the likes of Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic while calling for Bush's impeachment) testified warrantless searches for national security purposes were not illegal. While Felt was awaiting his appeal, President Reagan pardoned Felt in March 1981.

I wonder if Ben Stein believes that Mark Felt's failure to capture the Weather Underground fugitives in the early 1970s set the stage for the election of Barack Obama in 2008.