The Left Creates An Unworthy Hero

The liberal press is all ga-ga over Mark Felt and the revelation that he was the mysterious "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame. And yet, had Felt or anyone else in a high law enforcement position revealed confidential information about a Democrat, he would have been reviled and probably prosecuted. Because the subject of the leaks was the much-reviled (by the left) Richard Nixon, Felt is being given a pass by the press for conduct that could have put him in jail. Without question the press is once again demonstrating a double standard.

Just look at Linda Tripp. She was not in a high law enforcement position, but the information she brought forth led to the eventual impeachment of a Democratic icon, Bill Clinton. How did the liberal press treat her? Do you see any resemblance to the adulation accorded Felt? Not hardly. The press did their best to destroy Tripp.

And how do you think the press will react should someone in a high government position spill the beans that crushes a Democratic hopeful in 2008? Will they declare them heroes for violating their oath in an effort to stop corruption? I doubt it.

Thomas Lifson addresses this issue in a commentary on RealClearPolitics.com:

Mark Felt used confidential law enforcement data, the product of an ongoing criminal investigation, to get Richard Nixon out of office. Ever since he rose to national prominence fighting hidden domestic Communists like Alger Hiss, Richard Nixon was anathema to the liberals. Getting Nixon out of office was such a priority that maybe all sins can be forgiven. But there is the little matter of precedent.

Felt is being hailed by liberals as a Hero of Our Time because he actually drove Nixon from office with his abuse of his high position in law enforcement. Can you imagine the reactions these same folk would have had if someone in law enforcement or the Secret Service had leaked information about Bill Clinton during the period when he was being impeached and tried?

For the moment, liberals cannot help themselves. Nixon’s resignation was the absolute high point of liberal self-congratulatory righteousness in the last half century. Like paunchy, bald former frat boys at a thirtieth reunion remembering beer blasts and comely coeds, those days are surrounded by the glow treasured memories assume when current circumstances are less favorable. “Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end.”

But they have ended. The last Democrat to win a convincing majority of the popular vote for President was Jimmy Carter, who rode into office in the wake of Watergate. The Democrats have spent more than a decade without a majority in the House, and are not positioned to get a Senate majority in the foreseeable future. The red states are growing in population and electoral clout, while the blues have the population and economic blues.

In this environment, do the liberals really want to celebrate a man whose career was built in the shadow of J. Edgar Hoover? A man who took the opportunity to use confidential law enforcement data to get revenge on an elected official by whom he felt slighted?

I don’t think there will be many statues of Mark Felt. Once they get over their nostalgia bash, I think the liberals are going to sober up and realize that they tactics they now celebrate could be used against them. At least I hope so.

I have a friend who was a Secret Service agent on the campaign trail with Clinton in 1992. He's never revealed what he saw during that campaign, but shortly after Clinton took office, he retired. He'd seen enough that he knew he couldn't work for the guy. Could he have violated his oath and leaked information that would have been damaging to Clinton? Probably, but he chose to take the honorable way out instead.

Felt didn't do that.