'Deep Throat' Family May Cash in on Fame

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050601/ap_on_re_us/deep_throat_family_1;_ylt=AuSR5zaQOXJS37JipjHLKqQErUwB;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

SAN FRANCISCO - The family of W. Mark Felt, the former FBI official whose alter ego as Deep Throat has been revealed, appears ready to cash in on his newfound fame.


And if money is what they want, Felt's family stands to reap a huge financial windfall, according to literary agents, who estimated Wednesday that a book deal could be worth up to $1 million.

"That is assuming he has a compelling story to tell," said Glen Hartley, president of Writer's Representatives LLC, based out of New York. "A book could easily be valued in the six figures."

As news broke that Felt was indeed the secret source who guided two young Washington Post reporters as they uncovered the Watergate scandal, Felt's family offered to sell family photographs — the first in an apparent flood of money-making opportunities.

[rzemanfl]

1. I think they should sell T-shirts with Deep's picture and the words

"Somebody like me could out your lying ass any day of the week (George) (Dick) (Condi) (Rummy)"

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. Apparently, it was the daughter's idea

She's the one, according to the VF article, who wants to make some money, claiming it would "help with the bills."

It seems that the author of that article, Felt's lawyer, tried to shop a book deal for a year after the initial approach to Vanity Fair, but there were no takers. The Felt family wanted VF to pay them for their article, but VF declined. After the year of no publishing bids, they went back and now the article - unpurchased - is in Vanity Fair.

There's a wild family history there that, so far, hasn't been mentioned. Now that old Mark Felt, the man who really hadn't much use for such things as the right to privacy or the Fourth Amendment, is senile, the final irony is that his personal privacy will now be sold to the highest bidder.

He's real scum, that guy.

[Gormy Cuss]

3. So here's the motive, finally.

Greedy offspring. One would think if the deal had been 'shopped' for a year and even VF wouldn't pay the family, the Felts would figure out that there isn't a fortune for their story at least not without Woodward producing his book first. Woodward after all has the documents.

[puddycat]

4. What point am I missing? I don't know why selling their story is bad.

And why are people calling Felt scum?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

9. I knew him

We were neighbors. I knew him and his wife. I knew the family.

Believe me, he is anything but a decent man.

And I truly do not believe that he was "Deep Throat." It's just not credible, given his tenure, given the information Woodwards says he received from D.T., given the scope of all that information, given Felt's date of retirement.

I still say Woodstein blew smoke, lied, and that their informants were many.

[puddycat]

13. They may have made up the story of a single Deep Throat ?

That certainly is possible, if I'm understanding your point correctly. He/they had their eyes on the prize--a book, fame, etc. and a single Deep Throat certainly made for a compelling story.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

15. Or............

.......they did it to throw everyone off the scent.

If so, they were successful, no?

[puddycat]

17. Yes, if that's true, it worked like a charm. N/T

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

18. Then how come on at least two places on the Nixon

tapes HRH and RMN practically accuse Felt of being DT, but conclude there is not much they can do about it?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

26. They accused everyone of everything at........

.........one time or another. They also believed Felt was Jewish (he's not).

A more paranoid bunch, well, it's hard to imagine.

[Jon8503]

19. Where were you a neighbor of him???

[OldLeftieLawyer]

27. Believe it or not,

we all lived in a condominium complex in Alexandria, Virginia called :::: drum roll :::: Watergate at Landmark.

A very elegant place, built by the same builder who put up the downtown DC Watergate - all financing, by the way, by the Vatican.

[Melynn]

22. I agree with you 100%

I don't think that Felt is the one and only Deep Throat. Felt was one of sources of Woodstein but not the only one, IMO.

Regarding Mr. Felt, Felt only talked to Woodward because he was passed over for promotion, not because he was outraged at what the Nixon administration was doing. Hell, Felt did some dirty work himself, like spying on leftist organizations.

Now Felt is coming forward so his family can make some money. Whatever. The Felt family won't be getting my money.

[OzarkDem]

24. Another Repub meme

sounds like a script. "He did it for the money. He did it because he was passed over for promotion."

You sound like Pat Buchanan.

[rfkrfk]

62. another Monica Lewinsky type book, I can't wait n/t

[LiberalFighter]

64. Woodward doesn't have all the documents

Woodward has all the information that was given to him by his sources and that is it.

[GoldenOldie]

7. During the interview of The Felt attorney, he claimed:

That Mr. Felt has been anguishing over actions as Deep Throat for some time and they had failed to assure him that he had performed his duty in accordance with the Oath of office that he had taken when he was first hired by the FBI.

I can well understand why the Felt family was eager to get the story out prior to their father and grandfather's death. This is his story and who best to tell it than he. By writing his personal account of Watergate and his role, he is best able to defend his reasons and his place in history. If this was my father or grandfather I would have encouraged him to write his own bio so as it not be corrupted by the mediawhores and politicos of today.

Now that Mr. Felt has disclosed himself to be Deep Throat, it didn't take long for Pat Buchanan, Chuck Colson, G. Gordon Liddy, Gergen, etc., etc.,....each one of which has a murkey past..... to go into attack mode against Mr. Felt as being disloyal and a traitor to the President.

If Mr. Felt had remained silent and it was disclosed after his death, it would be only a matter of weeks before each one of these blowhards would have a book out, claiming their truth as to the unpatriotic, disloyal, traitor, Mr. Felt. They would engage in numerous rounds of bookselling/signing. They would receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from speaking engagements. They would be introduced as Nixon historians with the truth. They themselves would have no problem with collecting millions on their attacks against Mr. Felt.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

10. Where have you been?

All those guys have spent their lives capitalizing on their associations with The Big Dick.

You think this would have made them any $$$? No way.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

11. He's senile

He's not capable of "telling his story."

Woodstein now have the second-best informant - one who cannot remember. (The first-best is a dead informant.)

So, tell me, exactly what kind of "book" is going to come from that enfeebled 91-year-old man who's lost much of his memory?

[bunny planet]

48. Supposedly he told his family 2 or 3 years ago. Maybe they encouraged

him to write down everything he could remember then, perhaps before dementia really had set in. Regardless of his character or motives, Mr. Felt's role in helping to bring down a corrupt administration is inadvertently heroic or at least was very beneficial to our country. The Nixon cronies that were actors in the Watergate era, Buchanan, Liddy, Colson, are such hypocrites it makes my skin crawl. Apparently the only wrong done now, in retrospect, is DT betraying the President, not the President betraying the country with their help. Once again, there is only outrage when these crooks get caught.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

50. He told a number of people

There's a woman he dated after his wife's death, and he told her, she told her son, he told my husband, my husband told me. Believe me, Mark Felt was NOT silent about his identity. But, that was all he ever said.

In the VF article, it's striking how not one quote about the substance of his identity - what he did, why he did it, when he did it - is given. He never talked about the caper, and I doubt seriously that any of his family members have anything to sell.

Yes, I agree that what he did was courageous, and, frankly, as someone who was in law school watching Watergate unfold, I am very, very thankful that he did what he did. I'm also thankful that Woodward was as tenacious as he was, and that he had the great good luck to cultivate Felt as a friend from an accidental and serendipitious meeting when he was still in the Navy, long before he became a journalist.

In the meantime, Buchanan et al. have spent their entire lives capitalizing on their time in the Nixon White House. They're all worthless thugs.

[LiberalFighter]

65. DT probably has the information stored someplace safe

His notes from that period and after. There wouldn't be any need for DT to begin afresh.

[Piperay]

8. I agree

the guy is scum and his family is even scummier.

[Benhurst]

16. Assuming Felt was Deep Throat,

he gave the Republic a twenty-six-year reprieve from fascism before the Bush Crime Family finally pulled off its successful coup.

[Piperay]

21. 26 years??? At most 12 years

(Carter & Clinton's terms) because Raygun and Poppy certainly encouraged the march of fascism during their 'dirty dozen' years. Anyway I don't think it was Felt, someone must have fed him the info and now Felt's family wants to 'fat' off it.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

20. Why do you think him scum?

Do you think what Nixon wanted to continue doing was okay? That it was wrong to bring light to that darkness?

Just curious, no flame.

[doc05]

66. He did the right thing for the wrong reasons.

The guy leaked information to the press to screw the people who he viewed wronged him (by passing him over for promotion to head of the FBI) or who he perceived as weakening his institution (by naming an outsider to head the same).

For Chrissakes, the guy learned at the feet of J Edgar Hoover, the biggest proponent of buggings, break-ins, and private citizen dossiers that ever existed. Do you really think that he was morally outraged by what Nixon was doing?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Nixon. He was a bad guy who got what he had coming to him. But it's wrong to portray Felt as some heroic whistleblower.

[MaryBear]

32. Could you clarify?

"He's real scum, that guy."

On what do you base your opinion?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

37. From knowing him personally

As I said, we were neighbors for a long time. The man's utterly without any redeeming qualities. When his wife took her life, it just didn't surprise us - although, yes, we were shocked. He really is a bad person, that's all. Some people are like that.

[thebigidea]

51. you still haven't explained why, though.

What, he forgot to return a weedwhacker or something?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

54. Sorry

What, exactly, was your question?

[wicket]

52. his wife committed suicide?

I didn't know that- horrible :(

[MaryBear]

55. Suicide is an act of personal desperation,

having nothing to do with relationship with other than one's self. To imply he caused it is mean in itself, and detracts from credibility.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

57. Suicide is an act done by the actor

and no one else. But, in the case of the Felts, her suicide was part of the whole family's troubled, destructive, and tragic dynamic. That you would infer that I in any way implied one person could cause another to commit suicide suggests that your reading comprehension is sorely acking.

There is a family history there that is, I think, even more interesting than the Watergate stuff, and that, in part, explains the pathetic rush to try to exploit the acts of a now-incompetent old man.

Healthy families don't put their elders in such sad positions.

[MaryBear]

60. Sorry to have offended.

Attacks on a family bother me.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

63. Me, too

There's a difference between attacks and discussion. When someone is a public figure, discussion is demanded.

[Spinzonner]

59. You have made a number of assertions in this thread

that are largely negative with regard to Felt and his family.

Why should your anecdotal interpretations and conclusions be granted credibility just because you make claims to them on this board ?

If you want want to be anything other than a rumor-monger you need to reveal your identity so that the facts of the claimed relationship and observations can be verified.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Good for them

He is an American hero. His family deserves all they can get.

[onehandle]

6. Yep. nt

[obxhead]

12. duh.

[0007]

14. I hope they make millions and then invest it in billboards

across American that sez;

George Bush and his crime family suck!

[OzarkDem]

23. Repub media meme

Its the best Karl could come up with on short notice to defuse the situation and try to paint a hero as a villain.

[shamanstar]

25. ive seen joan felt

she comes into my work and she is a very nice woman. i know someone who has been close friends with the family for over a decade. she has nothing but good things to say about them. i know people who take classes from her at the junior college. they have nothing but great things to say about her. they are not malicious people and mark felt was simply a guy who didnt like peoples civil liberties being trashed. i think all of this bad talk is to get people to believe that there are no heroes. he did a good thing- he acted on his conscience, and had no idea that it would end up so huge. if he wanted to cash in, he couldve done it a long time ago.

[OzarkDem]

28. Thanks for clearing that up

I thought the same thing when R's predictably began trashing the guy. Why would he have waited so long if he only wanted to cash in? Why would he have risked so much in the first place?

I guess I'm surprised to see R talking points repeated by others here.

[GoldenOldie]

29. Felt's mental capacity maybe weakened but his families has not.

Through the years, Felt has been relating his story to his children and his grandchildren. You can be sure that Mr. Felt has maintained files and records of his lifetime experiences and passed them onto his children. My father was in his late 80's when he gave me his military records of 1925 through his civilian government Vietnam records of 1967. His grandchildren even had him tape his biography, which they in turn had published.

Why would anyone be surprised if and when the Nixon loyalists wrote books on Felt? They are presently making paid appearances to discredit the man. Make $$$$$, your damn right.

[shamanstar]

35. not true- family knew nothing for sure

they only speculated but knew nothing for sure. his children were not young when this happened. his daughter is 60ish. he didnt tell stories to his kids or grandkids.

[shamanstar]

34. repubs can easily infiltrate boards

it is easy to either infiltrate the actual boards or get enough liberals confused enough to repeat their lies. i hear the lies repeated almost word for word as if it is an individuals personal opinion. they dont even know they have swallowed an idea and then think it is their own.

[baby_bear]

31. Just one question on your observations

If Felt were so concerned about civil liberties, why was he convicted in 1980 of approving surreptitious break-ins of Weather Underground members' residences without a warrant?

I think he is more complicated than you describe, (how could you work for J.Edgar Hoover all those years and not be?) though I don't doubt his family is very nice.

b_b

[MaryBear]

33. That was not good,

when he approved break-ins -- and yet the Weather Underground was not a wonderfully peaceful bunch as I understand it. I don't condone what he did -- and he paid for it, didn't he? How is that relevant here? How is attacking his character relevant? In the midst of bad done by him and others, he did do good.

I don't have a problem with his family benefiting.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

38. Felt was premier in trashing civil liberties

Please don't base your opinion on things you think you see now.. Keep in mind that Mark Felt was convicted for his work in trying to crush the civil rights and liberties of others - and was, of course, pardoned by Ronald Reagan. At that time, he got a note and a bottle of champagne from Richard Nixon, claiming "justice had finally been done." How's that for irony?

The family history of the Felts is nothing to be proud of, believe me. Whatever you're seeing now is a glossy presentation to cover up a troubled and desperate group of people with a tragic, tragic background.

I know this, because we were neighbors when Mrs. Felt committed suicide. The daughter stayed away from her parents for years and years - it's all terribly sad and sordid. And Mark Felt stands now, senile and not remembering, while his daughter and her kids try to cash in. I don't think it's going to go anywhere.

The paper this morning says the daughter is now trying to sell old family photos. What a shame.

[brentspeak]

39. You say you knew Mark Felt

and you describe him as "senile". Yet his current neighbors say that he is "alert", as did the reporters to whom he said 'hello'. What gives?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

41. If you read the Post today,

you'll see why Bob Woodward had trouble deciding to affirm that Felt was "Deep Throat," simply because he knew the old guy had had a storke three years ago and, in plain terms, doesn't remember anything.

He's incompetent. And if you think being able to say "hello" to anyone is the same as "competent," well, then you and the courts have different definitions.

Never confuse "alert" with "sentient."

Read the VF article. You'll find nothing quoting Felt recently. You will, though, find a lot of second-hand quotes, as in things he might have said to people a long time ago, now repeated by those people.

Felt's not given an interview since this story broke. I predict that there will never be one word uttered publicly by him about this matter, simply because he does not remember. He's incompetent.

And, yes, I knew him - in the seventies and eighties, when we lived in the same condominium complex. He wasn't senile then.

[dchill]

30. So I'm thinkin'...

Maybe when Buchanan, Liddy, Colson etc. get off the gravy train, I might give some consideration to this whole "cashing in" thing.

[Nostradamus]

36. Watergate story wouldn't see the light of day in 2005

"..I've been gagging all morning on the Washington Post's self-congratulatory preening about its glory days of the Watergate investigation.

Think about it. It's been 33 years since cub reporters Woodward and Bernstein pulled down the pants of the Nixon operation and exposed its tie-in to the Watergate burglary. That marks a third of a century since the Washington Post has broken a major investigative story. I got a hint why there's been such a dry spell after I met Mark Hosenball, investigative reporter for the Washington Post's magazine, Newsweek.

It was in the summer of 2001. A few months earlier, for the Guardian papers of Britain, I'd discovered at Katherine Harris and Governor Jeb Bush of Florida had removed tens of thousands of African-Americans from voter registries before the 2000 election, thereby fixing the race for George Bush. Hosenball said the Post-Newsweek team "looked into it and couldn't find anything."

more at http://www.gregpalast.com/

[matcom]

40. Good. I hope they DO get to cash in.

god knows Woodward has cashed in over the last 30 years.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

42. Wouldn't it have been grand...........

........... if Mark Felt had come forward when he was still mentally capable, and affirmed that he was, in fact, Woodward's source in the Watergate matter?

If he had been able to answer questions about what he did or didn't do, and why he did it?

If he had done it without seeking out a book deal or offering to sell family photos?

If he had made the choice, and not his progeny?

If he had simply told his story and went back to living his life?

In fact, Mark Felt never did tell his story, and he's not telling it now. His family is doing all the talking, because he's not competent and he doesn't remember. 91 is a ripe old age, and he's already had one stroke that has left him quite enfeebled.

So, Mark Felt did handle his secret with dignity and with no thought to cashing in like the others - but that has been shredded and trampled by his daughter and grandson and lawyer, and it's sad that they're trying to exploit an incompetent old man.

I can't wait to see who pays what for the literary rights to a story that the old guy can no longer tell. My agent told me yesterday afternoon that the fervor was already dying down - "in record time," she said - as everyone realized Felt's mind is essentially gone.

Alice Mayhew at Simon and Schuster made sure that Bob Woodward's book about Deep Throat, which has been on the shelf for years, was rushed into print yesterday, a process that normally takes months. That's the book that will sell, not anything done by Felt's daughter.

[baby_bear]

56. I agree; the opportunity was lost

The irony is that now that Felt has come out while still alive, it makes it all the easier for Woodward to bring out his book and not even have the burden to bear of proving who DP was.


From what you say, the way it came out from Felt/his family is rather pathetic. As you say, Felt won't be able to comment at this point given his condition, so all the attention will revert to Woodward.

I think the family is going to end up bitter about all this, since they won't be the ones to make the money as they hope.

It's all got a sad side to it. I'm glad to know who it was, of course. But maybe not this way. I wish he had come out, say, when Nixon died.

Thanks for your insights, OldLeftieLawyer.

b_b

on edit: I found some interesting info on L. Patrick Gray, some of which I had forgotten/not known:
1973 Gray was nominated as J. Edgar Hoover's permanent successor as head of the FBI. This action by President Nixon confounded many, coming at a time when revelations of involvement by Nixon administration officials in the Watergate Scandal were coming to the forefront. Under his direction, the FBI had been accused to mishanding the investigation into the break-in, doing a cursory job and refusing to investigate the possible involvement of administration officials. The Senate confrimation hearing which Gray would be subject to was to become the Senate's first opportunity to ask pertinent questions about Watergate. 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... Hoover in 1961 John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on May 10, 1924, and remained so until his death in 1972, having been appointed to that position for life by Lyndon Johnson. ... The Watergate Complex as depicted in Government Exhibit 1. ...

During the confirmation hearing Gray defended his agency's investigation, however, during questioning he let it be known that he had handed over the files on the investigation to White House Counsel John Dean, in spite of the fact that people with strong links to the White House were being investigated. He confirmed that the investigation supported claims made by the Washington Post and other sources of dirty tricks and "ratfucking" committed and funded by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, notably activities of questionable legality committed by Donald Segretti. The White House had for months steadfastly denied any involvement in such activities. By the end of the hearing, the ineptitude of the FBI's investigation of Watergate was publicly made clear, increasing the suspicions of many of a cover-up. The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States. ... John Dean, May 7, 1972. ... ... Ratfucking is a political term, brought to public attention by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in their Pulitzer Prize winning book, All The Presidents Men. ... The Committee to Re-elect the President, also known as CRP or CREEP, was a Nixon White House fund-raising organization headed by John N. Mitchell, the former Attorney General. ... Donald H. Segretti (born September 17, 1941) was a political operative for the Committee to Re-elect the President (Nixon) during the 1970s. ...

It was also publicly revealed that while being Acting FBI Director, Gray had destroyed Watergate evidence after White House Counsel John Dean had instructed him "This should never see the light of day". Given this revelation, Gray withdrew his name from consideration to be permanent FBI Director and he resigned from the FBI on April 27, 1973.

In 1978, Gray was indicted for having approved illegal break-ins during the Nixon administration. Charges were dropped in 1980 and Gray was later pardoned by President Reagan.

from http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/L.-Patrick-Gray

[mbperrin]

45. Now you're onto something! All these RW apologists have

made millions and now the source deserves nothing? (Hey, those publishing houses are not being held at gunpoint, unlike folks at Gitmo.)

[Solly Mack]

43. lololololololololololololol

snicker

[liberalcenter]

44. The "TODAY" show got them memo

Over the last 2 days, the Today show has had guests on regarding "Deep Throat" and every time they spend half of the interview attacking the family and implying it's all about money.

I think this is part of a smear campaign by the White House.
I think they have to... What does Felt have on CHEney or Rummy... they were both in government at that time...

[MaineDem]

46. Yup, this is the spin

They can't fault the story so they fault the motive.

And welcome to DU, by the way! :hi:

[all.of.me]

47. they deserve it!

perhaps fame and fortune will prompt the next deep throat that will put an end to the bush dynasty.

[Catchawave]

49. This is what I'm hoping too.....

Jeff Gannon could make millions :)

[GoldenOldie]

53. So according to OldLeftyLawyer who knew the Felt family intimately!

The wife/mother committed suicide. Mr. Felt's daughter was a cold heartless human being who never visited her parents home. She gave her father little if any attention. It seems from OldLeftyLawyers very personal interactions with the Felt Family that they are not to be trusted and that they are attempting to CON the American public and thus make millions and millions of dollars.

WOW, this would be a story in itself. I am sure that we have not heard the last of Kissinger, Buchanan, G.Gordon Liddy, Gergen, Colson.......this breaths brand new lives into these old farts and it surely will give them the cash-flow needed to live out the lifestyle into which they have become accoustomed.

[CTyankee]

58. One thing getting lost in this debate

is that what Felt did eventually served the honorable foundation of our democracy: checks and balances in government. With Felt's help, the press enabled and furthered the Senate Watergate Committee in doing its work. Thus, when the FBI was too corrupt to "work within" the investigative power of another branch of government could operate to cleanse the system.

[charlottelouise]

61. Someone's going to make money on this....

so why shouldn't it be his family? I'm still undecided on DT's motivation for talking back in 72/73, but can't argue with the end result. I suspect that, as with most of us, his motivation wasn't that simple -- probably some good (getting the truth out) and bad (revenge).