BCT Editorial – 6/3/05

This page was last updated on June 7, 2005.

Jogging around; Editorial; Beaver County Times; June 3, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“FEAR FACTOR: If you want to know the close call democracy in America had in the early 1970s, just look at the reaction of some of the Nixonites following the disclosure that W. Mark Felt, the No. 2 man at the FBI during the Watergate investigation, was Deep Throat, the high level informant for Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Pat Buchanan called for the 91-year-old stroke victim’s arrest while Charles Colson basically trashed his character for ‘violating his oath to keep the nation’s secrets.’ Think about this, America. A high-ranking official sees those in power abusing their positions and, according to the Nixonites, he or she is supposed to do nothing but blindly serve those in power. We’re not discounting Felt’s personal motives, but thank goodness he did what he did.”

[RWC] I hope no one doubted the Times would join the list of liberals praising Mr. Felt. You can read most of my position on this topic in my critique of the Post-Gazette editorial “Deep righteousness.”

If you believe “democracy in America” had a “close call” in the early 1970s, you weren’t alive then and are relying on the mainstream media for your “information.” Those of us who saw history in the making also saw the U.S. Constitution – and the vast majority of Americans who swore an oath to defend it – work exactly as the Founding Fathers intended.

Regarding “a high-ranking official sees those in power abusing their positions,” you have to ask why Mr. Felt didn’t expose J. Edgar Hoover’s alleged abuse of the FBI during his tenure. Just as the PG, the Times wants us to believe the Watergate investigation would not have proceeded as it should without Felt’s leaks. As I show in the critique of the PG editorial, this is a flawed conclusion.