Katie Doyle, Girl About Town

Tuesday, May. 31, 2005 - 10:48 p.m.

Hola, peeps. Didja have a good weekend? I have discovered that when one isn't working, a 4 day weekend sort of loses its appeal and becomes more a pain in the ass, making it difficult to get the things done one needs to, because everything is closed. I did, however, have a birthday dinner to go to, two birthday dinners which resulted in being stood up (both times, via miscommunication, for two separate events on consecutive days), and the usual Sunday geekfest.

And for those of you who wonder how I handle lizards in the bedroom at 7am before the passage of time leads to an entry, I give you the transcript of a phone call I made at 7:30 that day. It's the last section of the page.

Interesting day, what with the disclosure of "Deep Throat"'s identity and all. What I find most interesting about it is not Mark Felt coming forward, though that's pretty surprising and the mystery enthusiast in me loves that he did, but that a great many people in Washington feel the need to downplay his significance and the importance of the series of articles Woodward & Bernstein were able to publish, with Ben Bradlee's approval, in the Washington Post. The general dismissal is that Nixon would have been booted out of office eventually anyway, so the Watergate stories weren't really all that important really.

I am aggrieved at such poor logic and cavalier attitude toward the responsibility of the press and the right of the American public to know just what in hell its elected officials are up to.

For those of you whose memories are fading or who are too young to remember Watergate, in mid-June of 1972, 5 men broke into and bugged the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building in Washington DC. One of the five was ex-CIA agent James W. McCord Jr., who was at that time under contract to provide "security services" to the Republican National Committee. The White House and GOP promptly set to work doing damage control, and White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler dismissed the crime as "a third-rate burglary" having nothing to do with the RNC or White House, and Nixon handily won re-election 5 months later, in one of the biggest election landslides in US history. Unfortunately for him, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, two journalists for the Washington Post, had an inside source they called "Deep Throat." And Deep Throat knew an awful lot he was willing to feed the reporters about Watergate and the subsequent investigation.

Now, perhaps it is true that with or without the Post stories, Nixon's activities would have led to impeachment and resignation; perhaps not. There's no guarantee that without public awareness and outrage, Nixon would have ever been taken to task for the depth and scope of his crimes. An uninformed public is complacently blind and trusting. The Nixon White House stymied investigation at every corner. By continually thrusting the details of the investigation and the White House's attempt to stall and derail it into the public eye, the Post surely forced Congress to hold Nixon accountable one way or another. Watergate ushered in a new era of investigative journalism and helped wake the American public up to the corruption possible in a government drunk on its own power. More importantly, reporters Woodward & Bernstein and editor Bradlee set a standard for journalism which has been sadly and increasingly declining in the last 15 years or so. Government must be held accountable. And for that to happen, it is imperative the American people know everything that goes on in its halls, not just what our representatives want us to or think we should know. And that is the significance of the Post Watergate series and why Mark Felt's confession is big news.

Peace out,
Katie

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Yesterday's News - Next Stop

In which Katie shares sad news - Wednesday, Apr. 01, 2015
In which Katie returns after a very long absence - Monday, Jun. 25, 2012
In which Katie pokes her head in and brushes some of the cobwebs away - Thursday, May. 06, 2010
In which Katie asks you to write your congressman again. - Monday, Jun. 02, 2008
In which Katie asks you to please click the link and send the message to protect the rights of artists - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008