J. Edgar Hoover's Legacy: Deep Throat

Timothy Noah's story in Slate really did catch me off guard. Back when President Nixon was being ousted, I did not object because I believed what he did was illegal. I still believed, however, that the "Media" (as we called it then, rather than the MSM) was doing an unfair pile-on.

Despite my skepticism, I still assumed that "Deep Throat" leaked information out of genuine concern about corruption in the Oval Office.

According to Noah, it had nothing to do with honest government, and everything to do with keeping the clique of late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in charge at the Bureau by accelerating the scandal at the White House.

In the end, it wasn't whistle blowing, but power games.

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UPDATE (Thurs. 6/2/05):

Tom Carter has some good thoughts (similar to mine, discussed in greater depth) on the matter here.