So… good to hear that YC’s mom’s doing ok.
So… the secret on “Deep Throat” is out, now that the old Washington Post duo Woodward and Bernstein confirmed that ex-FBI deupty Mark Felt was their source. Disappointing that the mystery’s over, and the thought that Felt decided to finally come “out of the closet” (so to speak) for alleged monetary reasons left a poor taste in my mouth:
Felt had expressed reservations in the past about revealing his identity, and about whether his actions were appropriate for an FBI man, his grandson said.
According to the [Vanity Fair] article, Felt once told his son, Mark Jr., that he did not believe being Deep Throat “was anything to be proud of. … You (should) not leak information to anyone.”
His family members thought otherwise, and persuaded him to talk about his role in the Watergate scandal, saying he deserves to receive accolades before his death. His daughter, Joan, argued that he could “make enough money to pay some bills, like the debt I’ve run up for the children’s education.”
“As he recently told my mother, ‘I guess people used to think Deep Throat was a criminal, but now they think he’s a hero’,” Jones [Felt’s grandson] said.
Maybe Felt’s daughter felt that money might have been a good reason to make the revelation, maybe his family (and maybe even Felt himself) felt he deserved accolades, but I kind of feel that a mystery ought to remain a mystery. Knowing who Deep Throat is changes things, doesn’t it?
So… fascinating profile of David Brancaccio, the guy who takes over for Bill Moyers on “Now”:
Mr. Brancaccio has been associated with the program since the fall of 2003, when it was known as “Now with Bill Moyers.” With Mr. Moyers’s retirement in December, the show’s name was changed to reflect its founder’s departure, and Mr. Brancaccio was promoted from co-anchor to sole anchor.
But those were not the only changes. Because of financing issues, the show was cut from an hour to 30 minutes, and once a month the show features all interviews, which are less expensive to produce than heavily reported pieces from the field.
“I’m agnostic on the change from an hour to half an hour, but one beautiful thing has happened as a result,” Mr. Brancaccio said. “Even now, six months into the change, we are getting cascades of e-mails complaining about the shorter show. But that means that nobody is complaining about me – we’re not getting those letters that say, ‘You’re no Bill Moyers.’ ”
When and if that charge is made, Mr. Brancaccio is fully prepared to concede its truth.
“Bill was a lightning rod because his life experience allowed him to put things together in a way that my life experience, which is shorter and different, doesn’t,” he said. “I was not the deputy director of the Peace Corps. I did not work for Lyndon Johnson. Oh, and here’s something else: I am not a Baptist minister. I’m the product of two parents from Brooklyn, one who was Jewish and grew up in Coney Island, and the other an Italian from Gravesend. And no matter how you add those up, you don’t get Baptist.”
Hehehe. You’re right, Brancaccio – Coney Island Jew plus Gravesend Italian does not equal Texan Baptist. And, I do miss Now’s one hour format. I feel a half-hour format’s a little restraining, locking me in to that one storyline (well, I also miss the Texan Baptist Moyers, but oh well).
So it goes…