Your guess: Who is "Deep Throat?"

[Sparkly]

Poll question: Your guess: Who is "Deep Throat?"

Your guess?

[LostInAnomie]

1. Linda Lovelace

The moniker fits.

[EVDebs]

48. DeepThroat is simply a composite literary device to put things

onto the record without attribution. Woodward's background in intelligence (see "Secret Agenda" by Jim Hougan) and the way the CIA was 'using' him and Robert F. Bennett of the Mullen & Co CIA front, and now a Senator from UT,

www.metroactive.com/papers/ sonoma/07.03.97/scoop-9727.html

it just makes you wonder how long they think they can keep putting off telling the real story, huh ?

[pacalo]

69. According to John Dean's book, "Unmasking Deep Throat",

Woodward insists that Deep Throat is a real person.

An excerpt:

In 1982, when I published "Lost Honor", I explained that the first time I was asked about the identity of Deep Throat was when I gave my first speech about Watergate, at the University of Virginia in 1974. At the time, I said that I thought Deep Throat was a literary device, a fictional composite of several people. The speech was reported by the media, and David Obst -- my literary agent, who was traveling with me, mostly for the fun of it -- soon told me that Woodward had been upset by my statement. Obst was Woodward and Bernstein's literary agent as well. Through Obst, Woodward reasserted that his single source was a real person. He requested that I please stop saying publicly that Deep Throat was a ficticious character, and I did.

[NMDemDist2]

2. i have no idea

but it's fun to speculate :evilgrin:

[Just Me]

31. Me either. It is fun to be creative.

If Powell was ill, I'd toss his name into the hat.

Hell, it could end up being someone we're barely aquainted with, if at all.

[TacticalPeek]

3. No John Sears?

:)

[Sparkly]

7. oops

Should I take out Colson and put in Sears?

[merh]

4. poppy

Only because his breed is to vindictive, I wouldn't put it past him. Also, think how much fun it would be to watch them squirm!

Didn't babs smoke? Her voice is deep and she is easily mistaken for a man. We know she is vindictive!

[HeyManThatsCool]

5. Well-- they say D.T. is "very ill" & that we may soon know who it is

so does that narrow it down any?

[CTyankee]

8. Awhile back (in the 70s) the bet was on Mark Felt

who was a minor character in the Nixon administration. I don't remember anything else about him. Maybe someone else had heard of him who is reading this thread?

[BuyingThyme]

13. There was once speculation about Mark Felt because...

Bob Woodward repeatedly referred to Deep Throat as "my friend."

If was believed that Woodward was secretly divulging the initials of Deep Throat as "MF" (Mark Felt/my friend).

[CTyankee]

26. That's interesting

All I can remember from the conversations about Mark Felt is that he was somehow close to the Administration, but nothing factual...

[BuyingThyme]

28. As I recall, Mark Felt...

...is one of the few people whom Woodward has cleared.

[Hissyspit]

36. So when Woodward wrote about the British "Prime Minister," he meant...

...that P aul M cCartney has been dead since "Revolver" came out?! :P

[BuyingThyme]

18. ...

[EVDebs]

49. Who is 'they' ? eom

[orpupilofnature57]

6. Like myself a devoted Kennedy student, who infiltrated repug-topia.

A white house fixture.

[Sporadicus]

9. Alexander Haig, White House Chief of Staff Under Nixon

according to widespread speculation, FWIW.

[EVDebs]

16. Sen Robert F. Bennett (of Mullen & Co CIA front) who even Nixon

suspected, see Michael Drosnin's "Citizen Hughes" in final part of the book mentions this is who Nixon believed was DT.

However, DT is merely a convenience Woodstein used in order to get material on the record without attribution, a literary device so to speak. Today he would be fired for that.

See Bob Harris' excellent article www.metroactive.com/papers/ sonoma/07.03.97/scoop-9727.html

Sen Bennett R-UT has been a suspect for a long long time...for good reason. Also, is there a CIA policy to get more and more former employees of the company into public office ? Rep Bob Barr etc, etc, and onto congress's staffs ? How infiltrated is our own govt with spooks ? The leaker of the WH tapes information, Butterfield, was 'former' CIA (assignment Australia before his WH job). Who else on Nixon's staff was CIA and potentially working in concert to oust him ?

[Debs]

34. I always thought

It was Al myself, but is he ailing?

[webjamn]

10. Sean Hannity

He deep throats every Republican who comes on his show no matter how loathsome they are.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

22. and his lovely assistant....

Ann Coulter. Open Wide.

[laugle]

70. Sean Hannity

Hannity not only sounds like limbaugh, he is beginning to look like him. Hannity is looking like a fat pig! He is being eaten up by his one hit wonder greed!!!!

[On Par]

11. Someone Who Deserves Our Eternal Thanks...

Now, if we can only have the the Deep Throat of co-conspirators of Ohio-gate tell us what they did....

OP

[stray cat]

12. Someone who is very ill - expected to die soon when name will be released

Keith Olberman mentioned it Friday night and will have John Dean on Mon. night. I heard it again on MSNBC this morning. I thought it was suppose to break with the LA Times paper today but it seems to have been delayed. Supposedly the obituary has already been written although obviously not dated.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3063228

[BuyingThyme]

21. Who says that?

Who is saying that Deep Throat is ill?

[Sparkly]

32. Bob Woodward, according to LA Times

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1571246

And Bradlee at the Post has confirmed the obit is written, according to this...

[BuyingThyme]

33. So, it's the Pope?

[BuyingThyme]

14. And the answer:

Deep Throat did not exist.

[Clark2008]

15. I have no idea, but wasn't Ford too ill to attend the inauguration?

Just thinking out loud.

:)

[Sparkly]

19. Yes -- Ford and Rehnquist are two we know aren't well n/t

[Sparkly]

17. Google Fred Fielding

There's a lot of evidence for him, apparently.

[candle_bright]

20. Could it be

Woodward himself? :shrug:

[BuyingThyme]

23. Why do so many people select Herbie Walker?

Wasn't Bush in Texas, fouling the RNC, and waiting for his CIA call-up?

[pretzel4gore]

24. media game, conman bushit....

woodward was and is one of them (the enemy) and he has been working against society for his entire life...he motivated by racism or class or just plain greed.... he's a pos who shoulda been jailed 30 years ago. deep throat! sure. if woodward said what he knew, the bush criminals all be hung within few weeks, and woodward no longer an issue....
time to reopen watergate

[BuyingThyme]

25. You are correct, sir

[Minstrel Boy]

27. A composite figure. I don't trust Woodward;

he wasn't forthcoming on his ties to the Pentagon.

Good "alternative" Watergate books are Silent Coup and Secret Agenda.

[BuyingThyme]

29. If those are the alternatives,

what are the standards (besides ATPM)?

[EVDebs]

50. Right on, minstrel boy ! Also, hope you've seen Robert F. Bennett

www.metroactive.com/papers/ sonoma/07.03.97/scoop-9727.html

now a Senator from UT, but back then the 'man to see' at Mullen & Co, the CIA front company:

""What's missing is an understanding of Deep Throat, Woodward's garage-lurking source who guided the reporters to some of their biggest leads. If he was just a concerned citizen, great. But if Deep Throat had his own agenda, then he used the Washington Post to shape the story for his own purposes and got away clean.

"I have told Woodward everything I know about the Watergate case, except the Mullen Company's tie to the CIA."--Robert F. Bennett, testifying before House Special Committee on Intelligence, July 2, 1974.

Robert Bennett was the head of Robert R. Mullen and Co., a CIA front headquartered in the very same building as the CIA's Domestic Operations Division. The Mullen Co. did legitimate PR work; it also did PR for other CIA fronts and provided cover abroad for CIA operations. Bennett's most notable employee was Howard Hunt, a former chief of covert actions for the Domestic Operations Division of the CIA....

So whatever happened to this Robert Bennett guy? Did he disappear, wind up in jail, or die creatively, like so many CIA operatives? Nope. Today, he's a U.S. senator, just like his father. According to Roll Call, Bob Bennett, R-Utah, is now the eighth richest of the 535 members of Congress, with a personal fortune exceeding $30 million.""

[madison2000]

30. Diane Sawyer

She was in the right place at the right time.

[Vinnie From Indy]

35. Tough choice, but I go with Ford

Firstly, I do not trust Woodward on any matter. He has shown his stripes.

Ford maybe. I just don't know if he would have been informed enough to supply significantly incriminating info to Woodward.

If Rehnquist did it, it was out of spite or greed. Wasn't it Nixon that got him on the court? Would he have bitten the hand that fed him?

[noonwitch]

83. Ford wasn't part of the administration until later, I doubt it was him

He wasn't part of Nixon's team until after Agnew resigned, which was after the 1972 election.

[kentuck]

37. She just died recently...

It was Rose Mary Woods.

[two gun sid]

38. Fred Fielding. Worked as John Dean's assistant.

[KuTava]

39. Nixon, sleepwalking.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

40. Pat Nixon.

[Osamasux]

41. Hal Holbrook?

:shrug:

[TacticalPeek]

42. LOL!

He does look a lot like Deep Throat, now that you mention it.

:)

[Kingofalldems]

43. Here's one

John Dean

[Bunny]

44. It was this man:

I just posted this in the Lounge. Yes, my friends, Deep Throat was really Dean Wormer. Now that he's dead, the truth can be revealed.

[Kingofalldems]

45. Does that mean

my double secret probation is over?

[Bunny]

47. I thought you were thrown off the Faber campus forever?

Forever means forever. Remember: fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

[zulchzulu]

46. Tom Waits

He was an active youth in the early 1970's.

[Piperay]

51. Poppy, I hope...

that would show the true evilness of the bush empire if they destroyed a repug President purely for their own ambition.

[candle_bright]

52. It can't be GHWB

unless someone who is seriously ill to the point of being on his deathbed is at the Superbowl right now! B-)

[Piperay]

53. Yeah, I know

I just like to fantasize. :-)

[paineinthearse]

54. Lovelace/Boreman

[Adelante]

55. I voted Fielding, Sparkly

But what's with the William Rehnquist choice? Is it that he is ill as the papers just came out, or is there something else connecting him? I used to think Haig, but I keep coming back to Fielding, even if he has denied it. I read something like once Deep Throat is known, it will be immediately clear why it is still a secret, which could indicate Poppy Bush, but he wasn't in the Executive at the time. I guess he as Deep Throat could have been a go between for someone in the WH.

[Liberty Belle]

57. Rehnquist was Asst. Attorney General under Nixon, and

had access to confidential info. He was likely a key source for another Woodward expose, "The Brethren," a book about the Supreme Court. Woodward hasn't revealed his source on that, either, but has implied it's someone still living and on the court; only 2 justices fit that bill. FYI, It was Nixon who appointed Rehnquist to the high court. Woodward has said that Deep Throat is an ex-military man, which also fits Rehnquist.

[seemslikeadream]

58. John Dean says his source says Deep Throat is very ill

Rehnquist

[gordianot]

59. Really, never thought of that one.

If true I hope he leaves some posthumous explanation.

[Liberty Belle]

67. Wouldn't it be ironic if Deep Throat

succumbed to cancer in his throat? Perhaps there is a divine plan, after all.

[Adelante]

60. Ah, thanks

I remember it as someone in the Executive Branch, but I was thinking White House, but I guess it could be Justice. Thanks for the information.

[BuyingThyme]

76. When did he say that? ("ex-military")

[Capn Sunshine]

61. very astute analysis, WesDem

We played this game in 1972 while it was happening, and have ever since. Know why we picked Fileding and not Haig? Haig was an unswerving loyalist, like Liddy. He would have taken a bullet for Nixon.

Fielding OTOH, was am ambitious prig afraid for his own career; many felt Deep throat appeared in case criminal indictments came down on the whole gang; it would have helped his case to have been the informer.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

64. a very detailed study was done and ended up with Fielding

Some professor ran through all the criteria with his class a few years ago, and after a computer analysis settled on FF.
I've never been sure. Buchannan makes some sense, but so does Rehnquist.
I picked Fielding here.

[Adelante]

65. You know why I even mention Haig, Capn?

He always looked like what I thought Deep Throat would have looked like. Silly.

But, yeah, Fielding always felt like the guy.

[autorank]

56. I wouldn't believe Woodward or Bernstein now anyway. They

folded (or maybe Woodward was never really interested in democracy and good government). I half way think Deep Throat was just a contrivance for their composite hunches and intuition.

[hector459]

62. OK, tell me if I am wrong but if Deep Throat is Renquist SCOTUS decisions

concerning "Executive Privilege" may be tainted. I don't know but I am speculating here, but didn't the SCOTUS decide some cases involving protecting or releasing Presidential documents? What were the votes? And more importantly, if Renquist is DT, were there not some "conflict of interest" decisions made regarding Presidential issues? Help me out here lawyers. I may be blowing smoke but in the back of my mind I seem to remember some hairy decisions about protecting and/or releasing Presidential records which even impact on what the Bush administration can hide today. This could be much more important than just the identity of DT.

[John_H]

63. A tossup: Haig or Poppy

Haig would have known the whitehouse end of the operation well enough, but may not have known the campaign end as well as Deep Throat apparently did.

Poppy over at the RNC, with his many connections, would have known the campaign shennanigans inside and out but how would he have known how the whitehouse end was being operated, unless he had his own deep throat in the west wing?

[Adelante]

66. unless he had his own deep throat in the west wing?

That's the only possibility I could come up with when I thought about him. I don't think I would have thought about him at all except for what I read that once it is known who Deep Throat is, it will be immediately understood why it's been kept secret. I couldn't see how that statement fit anybody else so well.

[angee_is_mad]

68. Ben Stein?

It could be possible, but he isn't sick. Ummm, Ford is sick though. Isn't that why he didn't attend Clinton's library opening? I change it to Ford.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

71. John Dean says it is not Fielding

I cited this study above, but forgot the punch line, where Dean essentially eliminates Fielding.

http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues03/dec03/presence.html

[Sparkly]

72. Dean isn't one of the three who know who it is, though

Has he said why he rules him out?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

73. Whoa! I found this where Fielding once joked he WAS Deep Throat!

last paragraph:

...A 1981 Washington Post article by Elisabeth Bumiller reported that Fielding had "a reputation at the White House for solidness and excellence." He drank scotch and was known to smoke Marlboros. Bumiller reported that a story circulated around Washington, D.C. that when Fielding was seriously ill with a pulmonary embolism, he said that he was Deep Throat and "then cackled uproariously." When later asked if the story was true, Fielding said, "Probably so."

http://deepthroatuncovered.com/bio/

he sounds like an asshole.

[noonwitch]

74. Pat Buchannan

1. He wouldn't have been directly involved and wouldn't have been risking jail time by rolling over on his buds to Woodward. He also would have been in a good position to gather information, as he was trusted.

2. He's the kind of guy who has enough ethics to really be bothered by the Nixon administration's activities and their subversion of the 1972 election.

[LoZoccolo]

75. Totally not Pat Buchanan.

He denied it, and no matter what you think about his political opinions, he is extremely honest.

[ZootSuitGringo]

77. I will take a wild guess

The Pope?

[T Town Jake]

78. Rollo Tamasi.

(n/t)

[IndianaGreen]

79. That's good!

For those not familiar with the film L.A. Confidential, Rollo Tomasi is the name given by the character played by Guy Pearce to the man that murdered his father, the man "who gets away with it."

The name Rollo Tomasi plays a crucial role in exposing the real bad guy in the movie...

[klyon]

80. my other is Kissinger

I think he sick also. He has a very deep voice and was never touched in the scandal. He only broke international law.

KL

[in_cog_ni_to]

81. I say Ford. n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

82. The best reasoning I've seen says Deep Throat is L. Patrick Gray

Gray, the acting Director of the FBI, very closely resembles Woodward's description of Deep Throat (e.g., Deep Throat is a smoker). He was actually in Washington on the days Woodward says he met with Deep Throat. He lived in an apartment complex with an underground garage. Woodward would pass Gray's apartment on his daily jogs, so it was easy for Gray to signal Woodward that he wanted to tell him something.

Although he was a natural Nixon man, Gray was said to be bitter about the way Nixon and his people used the FBI in the Watergate investigation.

[McCamy Taylor]

84. Easy: Someone in the DOJ. Real question is who in DOJ

Woodward and Bernstein created a lot of hype to throw Nixon off the trail so they wouldnt try to clean house in DOJ, but it had to be DOJ, why else was there never a subponea from Justice to find out who the witness was? Why didnt the Special Prosecutors want to question this Oh so informed person to find out everything he or she knew, unless they already had access to all the information he/she had access to?

As to who it was, I dont know the health status of all the high ranking people. Would be uber-cool if it was Eliot Richardson himself or maybe William Ruckelhaus, but they probably wouldnt have felt so powerless that would have had to leak it to the press to get anything done. On the other hand, Nixon was an evil SOB...

[Jack Rabbit]

85. Comment

The reason the DOJ did not investigate Deep Throat's identity is that that would have given the Washington Post stories the very credibility which the White House was attempting to deny them.

The Special Prosecutors no doubt interviewed Deep Throat in the normal course of their work. They just didn't know it was Deep Throat and didn't really have to know. Deep Throat probably told the Special Prosecutors the same thing he told Woodward.

I don't think Deep Throat was in the justice department. I think he was either in the White House, the Re-election committee or the FBI.

As stated above, my candidate is Pat Gray.

[Jack Rabbit]

86. I will be surprised if it's Rehnquist

Rehnquist worked in the Justice Department screening potential Supreme Court appointees prior to be appointed to the Court himself in December 1971. In that capacity, he probably did not have the knowledge of the day-to-day workings of the Nixon House. In fact, Nixon barley knew who Rehnquist was when Attorney General Mitchell recommended him for the Court one of two vacancies open at the time. Once appointed to the Court, Rehnquist would have taken no part in the Nixon re-election campaign. Consequently, he would have had no day-to-day knowledge of its goings-on, even if he personally knew many of the people involved.

Deep Throat was either (1) a White House insider; (2) a Nixon campaign insider; or (3) someone close to the investigation. Rehnquist was none of these.