I never FELT that way

We know that a year or so ago, Woodward went to see Felt. We also know that Felt was showing real signs of dementia at that time. We also know that 10 years ago Felt was not suffering from dementia and was denying he was Deep Throat. Why would he deny. He was a convicted and pardoned felon. Why would he not want to be very rich media hero in the final years of his life? Why not?

I don't think Felt remembers much of anything today. There is talk that his daughter went to the media after Felt confessed to her that he was Deep throat. The media hints she wants money.. Didn't she want the money 3 years ago?

I think there is a good chance that it was Woodward who 'Reminded" the demented Felt and his daughter that he was Deep Throat.

My own mother had a very long and healthy life. But in her final couple of years descended into dementia. She never went totally blank. But she could not remember a great deal, and would pick up clues from those she was talking to .. and used it to hide her memory loss. My mother had a genius I.Q. But in her final months bits and pieces of her life would be put together logically in what was left of her mind. But the things she thought she remembered never really happened the way she thought she remembered them.

John Dean who was Nixon's White House Council points out that Deep Throat was often wrong. Dean asks why Felt told Woodward that Pat Gray blackmailed Nixon to get the FBI job when Dean knows that he did not.

Let me give use some of my style reasoning and attribute it to Woodward. Woodward surely knew that Gray wanted the permanent appointment to head the FBI. Woodward also knew there were people in the White House who did not want Gray to get the job. Woodward reasons that Nixon is using Gray's desire for the job to control what Gray does as acting FBI director investigating Watergate. Thus Nixon has no reason to give the permanent appointment to Gray until Watergate is history and Nixon survives. Perhaps Woodward could not imagine Nixon not using Grays desire to be head of the FBI to Nixon's advantage. When Nixon appointed Gray, Woodward could not imagine Nixon making that appointment with out being threatened by Gray. Woodward likely reasoned that Gray must have turned the tables on Nixon. Thus Woodward has "DEEP THROAT" tell him that Gray threatened Nixon to get the appointment. Woodward reported that and sourced it to Deep Throat, but the Nixon tapes prove it is not true.

To my mind most of the things that Felt gets wrong, are more likely an analysis of known facts that Woodward gets wrong. We know Woodward claims William Casey told him things, when Casey was in a death coma at the hospital. I think there is a good chance that Woodward attempts to deduce what has happened and then has "sources" tell him what happened. I think he is egotistical enough to believe his analysis is nearly always correct. So a case can be made that Woodward creates a source to get his deductions into print.

On the other hand Woodward can not risk a totally made up source. There is always a chance his boss would check him out. So I think Woodward listed a real source in the early stages.. Then after that early information proves true he attributes deductions as if they came from that source. You will find the longer it goes on the more details Woodward gets wrong.

I have no doubt that Felt was a Woodward source. I suspect Felt did leak some stuff to Woodward. Even in Dementia there are times when Felt will remember leaking some stuff to Woodward. But I am convinced there is no single Deep Throat.

One of the things my father taught me about determining lies, was liars often use extraneous data to make their lies seem real. The extraneous data is true and can lend lend credence to the lies. Dad was very suspicious of extraneous information. Woodward told the press that when he went to see Felt he was suffering from dementia. He said he asked Felt' s daughter if he could take Felt to dinner. Woodward told the press he also asked the daughter if it ok to buy Felt an alcoholic drink. Woodward said Felt's daughter agreed to let him do both things. Isn't that strange? If we are talking about recent conversations between Woodward and Felt, why does Woodward need to tell us this detail. What would cause Woodward to tell us he got permission from Felts daughter to buy Felt a drink. It points the listener to a Felt who was in good enough shape to enjoy a martini but not capable of determining if he can have a drink. It smells like extraneous truth to cover some lies.

It also creates the impression that there were no witnesses to Woodward's conversation with Felt. It smells like a clever man trying to create clever cover. It is also plausible denial for the daughter so she can not know what Woodward and Felt discussed. It discourages questions about what was said before and after the dinner and drink with perhaps the Daughter present.

Upon what basis does a publisher pay a man a million dollars to provide the information on a book when that man suffers from dementia. That does not compute. You really need Daddy to tell Daughter all.. Daddy needs to tell all to Daughter years ago before Daddy got really mentally ill. Maybe you need Woodward to "Refresh" Daddies memory for Daughter. It is also cover for things Daddy got wrong.

The day after Deep Throat is revealed John Dean appears on the web with commentary. There is also bull excrement in Deans conclusions after Deep Throats identity is revealed. Of all the Watergate players Dean must have a real reason to get in the game the day after Deep Throat is revealed.

Dean claims that Felt must have had an accomplice in order to watch Woodward's window for the sign to meet.. What was to stop Felt from looking at Woodward's Window? D.C. is not that big a town. Stopping and looking for a plant and a flag in a window on the way to or from work is not all that hard. The last time I visited my lawyer we left his office on Constitution Ave, he drove me to Reagan airport to catch my flight. He took a detour through Georgetown to show me his home. We didn't stop.. He just drove me by. I did note there was no plant with a flag in his window. It didn't take long at all. I doubt that Woodward lives miles and miles out in the boondocks. I don't think Felt checking on the contents of Woodward's window would be that big a deal. Dean for some reason wants us to think it is.

The lies Woodward told to cover the identity of Deep Throat make no sense to me. He said that he reported that Deep Throat was a smoker to cover his identity. He said he referred to deep throat as a White House source to cover his identity. WHY? If a reporter never refers to his sources location or smoking and drinking habits ,doesn't that provide even more cover? As soon as a person trying to hide someone starts telling lies to cover his tracks, the easier it is to prove he is lying. It is what every great detective tries to do. It causes a good detective to focus on what has to be true and dismiss what ever might be a lie.. Lying to a detective is a big help to the detective breaking the case. It helps him focus on things that are true.. and upon which accurate deductions can be made. Anyone who has been around a good detective knows not to lie and not to include extraneous information. Doing so will get you caught. Yet Woodward did exactly what every beat reporter should know not to do.

Think of what a flimsy excuse, "I lied to you about small things to cover the identity of my source." is. If a reporter tells nothing about the looks, the place of meetings, the way they stayed in contact, then all the attention of your audience is on the information the source provided.

Once an analysis becomes aware of lies, then trying to determine the identity of the source can only be accomplished by an analysis of who knew what and when. In other word.. lets eliminate all the people who did not know everything that Deep Throat knew. If X did not know Y, when Deep Throat knew Y then X can not be Deep Throat.

An exhaustive elimination of those who did not know everything Deep Throat knew, when Deep Throat knew it, presents the inescapable conclusion that NO ONE was Deep Throat. The only reason to present extraneous information is to provide interest and drama for a movie or book, or to misdirect the blood hounds.. or both.

When you add to that all the things that Deep Throat got wrong, for no logical reason, you are left with the conclusion that Woodward did analysis based on what he knew... and sometimes Woodward was right and sometimes Woodward was wrong.

My belief is the evidence still says there is no single Deep Throat.

What we do have is a demented old man whose daughter is more than willing to swear that he is Deep Throat and a Woodward who needs a real Deep Throat lest the world find out that perhaps Woodward presents deductions and calls them sourced facts.

I've FELT that way for a long time.