WP: Deep Throat's Daughter, The Kindred Free Spirit

[kskiska]

Sunday, June 12, 2005; A01

W. Mark Felt and Joan Felt are like many fathers and daughters. Their roles have been reversed by time. The 61-year-old daughter now takes care of the 91-year-old father as his health falters, his twilight deepens.

They have found familial common ground and emotional space together. A former home health aide for the elder Felt describes how he would light up with a smile while talking to his doting daughter. A friend and university colleague of the younger Felt describes how she would scramble to make sure her father had the proper care.

But as fathers and daughters are wont to be, they were estranged once upon a time, and a study in extreme contrast.

He was the FBI man, the company man hunting down and spying on radical or countercultural movements of the kind that attracted his free-spirited daughter. She lived in a commune back in the 1970s, and her father disapprovingly told her she reminded him of the radical activists his agency was chasing, according to the Vanity Fair article that revealed her father as Deep Throat.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/11/AR2005061100724.html

[Skittles]

1. she is all too willing to make money off her dad

at least she has the integrity to admit it though

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. Where do you think that money will go, and how quickly do you think....

...it will be spent? My guess is that the family has already spent a fair amount of money on Felt's medical needs, and as he gets more feeble he will need an increasing amount of care.

Yes, if I were her and needed the money I would do the same thing if I had a story to sell.

[Skittles]

12. maybe I'd think differently if Felt had outed himself

his daughter admitted to promoting his identity for financial reasons (to pay for her son's law schooling, not her dad's health bills) - that doesnn't seem right to me at all.

[CoffeeCat]

2. What bothers me is that Felt's family--not Felt himself--outted him...

Maybe I'm off in my perceptions, but it seems like Felt's family really pushed to reveal his DT identity--during a time when Felt was vulnerable.

Felt suffers from dementia. Woodward said he talked with Felt three years ago, and he was confused and not the same person he had known during the height of Watergate. Dementia had taken its toll. That was three years ago.

Felt is frail, vulnerable and probably more open to exploitation.

He seems weaker and less able to protect the secret he kept his entire life. I think it was wrong for the secret to be pushed and revealed--when Felt is in this condition.

[PuraVidaDreamin]

3. She did The right thing for the wrong reason

She is her fathers daughter.

[Ravy]

4. More open to exploitation is also less open to confrontation...

... I don't see what waiting until he is in a coffin to expose him would benefit anyone.

If it was me, I would rather see my family share in some of the monetary benefit than it all go to others exploiting the fact that I had died.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

9. Do you have a parent in this condition? If you did, you might....

...have an appreciation of what it costs today to take care of someone like this. And the costs are rising with changes to Medicare policies.

If I had a parent in this condition, and I had a story that I knew would sell, you can bet that I would do the exact same thing.

Additionally, you don't what kind of discussions were held when Felt was capable of full rational thought. Your first instinct is to attack the family as if they've done something wrong, and IMHO, that's very sad.

[donsu]

5. I'm amazed at DUers bad mouthing Felt and his family

did you ever consider that Felt didn't come forward sooner because he didn't want his family killed or financially destroyed.

don't you want to read his book/movie, etc.?

you think some other family should get the book/movie money? or he should do it for free?

[ElectroPrincess]

6. I don't have a problem with her ... credit to her dad where credit IS DUE

I think that this is not unseemly. My God Bless her old man who deserves credit for his courage. It probably warms his heart that he can help his middle aged daughter. I begrudge neither individual.

[jrthin]

7. I am bothered

by the fact that Woodward and Bernstein made MILLIONS off Felt, while Felt and family gained financial little.

And I could see why Woodward and company were so willing to keep the secret, for as long as Felt remained in the background, Woodward could remain the center of the story, therefore all the money and fame are his.

[CoffeeCat]

10. It is sad...

...that Felt is living in a GARAGE in his daughter's house.

That really is a travesty. It's horrendously sad.

I'm really surprised that Woodstein didn't help out Felt, throughout Felt's life. I mean, here's Woodward--swimming in money, prestige and hobnobbing with the Washington elite--and it's because Mark Felt gave Woodstein the story.

I'm shocked that Woodward--between bites of beluga and trips to the Hamptons--didn't find a way to help out Felt--so he wouldn't have to live in his daughter's frickin GARAGE!

That part of the story makes me sick.

I don't disagree with Felt making money off of this. I don't disagree with Felt's daughter making some money too. Hell, the criminals made some bucks--why not the hero of the tale?

What makes me sad is that the daughter outted her father--during a time when he doesn't have the cognitive ability to decide whether he wants to disclose or not. He kept the secret his entire life--when he didn't have dementia. I think it was disrespectful of his wishes to reveal what he had kept hidden through the years.

I don't think Felt's daughter is evil or bad. However, I think she used bad judgment by disclosing while her father was vulnerable.

[jrthin]

11. I'm happy his name

was divulged now. Now, the Felts own the story. Had Felt died and his name was revealed, I think there would have been many naysers, and there wouldn't have been an independent way of verifying the story; and I don't trust Woodward.