Carl Bernstein Finds Plame Parallels To Watergate (E&P)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Published: October 27, 2005 7:30 AM ET

NEW YORK As the anticipation over possible indictments in the Valerie Plame case reaches excruciating levels, Watergate legend Carl Bernstein warns that comparisons to the case that made him famous more than 30 years ago must be viewed carefully.

Still, the former Washington Post reporter who shared a Pulitzer Prize for helping to expose the Nixon administration's wrongdoing says some parallels can be drawn between the two investigations, particularly the way both helped uncover extended dishonesty in the White House.

"We are obviously watching and the press is beginning to document the implosion of a presidency," Bernstein said Thursday, just hours before the Plame grand jury is set to expire. "How destructive that implosion is going to be, ultimately, we don't know yet.

"But what the Plame leak investigation has unveiled is what the press should have been focusing on long before and without let up--how we went to war, the dishonesty involved in that process in terms of what the president and vice-president told the American people and the Congress, and the routine smearing by members of the Bush administration of people who questioned their actions and motives."


More: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001391666

[Missy M]

1. Thank you Carl Bernstein for countering Bob Woodward who is...

saying that the Plame leak is no big deal, just cocktail hour gossip and he doesn't know what it has to do with the war.

[zann725]

11. Carl's always remained Dem; Woodward...I can not explain.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. Woodward was never a Dem, has always been a representative

of the ruling elite. Once, a long time ago, he was also an ambitious young reporter who got his teeth into a big story. That was in the era before the big media lockdown, back when even Republicans showed occasional flashes of statesmanship.

[fishwax]

20. exactly. woodward's a celebrity

He's a celebrity journalist, and he's long been more interested in the celebrity part.

bernstein's a journalist.

[EVDebs]

29. This should clear things up on Woodward

A Few Thoughts About Deep Throat by Bob Harris

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

"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."

Bennett is now SEN. Robert F. Bennett, R-UT these days. Woodward's intell background
http://www.webcom.com/ctka/pr196-woodward.html

and Ben Bradlee's intell background
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKbradleeB.htm

Hmmm. Seems the agencies must first approve of impeachment prior to throwing the switch, so to speak.

[JoFerret]

2. Good work Carl

Woodward - very suspect imo.

[Wetzelbill]

4. Woodward loves his status too much

he gets access, invitations to cocktail parties etc. Why screw that all up and become a rabid investigative journalist again? He likes being Bob Woodward, you don't see Sy Hersch getting fawned over on the Washington status quo whore circuit do you? Woodward is fine riding on the coattails of something he did over thirty years ago. Guys like Hersch, Carl Bernstein and Greg Palast are not.

[Arkana]

3. So Bernstein says yes, Woodward says no.

I'm glad that Bernstein is at least attempting to set things right after Woodward's asinine statements the other day.

[rodeodance]

6. i would trust carl before Woodward.

[Hissyspit]

10. Because Woodward turned into an ass. Could have BROKEN this story...

he had the access. If he had been looking for it, he could have found it, or pointed the way to it. He is a has-been.

[fishwax]

21. He had the access, but he was too busy polishing *'s ass

"plan of attack"? ... seems like he ignored the domestic front of the attachk. I think you're right that now he has to discount the importance of the story, because it reveals his own myopic approach/incompetence.

[nodehopper]

24. Plan of ATtack was endorsed as recommended reading

by the Bush/Cheney reelection campaign. Enough said.

[Hissyspit]

31. "Plan of Attack" Stupid jingoistic title - they attacked, didn't have much

of a plan.

[leftchick]

5. on IMUS tom brokaw said no way does it resemble WG

he said it is just like Iran Contra! :eyes:

[suegeo]

7. And they let 'em walk in Iran-Contra

The powers that be knew Reagan and Poppy were in the loop re: Iran-Contra. They knew the crimes went all the way to the top and didn't just stop with that asshole Ollie North or the creepy Poindexter. Reagan (really Poppy Bush) went against the wishes of Congress and had a secret war. Despite the fact congress forbade them from doing so. Despite the fact that congress declares wars, not the exec.

Jesus wept.

However, the powers that be didn't want to take the case all the way to the top, because that would hamper the Cold war (TM) and the fight against communism.

So they let them skate. If they had nailed these guys back then, we wouldn't have had the mess we have now--no 9.11, no Iraq II fiasco, good budgeting, etc.

I fear that they will let them skate again using the same flawed thought proess: can't let this interfere with the whole War on Terrorism (TM).

The thing is, they STARTED the WOT by, at best, allowing 9.11 to happen. Jesus wept.

ON EDIT: The really scary part of this is that those in the US Govt. raped our minds repeatedly and with great success. The govt used their crime on 9.11 to shock us, then they raped us again by convincing a good portion of the sheep that Iraq attacked the USA. Iraq was not even an actor in their bogus WOT (TM) until the USA started murdering that country.

[ElectroPrincess]

8. Tom Brokaw is way too distracted ...

with an seemingly never ending love affair with HIMSELF. :puke:

[0007]

30. Brokaw has always had a big ego problem and he's hardly ever

right.

[Hissyspit]

9. "what the press should have been focusing on long before & without let up"

The press are complicit! Who's going to investigate the press?

I mean, no one could accuse the Washington Post of NOT wanting to go to war.

[Joe Chi Minh]

12. Why wouldn't Woodward do that.

All the credit he ever gained by his role in Watergate has been recklessly cynically squandered by his support of this neocon corporatist usurpation of democracy.

[goforit]

16. Watergate was a setup for Nixon by people in his own cabinet.

Woodward was there to provide the setup.

And in my opinion....Poppy Bush WAS Deep Throat!!!

[nvliberal]

23. You can't possibly be serious.

Nixon was deeply involved from the get-go because of his paranoia of not being re-elected.

His poll numbers were shot by the start of 1971, and it was NOT a given he would be re-elected. Hence the need for he and his henchmen to try and (successfully) manipulate the opposing party's primaries to ensure his own re-election.

McGovern was NOT the Democrats' "choice." He was Richard Nixon's choice for an opponent thanks to the dirty tricks campaign effectively eliminating stronger candidates in the primaries.

[Straight Shooter]

14. Bernstein has remained low-key for all the years since Watergate.

Woodward reminds me of a squawking bluejay, except he isn't anywhere near as pretty.

[goforit]

15. And now the PUBLIC will never trust GOPs forever!!!!!!!!!!!

[snappyturtle]

17. I heard....

Bernstein and he was wonderful. I hope the Democratic party was listening....and I loved the way he got after the press! Too bad the media can't someway be held legally liable for not reporting the news and pursuing the rationale :sarcasm: for going into the war mode.The media had to be in cahoots (sp?) with the administration and being a woman that never forgets wrongs I'd love to smack Tweety bird silly for his spin-around last November on election day.

[baron j]

25. They can't be held legally liable, but you can cut their

purse strings by not watching, reading, listening (which includes their advertisements), and by informing their sponsors that you aren't watching because they aren't real journalists.

[WI_DEM]

18. Bernstein stayed true to his ethical reporting roots while Woodward

went for the $$$ and got consumed by the power.

[maryallen]

19. Thanks, Carl, but tell me:

Did your pencil break?

Two years ago?

Can the families of wounded and deceased soldiers sue newspapers and/or journalists for failure to do their jobs?

Probably not, ... but how else to force them to report the truth?

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[conscious]

26. Plame Worse than Watergate

The Watergate crime itself was a mere break-in. The Plame crime was outing a covert op, which could lead to many deaths and inability to recruit for the CIA due to heightened danger.

[newyawker99]

32. Hi conscious!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[EVDebs]

27. The CIA and The Media by Carl Bernstein, Oct 1977 Rolling Stone

needs and update. Is Carl or any other journalist out there up to the task ? Or is Operation Mockingbird still operating ?

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmockingbird.htm

Or does Ben Bradlee's and Bob Woodward's intelligence backgrounds prevent an update...

[geniph]

28. This just in! Fire - hot! Mexico - full of Mexicans!

News at 11!

(did this JUST occur to him, or what?)

[SaveElmer]

33. Should be Bernstein and Woodward...

Not the other way around!!!