Say it with me, Chicago: John Kass is an IDIOT!
Thu Jun 02, 2005 at 08:48:20 AM PDT
Did you know that Linda Tripp is as much a hero as Deep Throat? NO? Well, you obviously don't read the
Trib's John Kass !
With so much attention rightfully being paid to the unmasking of W. Mark Felt as "Deep Throat," the source of Watergate fame, it was time for a cultural experiment.
So I typed "W. Mark Felt" into the news bar in Google and pressed the "enter" key.
Up came stories about Felt, the former senior FBI official who leaked information to the Washington Post, and articles from that symbiotic relationship that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
But cultural experiments must be fair. Otherwise, angry Nixonians could accuse me of liberal elitism, or is that elite mainstream mediaism?
Follow me below the fold. . .
To add balance, I typed in "Linda Tripp" next to Felt's name and pressed the enter key.
Guess what happened? Not much.
No news articles put them in context Wednesday morning, as media spasms roiled over America, birthing thousands of legitimate stories about Felt's heroism and Nixon's crimes.
So Felt is the hero. And last I heard, Tripp was being ridiculed about her physical appearance, portrayed by the obese John Goodman on "Saturday Night Live."
"You should have predicted that," said Chicago attorney David Schippers, a Democrat who knows something about presidential abuse of power and impeachment.
"Felt is treated as a hero, and you know something? He was heroic," Schippers said. "He stood up to power. And Linda Tripp was heroic too. But they destroyed her."
That's right, John, because having meaningless sex with an intern is EXACTLY THE SAME as subverting the constitution and stealing a Presidential election.
More wisdom from the boy genius:
Tripp is the Pentagon employee who secretly taped conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, which led to impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, who also abused power but did not resign.
Both presidents abused their power, lied and connived, and used the hammer of government to smash opponents. One had an unpopular war and inflation. The other was in office when people had fat wallets, as Americans were encouraged to not let foreign policy bother them too much.
While hushed reverential tones around Felt are obvious, Tripp has been ignored. When mentioned, she's ridiculed. Why?
"Because Felt put down a Republican president. And Linda Tripp nailed a Democratic president," Schippers said.
Just so there isn't any mistake, I think Felt is heroic for risking much to protect this country from presidential abuses of power.
He had a larger view about the country, and he had his own personal agenda, including his career and the direction of the FBI. No source is perfectly noble, no writers are purely objective, and those who argue otherwise are fools.
Yet America owes Felt and the Washington Post a debt. And if his family cashes in on his story, selling book and movie rights to scratch up college tuition for the grandchildren, so what?
Nixon used the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service as weapons against his political enemies. Clinton dropped bombs on Iraq when he was impeached and had the leverage of hundreds of mysterious FBI files.
You're so right John, because, after all, Iraq didn't have any weapons of mass destruction, did they? Oh wait, I guess that throws a monkey wrench into your whole "W bombed Iraq to protect America," thing, doesn't it. Hmmmmmmm. I guess you're going to have to do some more creative thinking to get around that one. By the way, when you come up with anyone else who equates Monica Lewinsky and Watergate (no, not your buddies in the Young Republicans out in DuPage County, A REAL PERSON), please let me know. . .
And what about Tripp?
"She's a hero to me, but she's not a hero to the media," Schippers said. "She was called a liar. She was ridiculed for the way she looked, for her appearance. She was savaged; she was made fun of on television. They destroyed her."
Felt was shielded, though he was an FBI official leaking privileged information. Tripp was warned by Clinton's people not to release the tapes. She had no protection, other than those tapes, Schippers said. She was publicly eviscerated and marked for revenge.
"If he's a hero, and he is, then she's a hero. They're both heroes. But they're treated differently, aren't they?"
My quibble is not with John's political party affiliation, but with his junior high-level political analysis. Geesh, this crap would have gotten D's from my high school history professor. I am amazed every day by this man's ability to retain his job in an otherwise pretty good newspaper.
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