Far-Right Old-Age Brigade

Turns out, National Review editor William F. Buckley knew about all the corrupt and illegal shenanigans of the Nixon White House and kept his mouth shut. And Buckley says in an NR June 3rd editorial that he's mad as hell that W. Mark Felt didn't do the same thing. According to Buckley, Felt should have given his info to acting head of the FBI, L. Patrick Grey, or alternatively, he should have divulged everything he knew to the head of the Justice Department, Attorney General John Mitchell. That is to say, Felt should have done nothing. L. Patrick Grey was Nixon's handpicked successor to J. Edgar Hoover, and John Mitchell was so in Nixon's thrall that he was convicted and put in jail for his illegal acts on Nixon's behalf. Mitchell is the only AG ever to be put in jail. So far. And there are quite a few high-profile freepers who believe Felt should have gone to Grey or Mitchell: Among them: FBI agent G. Gordon Liddy who supervised the Watergate break-in and went to jail; Nixon Special Counsel Charles Colson who went to jail for his complicity in the Watergate crimes; E. Howard Hunt, Liddy's accomplice in the Watergate break-in who went to jail; and Robert Novak who should be in jail for his role in outing CIA operative Valerie Plame. They all agree with Buckley that Felt should have played ball with the criminals running the White House in 1972. I'm not sure why these over-the hill third-rate spooks are having such outraged hissy fits--Buckley is 80, Liddy is 75, Colson is 74, Hunt is 86 and Novak is 74. They should be ecstatic in their golden years that the current GOP White House has returned to the Nixon values of oppression, secret schemes, surveillance of ordinary citizens, condoned brutality in government and criminal and illegal activities. Could it be that these old fools are scared to death the same thing that happened to Nixon and his criminal cohorts is inevitably going to happen to the Bush administration? One of the more interesting items in the Buckley article is that Buckley says his old friend and boss at the CIA, E. Howard Hunt, told him that one of the break-in felons was ready and willing to kill journalist Jack Anderson if he was told to do so. Buckley kept his mouth shut about that too. Buckley says he doesn't believe Anderson's life was in peril. Buckley's tag line in his editorial is: “Mark Felt, posing as an incorruptible agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was advancing his own drama. And now he wants some money for it.” Fact Number One: Anderson's life absolutely was in peril. Fact Number Two: E. Howard Hunt is alive and well and plans to sell his book, “American Spy” in 2006. So let's see, how does it all add up according to William F. Buckley? 1) Never divulge information about criminal activities in the White House 2) Never divulge information about plans to murder journalists 3) Cultivate alliances only with felons who lie and cheat for the GOP 4) Only Republicans should profit from being a spy