MSNBC presented me with a panel discussion on moral values the other night that was moderated by Mike Barnicle, the famous literary grave-robber, that also featured Lawrence Kudlow, the famous cocaine-guzzling financier, and Joe Scarborough, the famous wife-dumping ex-congressperson. (Carl Bernstein was also there, running with a worse crowd than he ever did when he was hanging with Don Segretti.)

Anyway, this brood of B-list vipers blathered on from Hell until breakfast, driving me to one of the Internets on which I discovered this and then, this.

Consider: a plagiarist moderates a discussion on "values" with one guy who chucked the frau overboard the first chance he had, and a stock-market pimp who once put half of Medellin up his nose. The discussion is carried on further by a degenerate gambler writing on behalf of an institution that is giving its "Leadership Award" to a pill-popping creature of the strip-mall night who's currently working on Wife No. 4. Welcome to the mystical body of suckers, y'all.

As with most things, The Founder had a good eye for the likes of Bill (Sportin' Life) Bennett and the rest of the Green Room Sanhedrin: "Alas for you...you hypocrites! You who are like whitewashed tombs that look handsome on the outside but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of corruption." (Matthew 23: 27-28).

He was the first major whistleblower of our time, and speculation on his identity was the topic of numerous books and articles until 2005, when his family revealed his part in the major political drama of the Sixties:

W. Mark Felt Sr., the associate director of the FBI during the Watergate scandal who, better known as "Deep Throat," became the most famous anonymous source in American history, died yesterday. He was 95.

Felt died at 12:45 p.m. at a hospice near his home in Santa Rosa, Calif., where he had been living since August.

Felt "was fine this morning" and was "joking with his caregiver," according to his daughter, Joan Felt. She said in a phone interview that her father ate a big breakfast before remarking that he was tired and going to sleep.

"He slipped away," she said.

As the second-highest official in the FBI under longtime director J. Edgar Hoover and interim director L. Patrick Gray, Felt detested the Nixon administration's attempt to subvert the bureau's investigation into the complex of crimes and coverups known as the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

He secretly guided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward as he and his colleague Carl Bernstein pursued the story of the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office buildings and later revelations of the Nixon administration's campaign of spying and sabotage against its perceived political enemies.

The Nixon library

Venturing into that room, visitors learned that Watergate, which provoked a constitutional crisis and became an enduring byword for abuses of executive power, was really a "coup" engineered by Nixon enemies. The exhibit accused Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein — without evidence — of "offering bribes" to further their famous coverage.

Digby: "I'm sure you must be wondering what kind of low-life historical hack would allow himself or herself to be associated with such an affront to truth and decency."

Yet from the start, the library had trouble being taken seriously. Its first director, Hugh Hewitt, announced that researchers deemed unfriendly would be banned from the archives, singling out the Washington Post's Bob Woodward as a candidate for exclusion. Scholars cried foul; Hewitt revoked the plan...read on

The Daily Background: Thousands march against war...thousands more expected to turn out for May 1 boycott actions
Talk To Action: Episcopal newspaper exposes rightwing agencies.

New England Republican: This pitiful Rethug (held prisoner in Massachusets?) flays Powerline for their bald hypocrisy. The Rather-killers were granted the privilege of hosting streams of Neil Young's new CD after agreeing not to criticize him or the album's the anti-Dubya content. Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast...(thnx to reader mp)

The Democratic Daily Blog: Scott Ritter talks tough with High School students about Iraq, Iran and the future of their country.

The Existentialist Cowboy: Carl Bernstein calls for a Senate investigation of Bush conspiracy...and if you don't believe the liberals, listen to Patrick Buchanan. Actually, Buchanan has been critical of BU$HCO for quite a spell. Take a look at some of the articles in his magazine, The American Conservative.

EdItorial Cartoons from Bob Gieger over at Democrats.com

In their quest for being fair and balanced Hannity and Colmes spent the better part of twenty minutes with Bernie Goldberg (a guy who has made his living attacking Dan Rather) tear apart Rather and CBS, Monday night about the "Rathergate "episode. To follow up, they brought in Carl Bernstein to look at it from the opposite perspective. I was really interested to see Carl debate Hannity on the findings from the 200 page plus report and discuss journalism in general. As soon as some meaningful dialogue began to take place, the segment ended.

Video

Hannity: What if John Kerry won because this became one of the biggest issues in the campaign?

Bernstein: What if John Kerry lost because of the Swift Boat allegations...

A few minutes later...

Colmes: We gotta split

A surprised Bernstein: We gotta quit?...

So, twenty minutes of Goldberg, three and a half of Bernstein. Do I believe he was booted, not really. Do I believe that his opposing views to Goldberg's was limited...you bet.

: I've been disabled lately so I have a chance to watch more television than the average ten people do. The formats that are shown are so infuriating in the political forum because just when a guest is making a relatively intelligent point, the host has to brake for commercial and when the show comes back, the host changes the subject altogether. However Carl Bernstein was able to make an interesting point on Topic A with Tina Brown. He discusses the problems between what is truth and what is not and how they are reported on Talk Radio and Talk TV.

Watch Clip (It takes about a minute to download from DSL because of a compression problem right now)

Former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein--who was a major force in the "Watergate" expose of the Nixon White House's serial lying and criminality--said, "I do not remember a time I felt as unhopeful about politics and journalism as I do now." He also commented on what he called the "astonishing amount of untruth from the White House" and the need for the media to explore it. Bernstein has seen some lying in his time. This statement is chilling when one consider's it comes from a man who's award-winning reporting helped bring down a president. more