Morning Chuckle

This morning's chuckle comes to us by way of a column in Newsday by Martin Schram. Charles Colson, convicted Watergate criminal appeared on TV:

"I was shocked because I worked with him closely," Colson said on MSNBC. "And you would think the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, you could talk to with the same confidence you could talk to a priest." Then on CNN: "I was shocked, because ... I talked to him often and trusted him with very sensitive materials. So did the president. To think that he was out going around in back alleys at night looking for flowerpots, passing information to someone, it's . . . not the image of the professional FBI that you would expect."

Poor Chuck, shocked that one could talk to the deputy director of the FBI about criminal activities and then he would actually DO something about it. Since when have we expected that confessing to a law enforcement officer was like confessing to a priest? The very notion makes me laugh.

Schram attempts to clear away the smokescreen arising from the group that has been dubbed "Watergate Big House Veterans for Truth".

Lost in the wailings of Nixon's men is the one thing Americans need to know to understand Felt's dilemma. Felt couldn't go to his boss. J.Edgar Hoover had just died and Nixon had replaced him with an unqualified Nixon loyalist - L.Patrick Gray III, who proved his worth by destroying documents and slipping others to officials running the White House cover-up. Felt couldn't go to the attorney general; John Mitchell was attorney general when he presided over the Watergate break-in planning and, after leaving to run Nixon's campaign, was replaced by a Nixon loyalist not trusted by many FBI hands. Felt couldn't go to Congress - the Senate Watergate Committee didn't exist yet. Felt certainly couldn't go to Nixon or all the president's henchmen.

So he helped his young reporter friend, Bob Woodward. And, three decades later, these Nixon criminals popped up on our looking-glass/screens, doing their shtick. They wailed like pro wrestlers pounding the mat in feigned pain.

Watergate wasn't about politics, it was about crimes. Crimes planned, condoned and committed by men throughout the highest levels of the Executive branch.

"The same confidence you could talk to a priest." Ha. That's just really funny.