Posted on 06/01/2005 8:02:05 PM PDT by epluribus unum1
"...Ultimately the story died because of money. The Felt family and their attorney wanted a lot of money, and People magazine - with my blessing - backed away in what would have been a case of "checkbook journalism."
All this is an attempt to take the heat off NewsWeek.
The sob Felt should be prosecuted. He is a hero to the communists and socialists is all the hero he is.
This doesn't have to be excerpted:
'Deep Throat' Family May Cash in on Fame
By GREG SANDOVAL
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The family of W. Mark Felt, the former FBI official whose alter ego as Deep Throat has been revealed, appears ready to cash in on his newfound fame.
And if money is what they want, Felt's family stands to reap a huge financial windfall, according to literary agents, who estimated Wednesday that a book deal could be worth up to $1 million.
"That is assuming he has a compelling story to tell," said Glen Hartley, president of Writer's Representatives LLC, based out of New York. "A book could easily be valued in the six figures."
As news broke that Felt was indeed the secret source who guided two young Washington Post reporters as they uncovered the Watergate scandal, Felt's family offered to sell family photographs - the first in an apparent flood of money-making opportunities.
Felt's role in the scandal, which forced the resignation of then-President Nixon, surfaced in an article written for Vanity Fair by a family friend, San Francisco attorney John O'Connor.
He wrote that Felt's daughter Joan, who persuaded her 91-year-old father to go public as "Deep Throat," lamented that the Post's Bob Woodward would get all the credit - and profit - if Felt went to the grave with his secret.
"We could make at least enough money to pay some bills like the debt I've run up for the kids' education," she told Felt, according to the article. "Let's do it for the family."
Vanity Fair said the Felts were not paid for the article, and Felt's grandson, Nick Jones, said Tuesday that the family has yet to decide how to proceed. Nobody answered the phone Wednesday at Joan Felt's home, where she cares for her father.
Clearly, interest in Felt's story is white hot.
"All The President's Men," the 1974 book by Woodward and Carl Bernstein about the scandal, ranked as the 43th best-selling title Wednesday afternoon on Amazon.com, up from about 400th the night before. Requests for the movie jumped twelvefold on Netflix, the online DVD rental service.
O'Connor didn't respond Wednesday to a request from The Associated Press for comment, but he told The Wall Street Journal that he's fielding numerous book and movie offers.
Questions remain about what kind of a story Felt can tell today. He suffered a stroke in 2001 and has been in declining health since.
Felt appeared frail when he shuffled to the doorway of his daughter's house Tuesday to give photographers a brief opportunity to take his picture. His family refused all questions, fueling speculation about how his age has affected his awareness and memory.
Before Felt's story can be sold, the family must show publishers or filmmakers that he has a compelling and accurate story to tell, said Peter Osnos, chief executive of the publishing company PublicAffairs and a former Post reporter.
"The big issue is, did Felt keep notes or a diary?" Osnos said. "Did he tell anybody or record anything in advance? The impression that you have now is a very old and frail man. If there is no written record, what you may have is the family scrambling around looking for something to say."
Felt's family will also have to compete with Woodward, whose own Deep Throat book is being rushed into print by Simon & Schuster.
Osnos also sees nothing wrong with Felt's family trying to sell his story.
"There's no reason why they shouldn't," Osnos said. "This isn't Amber Frey, who fell into a situation and then try to capitalize on it. This was a guy who really was an historic figure. This is the last great mystery of the Watergate era. It's a big story about a big story."
Without Woodward and Bernstein's cooperation, Felt's family won't likely have access to their notes, which the pair sold for $5 million to the University of Texas two years ago. At the time, they said documents naming Deep Throat would be kept secure at an undisclosed Washington location until the source's death.
So, like the useless heir are carting the old man around trying to cash in as much as they can?
Read this one.
Where is the direct link to your quote?
The family should be prosecuted for trying to profit from a felony.
It's not about principle, is it?
Felt is well into dementia and the family is seeing the big payday slip away.
I can see the family isn't worried that the old guy could/should be prosecuted for leaking to the press.
My first thoughts exactly!
"We could make at least enough money to pay some bills like the debt I've run up for the kids' education," she told Felt, according to the article. "Let's do it for the family."
This daughter is a piece of work. It was plain in her demeanor yesterday that she thought she had hit the jackpot.
Setting aside the content of the story, it did involve Woodward and her father. That she's trying to horn in on what she perceives as a cash cow shows how thoughtless she is as to what this means to this country.
I have been unable to find the quote at the top of this thread on that web site.
Ah, the self righteous democrats always in a quest for money.
You probably won't find this funny, but after Watergate, he got nailed for burglary and illegal wiretaps against left wing terrorist groups.
President Reagan gave him a pardon (though I think he had a suspicion Felt was deep throat).
Of those radical leftists who wanted to attack this country, at least one, if not several would also get pardons from Clinton.
Let's see. Amber Frey unwittingly gets entangled with a wife murderer and actually is part of that story as she agreed to tape the man, thereby helping convict him.
What was Joan's part in this saga again? Oh, that's right. She "fell into it" by the luck of family.
Bless his heart. He's dang near been scooped! FOTFL!
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