Hero or Traitor

So now we have a name, W. Mark Felt, identified as the mythical "Deep Throat" of Watergate fame. And why do we have the name now?

Felt may also have a personal motivation in finally coming forward with the truth at age 91: His family apparently needs the money that Felt's sudden fame is expected to bring.

The mainstream media is falling all over themselves making this character out to be a hero. Felt apparently wasn't sure about that himself.

As the Post put it on Wednesday, Felt wondered if he was a "hero for helping the truth come out" -- or a "turncoat who betrayed his government, his president, and the FBI he revered."

To answer the title question as to whether Felt was a hero or a traitor we have to examine both motive and results as well as our own mindset.
Was he motivated by a strong sense of outrage at the abuse of power? No. In fact he committed various illegal break-ins himself and was convicted in 1980.
Was he motivated for revenge because he was angry about perceived slights? Apparently, yes. When J. Edgar Hoover died Felt thought he should have been appointed his successor.
Was he motivated for personal financial gain. Not likely. While his daughter seems to be trying to cash in on his notoriety, there is no evidence that he personally gained from his act of betrayal.
What were the results of his actions?
The immediate result was the ramping up of the investigation of Nixon administration and eventually led to Nixon's resignation of the presidency.
A secondary result was the regrettable Carter administration. This alone rules out hero status for Felt.

I just saw Henry Kissinger asked this question on "Fox & Friends" morning show. His answer (not an exact quote):

A hero does not spy on the president while serving as a senior administration official. If he saw something wrong he could have confronted the president or gone to the prosecutor, that may have been heroic.

In the final analysis, he will be viewed differently by people depending on their own mindset. Some on the left will believe he was a hero who performed a valuable public service. Those on the right will feel he was a traitor. My own position is he was a petty little man who betrayed his oath of office and undermined the administration he served during a time of war. He exemplified the worst of the Hoover FBI. After a week or two in the headlines he will be relegated to the dustbin of history a mere footnote.

Chris of A Large Regular brings our attention to this piece by Ben Stein. Political revisionism has lead people to assume Nixon was evil and did no good. Ben reminds us that there is more to the story:

Can anyone even remember now what Nixon did that was so terrible? He ended the war in Vietnam, brought home the POW's, ended the war in the Mideast, opened relations with China, started the first nuclear weapons reduction treaty, saved Eretz Israel's life, started the Environmental Protection Administration. Does anyone remember what he did that was bad?

Oh, now I remember. He lied. He was a politician who lied. How remarkable. He lied to protect his subordinates who were covering up a ridiculous burglary that no one to this date has any clue about its purpose. He lied so he could stay in office and keep his agenda of peace going. That was his crime. He was a peacemaker and he wanted to make a world where there was a generation of peace.

Read the rest it's interesting and educational.