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directfiesta · 08-21-2010, 11:57 AM

Question: Given the current state of the media, do you think that something as big as the Watergate investigation could happen today?

Carl Bernstein: I think... I think hypothetical questions are very difficult to answer, especially "if" history questions. But do I think that there are news organizations that if they had the same kind of information that Bob Woodward and I had in Watergate would go ahead and print the stories? Absolutely, I do.

I think what is really a bigger question is, how would readers respond? How would the political system respond? The great thing about Watergate is, is that the system worked. The American system worked. The press did its job. We did what we were supposed to do.

Then you had a great judge, the judiciary worked. The great judge pried some secret information out of the defendants in his courtroom and helped break open the conspiracy based partly his actions on what he had read in our stories. Then you had, even though the prosecution was overwhelmed by its closeness to the Nixon White House and by nefariousness in the Justice Department. You then had a great congressional investigation, the Senate investigation into Watergate. Could you have that today in the partisan atmosphere that exists on Capital Hill? Could you have a real bipartisan investigation that would take the facts wherever they went? I?m not all sure.

The Congress is a dysfunctional institution, it?s broken. One of our three branches of government is broken. Perhaps irrevocably, it is... we?re paying a terrible price for its mendacity and its inability to deal with the problems of America. The Congress of the United States, the mediocre quality of so many of its members as well as the ideological divides and many other factors that make the Congress so dysfunctional. You then add in Watergate?a special prosecutor who, when the President of the United States claimed that he had the privilege to withhold his tapes from the investigation, it went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court decided unanimously that the President was not above the law and that he had to turn over his tapes. And that was with the President of the United States expecting the Chief Justice that he had appointed to support him. Would that happen today?

And then you had a vote by the House Judiciary Committee to impeach the President of the United States, several articles of impeachment. Would that happen today with the same information and the partisan environment? It was Republicans that really held Nixon accountable and said, "Look, he might be a Republican, but he is a criminal President." He has, you know, bent the Constitution, violated his oath of office. Would that happen today in our political system? I?m not at all sure. I?m not nearly as worried about the press as I am about the political system.

Recorded July 22, 2010
Interviewed by David Hirschman

http://bigthink.com/ideas/21729

08-21-2010, 11:57 AM
directfiesta Too lazy to set a custom title Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Montreal, Quebec Posts: 29,787	Question: Given the current state of the media, do you think that something as big as the Watergate investigation could happen today? Carl Bernstein: I think... I think hypothetical questions are very difficult to answer, especially "if" history questions. But do I think that there are news organizations that if they had the same kind of information that Bob Woodward and I had in Watergate would go ahead and print the stories? Absolutely, I do. I think what is really a bigger question is, how would readers respond? How would the political system respond? The great thing about Watergate is, is that the system worked. The American system worked. The press did its job. We did what we were supposed to do. Then you had a great judge, the judiciary worked. The great judge pried some secret information out of the defendants in his courtroom and helped break open the conspiracy based partly his actions on what he had read in our stories. Then you had, even though the prosecution was overwhelmed by its closeness to the Nixon White House and by nefariousness in the Justice Department. You then had a great congressional investigation, the Senate investigation into Watergate. Could you have that today in the partisan atmosphere that exists on Capital Hill? Could you have a real bipartisan investigation that would take the facts wherever they went? I?m not all sure. The Congress is a dysfunctional institution, it?s broken. One of our three branches of government is broken. Perhaps irrevocably, it is... we?re paying a terrible price for its mendacity and its inability to deal with the problems of America. The Congress of the United States, the mediocre quality of so many of its members as well as the ideological divides and many other factors that make the Congress so dysfunctional. You then add in Watergate?a special prosecutor who, when the President of the United States claimed that he had the privilege to withhold his tapes from the investigation, it went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court decided unanimously that the President was not above the law and that he had to turn over his tapes. And that was with the President of the United States expecting the Chief Justice that he had appointed to support him. Would that happen today? And then you had a vote by the House Judiciary Committee to impeach the President of the United States, several articles of impeachment. Would that happen today with the same information and the partisan environment? It was Republicans that really held Nixon accountable and said, "Look, he might be a Republican, but he is a criminal President." He has, you know, bent the Constitution, violated his oath of office. Would that happen today in our political system? I?m not at all sure. I?m not nearly as worried about the press as I am about the political system. Recorded July 22, 2010 Interviewed by David Hirschman http://bigthink.com/ideas/21729 __________________ I know that Asspimple is stoopid ... As he says, it is a FACT ! But I can't figure out how he can breathe or type , at the same time ....