I awoke this morn to this e-mail from Michael Burstein…
Given the news that Deep Throat is terminally ill, your post saying that "I really hope it turns out to be someone like Julie Nixon Eisenhower or Ben Stein" could be interpreted as hoping one of them is about to die, which I'm pretty sure is not the impression you meant to give…
No, you're right. I don't hope for anyone's death…especially Ben Stein, since the world needs all the funny Conservatives it can get.
But you know, I kinda wonder about this rumor that D.T. is very ill. Why would Woodward, who has zealously avoided giving anything but the slightest hint for decades, now reveal to anyone that it's someone who is now terminally ill? If the source is one of the two dozen or so popular suspects, there are going to be reporters on his porch, demanding to know if he's dying so they can rush back and say, "So-and-so is dying so he must be Deep Throat." That's probably not what the mystery man wants to endure in his final days of life. And there's nothing in it for Woodward, especially if his source continues to deny it on his death bed. You have to wonder if this is just another false lead.