"And so after all these years, Deep Throat has stepped out from behind the curtain," writes the New York Times in an editorial today.

This light-toned commentary comes from a newspaper that got the crap beat out of it on the Watergate story. Is it interesting to compare the secret of Deep Throat to Superman's secret identify, but was it really necessary to use the opportunity to take a pot shot at bloggers?

Although serious students of the scandal that toppled the Nixon administration always considered Mr. Felt a prime candidate, it was more fun - although deeply unrealistic - to imagine that the mysterious figure who kept stepping out from behind the shadows to feed information to the reporter Bob Woodward was a famous face like Alexander Haig or Henry Kissinger. You don't read a mystery to find out that the answer to the central riddle is the guy who had a walk-on part on Page 143.

Mr. Woodward and his reporting partner, Carl Bernstein, said they would never tell. Now, at a time when reporters' right to keep sources secret is under so much attack, it's worth asking whether Deep Throat would have shared his secrets at all if he had not had confidence they would keep their promise.

Mr. Felt was perfectly placed to know all the details of the F.B.I. investigation into the Watergate burglary, as well as White House attempts to derail it. And, since he had hoped to succeed the recently deceased J. Edgar Hoover only to be passed over in favor of a Nixon loyalist from outside the agency, he had motives both high and low for wanting to get the story out. It's perfectly logical, but given the current temper of the times, it's likely that by tomorrow at least a few bloggers will have set about trying to prove that it wasn't really him after all. And don't be surprised to see some version of Swift Boat Veterans for Deep Throat.

The 91-year-old Mr. Felt and his family clearly felt it was now or never and talked to Vanity Fair magazine. Younger people who weren't around when Richard Nixon was president may at least relate to the family's hopes of using their long-held secret to pay for the next generation's tuition.

Watergate aficionados will mourn the end to a 30-year cottage industry of Deep Throat speculation. It's a little like discovering that Superman's secret identity was, well - Clark Kent.

National Public Radio did a story on "Morning Edition" that made the case that Woodward first made contact with Felt as Deep Throat while doing a story on the assassination attempt of Alabama Gov. and presidential candidate George Wallace. The reporter and G-man apparently became "friendly" at that time, making it an important milestone in building the relationship that soon brought out the information on the Watergate.

Here's the link to NPR's coverage.

NPR also provides a free link to the original Vanity Fair story online.

Editor and Publisher's Greg Mitchell tells an interesting small tale about Felt and the FBI's notorious Cointelpro domestic spying-and-burglary program. This is interesting to me because I was also on the wrongful end of the same program during the late 1980s during the Iran-Contra investigation. Perhaps it's a good time to FOIA the file?

The Locust Fork is interested in your comments on the Deep Throat revelation. Posting is totally open below, and you can even post anonymously. Fire away.