bungled

The national staff of the Washington Post rarely covers police stories.  ----------------[book excerpt]------------  So, at Sussman's request, both Bernstein and Woodward returned to the office the next morning, a bright Sunday, June 18, to follow up.  An item moving on the Associated Press wire made it embarrassingly clear why McCord had deserved further checking.  According to campaign spending reports filed with the government, James McCord was the security coordinator of the Committee for the Reelection of the President (CRP)..

The two reporters stood in the middle of the newsroom and looked at each other.  What the hell do you think it means? Woodward asked.  Bernstein didn't know.

In Los Angeles, John Mitchell, the former U.S. Attorney General and the President's campaign manager, issued a statement:  "The person involved is the proprietor of a private security agency who was employed by our committee months ago to assist with the installation of our security system.  He has, as we understand it, a number of business clients and interests, and we have no knowledge of these relationships. 

We want to emphasize that this man and the other people involved were not operating on either our behalf or with our consent. 

There is no place in our campaign or in the electoral process for this type of activity, and we will not permit or condone it."

In Washington, the Democratic national chairman, Lawrence F. O'Brien, said the break-in "raised the ugliest question about the integrity of the political process that I have encountered in a quarter-century of political activity.  No mere statement of innocence by Mr. Nixon's campaign manager, John Mitchell, will dispel these questions."

...Several persons referred to McCord's integrity, his "rocklike" character, but there was something else.  Westrell and three others described McCord

as the consummate "government man" -- reluctant to act on his own initiative, respectful of the chain of command, unquestioning in following orders....


>> ...That morning at the Florida White House in Key Biscayne, presidential press secretary Ronald Ziegler briefly answered a question about the break-in at the Watergate by observing:  "Certain elements may try to stretch this beyond what it is."  Ziegler described the incident as "a third-rate burglary attempt" not worthy of further White House comment.

The next day, Democratic Party chairman O'Brien filed a $1 million civil damage suit against the Committee for the Re-election of the President.  Citing the "potential involvement" of Colson in the break-in, O'Brien charged that the facts were "developing a clear line to the White House" and added: 

"We learned of this bugging attempt only because it was bungled. 

How many other attempts have there been and just who was involved?  I believe we are about to witness the ultimate test of this administration that so piously committed itself to a new era of law and order just four years ago."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once we were lovers
but somehow things have changed
Now we're just lonely people
Tryin' to forget each other's names
Now we're just lonely people
Tryin' to forget each other's names

What came between us?
Maybe we were just too young to know
But now and then
I feel the same,
And sometimes at night I think
I hear you calling my name
Mmm-hmm-mmm--these dreams...
They keep me going these days

Once we were lovers
But that was long ago
We lived together then
And now we do not even say hello
We lived together then
And now we do not even say hello

What came between us?
Maybe we were just too young to know
But now and then
I feel the same,
And sometimes at night I think
I hear you calling my name
Mmm-hmm-mmm -- these dreams --
They keep me going these days

=======================
{book excerpt:  All The President's Men -- Bernstein / Woodward.  Copyright 1974, Simon & Schuster, NY, NY}
{song:  "These Dreams" -- written by Jim Croce, Life and Times album, 1972 and also included on Photographs & Memories - His Greatest Hits.}

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