Simon Sez: Petraeus and Watergate's John Dean Have a Lot in Common

Former CIA Director David Petraeus and yesteryear Watergate conspirator John Dean have a lot in common.

They know secrets. Dean told his in 1973 before a U.S. Senate committee. Petraeus has secrets too.

Is Gen. Petraeus the fall-guy like John Dean?

Does he have an attitude “what have I got to lose?”

Or does Petraeus have the good soldier belief to “fall on the sword for the team?”

Pundits are calling the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Libya “Bengazigate.”

Some are calling it worse than the Watergate scandal of 1972-74 because four U.S. citizens including a respected Ambassador were killed Sept. 11.

The severity comparison can be debated. What John Dean did in 1973 is not for debate.

To refresh your memory or if you’re too young to have lived through the Watergate era, John Dean was President Nixon’s White House Counsel. A few months after Republican-hired burglars were caught trying to wiretap the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate Hotel, Dean was given FBI investigation reports by acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray.

It cost Gray the chance to be named the permanent director. It cost Dean even more because his co-horts H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell and President Nixon had a fall guy to blame. Later it ultimately cost Dean his freedom, convicted of obstructing justice and disbarred from practicing law.He is now 74 years old and still dabbles in politics as an author and TV pundit.

Now you know why Gen. Petraeus might become just as historic as John Dean was 39 years ago.

The Watergate scandal impact taught us ordinary people the highest ranking people in the country know what’s going on, no matter what, no matter when.

Will you be watching? Dean’s testimony was estimated to have been watched in nearly 35 million homes that afternoon, capturing a whopping 85 percent of the audience watching TV at that time.

American Idol gets that number of home viewers but it takes about four shows to do it, and in prime time. That’s how big Dean’s day on the tube was. It’s believed only coverage after the assassination of John F. Kennedy the afternoon of Nov. 22, 1963 had a greater number of TV viewer in daytime hours.

The other question = Do American Idol fans even care?

I can answer that question. No. I’ve seen how they’ve spelled Petraeus. A pox on our education and current history programs and the topic for a future story.

Scott Simon, Executive Producer of ProVergent Media credits Dr. Kevin Buckley, DeSmet history teacher in 1973 for making him and others in the class watch Watergate development on TV. The result was he and thousands of other high school students at the time got the bug to be the next Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein. Being required to watch Meet the Press, Face the Nation and Issues and Answers didn't put us to sleep in those days.