This is George Gordon Battle Liddy.

In 1971, Liddy and a group of men broke into the Democratic National Headquarters, located in the Watergate Hotel. They were caught.

Initially, the story of the break-in was a source of amusement for Washington D.C. politicos and press. However, a young Washington Post reporter by the name of Bob Woodward recognized one of the burglars as James McCord. McCord was not only a former CIA operative, he was (at the time) a member of Nixon's "Committee to Re-Elect the President", better known as CREEP.

Woodward -and fellow Post reporter Carl Bernstein- eventually linked the burglars with a covert group of operatives whose job was to seal any "leaks" coming out of the White House. They were fondly nicknamed "The Plumbers".

Liddy was head of the Plumbers and had also led the burglary of the office of L.A. psychiatrist, Lewis Fielding who had a client named Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg had been the man responsible for leaking out information damaging to Nixon, concerning the Vietnam War: The Pentagon Papers.

Eventually, Liddy was tried and convicted of burglary, wiretapping and conspiracy. He served four years of a twenty-year sentence. His sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

Today, Liddy is a national radio talk-show host and snake oil salesman.

Liddy's present-day counterpart:

** UPDATE ** I first thought it was this guy: Matthew Dowd

Now, I don't. When I wrote this, he struck me as shady. They all looked shady. They still do. Every damned one of them.

Who is the new Liddy? It's not Rove. Liddy was an underling and Rove is no underling. Could the new Liddy be a composite of all the high-tech tricksters we have today? You know the ones I'm talking about. All those folks that send fake rumours out by email. Those peeps that make sure all the neocons get their talking point scripts for the week. Those psyop spinmeisters that invent groups like the Swifties.

Until he was caught, Liddy was invisible to the nation...

I'll get back to you when we eventually find out.

UPDATE UPDATE: Abramoff, of Course!