Nixon's Ghost, 40 Years On

It is interesting -- notwithstanding Carl Bernstein's reasonable cautions against the impossibility of conducting such "what-if" history -- to imagine the Watergate episode played out against our modern journalistic and political backdrop.

Could Woodstein's sustained, painstaking reporting -- and editor Ben Bradlee's judicious willingness not only to print what his reporters had uncovered but to hold back when they did not have the story nailed down hard enough -- have survived the gotta-have-it-now environment of Twitter and 24/7 cable news?

That is far from certain.

Even if it did, would a citizenry now accustomed to picking its media source based on its pre-existing political dispositions have absorbed the reality? Again, far from certain.

"One of the things that's totally different today is that a consensus evolved in the country ... based on the best obtainable version of the truth," Bernstein said. "Today, I suspect that if you look at why people are seeking out information, it's no longer predominantly for the best obtainable version of the truth, it's for partisan and ideological ammunition to reinforce what they already believe."

Even more important, would our current partisanship-above-all politics have risen to the occasion as did the Watergate-era Congress?

Not to get all misty-eyed about the statesmanship of the Watergate-era Congress: "This wasn't just valor on the part of the Republicans," Drew recalled. "They were scared and they just wanted to get him out of there to save their own skins."

Still, it is hard to imagine the Congress of Darrell Issa or Ted Cruz dealing with the Watergate scandal, and there is enough reflexive partisanship among Democrats to wonder the same about how they would handle accusations of grave misdeeds by a Democratic incumbent. (However repulsive Bill Clinton's conduct, it wasn't the same).

Which means, sadly, that the answer to the question -- would a modern-day Congress stop a modern-day Nixon? -- may be the least certain of all.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.