Rep. Brad Miller is chairing ill-attended hearings on oversight of the $787 billion stimulus. Reports The Washington Times:
“These hearings are titled ‘follow the money’ after the character in the movie – and the book – ‘All the President’s Men,’ ” Mr. Miller said. “The Deep Throat character, he told [reporters Carl] Bernstein and [Bob] Woodward to trace the money back to find out where the corruption began.
“We hope this will not end up as anything as sordid as that was,” he joked.
Mark Felt, the real Deep Throat, never said “Follow the money.” In 1997, Daniel Schorr wrote an article for the Los Angeles Times about his search for the phrase’s origin. When he could not find it in book version of All the President’s Men, he spoke to William Goldman, who wrote the script of the movie version. “I can’t believe I made it up,” said Goldman. “I was in constant contact with [Bob] Woodward while writing the screenplay. I guess he made it up.” Woodward thought that Goldman had made it up. Whoever wrote the line, concluded Schorr, “it was an invention.”