Last week we noted that the folks at the New York Observer must have worked like maniacs to get their coverage ready* for a next-day article breaking the Vanity Fair backstory. But they didn't stop there, so this week we have "Deep Throat, Inc.," the definitive word on the behind-the-scenes wrangling for the story (not to mention the shilling), by Tom Scocca and Sheelah Kolhatkar.

It confirms our impression that John O'Connor's stewardship didn't do the Felt Family any favors (Doubleday editor in chief Bill Thomas: "We decided not to take the meeting with O'Connor." How badly do you have to screw up for publishers not to want Deep Throat story from the Throat itself?). It also makes us a little sad for the Felts, who have been viewed under arched eyebrows for admitting their financial motives here but seem to mention "having enough for bills" an awful lot (remember Joan Felt took her dad in after he wasn't happy/was kind of recalcitrant at a nursing home). Our brows remain arched at this line: "Mr. Kuhn had been engaged by Mr. O'Connor to represent him and the immediate Felt family..." (emphasis added). Cute how Mr. O'Connor is suddenly as much of a player as Deep Throat and his ilk. How did that ten grand from Vanity Fair get divided again?

Well, according to the Observer piece it may all be moot,** anyway, given the lack of interest in the Felt version of the story on the part of publishers (and the public, as we theorized last week - "Deep Throat" was the top gaining query on Google last week, and "Washington Post" was number 4 - but nothing on Mark Felt). It would be another thing entirely if Felt had kept amazing super-secret records from his time in the FBI, but wouldn't we know that by now, at least in the form of a high-six-figure book deal courtesy of the high-six-figure-book-deal-getting David Kuhn? No, the Felts laid it out there for a VF spread and a $10,000 payday. Perhaps they've got no one to blame but themselves, but for the record I'm still going to go with John O'Connor.

Deep Throat, Inc. [NY Observer]
Google Zeitgeist [Google]
Fishbowl Deep Throat Archive [FishbowlNY]

*Chekkit, Keith Kelly, that's exactly what we wrote last week!
**And by the way, how random to have reason to use the word "moot" in two separate posts. Blogging, where anything is possible.