The circumstantial evidence mounts that Mark Felt was not lucid enough to decide on his own to out himself as Deep Throat.

1) Bob Woodward clearly doesn't think so. Family members "have said he just doesn't have any memory now," Woodward says in today's Washington Post. Woodward wondered whether Felt was "competent" to make such a decision.

2) Here's former Post editor Ben Bradlee, in the same article, on Felt: "The guy has not got all his marbles. The question was whether he could have given us permission."

3) And today's Times reports that the Felt family shoppped their story to People magazine and Judith Regan, of Reganbooks, a division of HarperCollins (which, full disclosure, is my publisher). "This was always about the money, and they were very upfront with me," explained the People contributor contacted by the Felts. Judith Regan, who publishes a lot of edgy stuff, turned the proposal down "because of serious concerns that Mr. Felt was no longer of sound mind."

4) The same article also includes this telling line: "For years, Mr. Felt himself emphatically denied helping Mr. Woodward, but in recent years, after he shared his story with his family, and began to suffer signs of dementia, they apparently grew eager to share it with the world."

Which raises the question: Was Felt already suffering from dementia when he told his family of his secret identity?

So here's question number two. Knowing that the main character in this drama—who didn't want to be identified as Deep Throat until after his death—may have changed his mind while suffering from dementia...but also knowing that the revelation would generate a massive amount of publicity and, very probably, ad sales for your magazine...would you have published this story?