WJ this morning: Woodward is now their enemy

[malaise]

one loony just called him a Democratic operative.
This goes down so well with my morning coffee.

[Skidmore]

1. LOL!! "Rummy mislead the dummy."

Good call.

[demnan]

2. That should be on a bumpersticker

I'd put that one on my car.

[Skidmore]

3. "Woodward is a Dem operative placed in the WH during the first term."

Someone's been partaking of the sacred 'shrooms this morning.

[tanyev]

17. Ha! That would have been a great idea, if any Dem existed

who had the nerve to do it.

[Supply Side Jesus]

4. Just seems like yesterday....

When Woodward got the Media Whore of the Year award....thats the Woodward I remember and will always know. The one that shilled and whored for war.

[KharmaTrain]

5. They've Had A Heckava Week.

Between spinning for approving torture to denying the NIE to the Foley story to this book to more bad news from the real world of Iraq...it's been quite a week in kool-aid land. This is just one bad story or damage control job after another. All this spinning is gonna turn all those freepers into pancakes.

:rofl:

[soup]

6. Good morning, everyone.

Heard earlier -

Caller asks, "Who is gonna fill their shoes? bush, cheney, rumsfeld? Who could ever fill their shoes when they're gone? god help us."

and another- something along the lines of - "bush is talking YEARS from now. woodward talkin 2007."


not quite sure how to spell it, but sure am saying it - "iii Yiiii yiii."

[malaise]

14. Gosh Frank Luntz is offensive

What an obnoxious personality. Thanks Anna for reminding him that he's not the host.:puke: :puke:

[peekaloo]

22. I, too, often ask myself that question: "Who's gonna fill their shoes?"

'cause it's so hard trying to measure those with feet of clay.

Actually I could think of a few things to fill their shoes with.........

[KittyWampus]

27. Who could fill their shoes? With What, cat vomit?

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Why? Because he told THE TRUTH that interrupted their fantasy of the

"perfect President" who is a humble, Christian who is the panultimate patriotic American? Who has an innovative vision for this country and the world? Who will save us from terrorists -- and ourselves?

Give Bob Woodward a Medal of Freedom, someone.

[malaise]

10. That's why they're so pissed now n/t

[Flubadubya]

8. Woodward... stealth reporter?

I posted this a few days back, but didn't get much response. It's more just musing than even speculation, but the idea may have some merits:

Interesting turn that Bob Woodward has taken, of course. So, he's sounding more like himself from the old Watergate days with his new "revelations".

I just wonder if he may have had this in mind all along. I wonder if he was really prescient about where the Bushies were taking this country, wrote his first Bush-friendly book to get in good (and inside) with them, only to turn when the time was right (when he had learned enough) and KAPOW ...BushCo Revealed!!!

I like to contemplate the prospect that this may be so mainly because I like the idea of someone using treachery against their treachery, I suppose. And, of course, it would go a long way to restore some of my erstwhile esteem for Bob Woodward.

Anyway, just a thought.

[acmejack]

9. They've rolled out Luntz

What a disgusting asshole. he is such scum, here to regale us with the results of his latest focus group bs...

[malaise]

12. Come on DUers

call and discuss the book, the pages and the folly of the Foley coverup:D
add.

[Vinca]

11. Funny . . . he was their hero with the other 2 books. nt

[Vidar]

13. Use him , but don't trust the SOB.

[H2O Man]

15. There are two reasons

that the rabid republican reaction to the book is so helpful to democrats: {1} First, they will attack Bob Woodward. Oh, well, for anything bad they can say, we can double it .... but in a way that does no harm whatsoever to democrats. What administrations has Bob had uncanny access to? Who are his friends? Ha! And, {2} the republicans have to resort to savaging their own. They have to attack former members of the administration. Guys like Colin Powell. Few things can make me happier right now. As democrats, we step back and let them bring their family feud out in public.

Older DUers will remember a quote from Minister Malcolm X from 1963, in a classic speech titled "Message to the Grass Roots." Malcolm was talking about when a group has an internal breakdown, such as we are witnessing within the republicans today: "And when you have a family squabble, you don't get out on the sidewalk. If you do, everyone calls you uncouth, unrefined, uncivilized, savage."

I also would like to highlight the fact that yesterday -- on a Saturday -- the White House released a "5 point" response to Woodward's book. Think about that. It is wonderful!

[malaise]

16. Great post

although I think they hurried the five points for the Sunday talk shows.

[H2O Man]

18. My sons and I

thought it was a giggle watching the republican reaction on tv yesterday. And you are absolutely on target: they were working hard to try to come up with "answers" for the Sunday morning talk shows.

The Sunday morning shows are now going to be mourning shows. The White House is a freak show. They put Bob in place, with the first two books. In "Bush at War," Woodward was a puppet, sitting on the WHIG's lap, singing the praise of George W. Bush. In "Plan of Attack," some noted hints of a couple fracture lines showing in the administration, but most people remained focused upon that amazing puppet, Knucklehead Woodward.

I remember Malcolm telling us that when a puppet begins to talk back like Woodward is doing in this third book, the puppeteer is in serious trouble.

[NewJeffCT]

21. You've hinted a few times in the past...

About Woodward and his connections/associations to some on the far right... could some of those that pull the strings on the far right be upset at the train wreck at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave?

[H2O Man]

24. Yes.

Mr. Woodward was an officer in Naval Intelligence in the late 1960s; this is pretty well-documented, including in his own books. Part of his responsibilities included running reports to the White House. There, he met an older gentleman who had previously been associated with the Navy. The older gentleman, Mark Felt, was then a ranking official in Hoover's FBI. Hoover is known for sharing staff with military intelligence, which solidified his power in a number of ways. Anyhow, Felt suggested to Woodward that he consider a career in journalism. This is curious, because Felt held most journalists in utter contempt, and Woodward had no background in journalism. Even when he was working with Carl Bernstein at the WP, it was evident that one of the two was a talented writer, and the other was the channel for a type of information that few journalists have access to.

If we were to take the names away, and not think of the journalism and case history, the relationship between the two looks a little different than the myth that has been created. An older, high-ranking intelligence officer is meeting with a younger man, and providing guidelines to accomplish a pretty specific goal.

We've recently seen a lot of military and intelligence officers expressing serious concerns about the direction this administration is taking the country. I think it is very likely that Mr. Woodward's book has more than a coincidental or casual relationship to these concerns.

[NewJeffCT]

26. Regarding the created myth...

Do you think part of the Woodward myth is that he helped bring down a Republican president... and, in the movie, he was portrayed by Robert Redford, a noted liberal? And, because of this, many think he is liberal, or at least left of center? I mean, I could not have picked Woodward out of a lineup until a few years ago when he made the rounds promoting his previous book. If they had somebody that looked like Redford, I likely would have picked that person.

[H2O Man]

29. Very good points.

There is a whole mythology about the Watergate era that fits that general mold that you make note of. The movie is really good, and is of a lot of value. But it is a movie. The truth was never so clean and neat.

I've had a number of intelligent, well-informed DUers say to me that the House and Senate was "different" back then, and that the move towards impeachment that happened then could never happen today. I agree that most elected officials today are of low character, the same was true then. The republicans didn't cooperate willingly. They only turned on Nixon when it became in their best interests to. They did so only for the most selfish reasons.

And most of the democrats were not heroes. More, those who were heroes were also very flawed characters, as sad and weakly human as those in Washington today. It was because of the threat of the imperial presidency that they rose above their human weaknesses, and behaved at the level that we remember and attribute to them to an extent that really wasn't who they were most of their careers.

The democrats alone didn't have the juice to take the Nixon administration out the way that it happened. Hollywood used a version of the story that was a vehicle for making the public feel better about Watergate. The use of Redford made the movie more attractive than using another actor. It created an impression that lasted.

It reminds me of friend Rubin saying how a lot of people are looking for Denzel Washington when they meet him. He tells people that he never realized how good looking he was until he saw the movie "The Hurricane." I also can remember Dan Blocker telling about people coming up to him in public, and being convinced that he was Hoss.

[malaise]

23. Well puppet Powell has started speaking

MSNBC will be discussing his response - yes he was fired.
Time for popcorn as they implode and the new tape with Atta won't help.:popcorn: :rofl: I'm loving it.

[H2O Man]

25. I heard that

late yesterday afternoon, and just shook my head.

As you note, MSNBC is focusing on that now. It is worth our watching.

[Algorem]

19. heard Salem Radio news anchor call him "liberal author Bob Woodward"

yesterday morning.reminded me of time i heard other nutnews service 'USA Radio News' anchor call Ted Kennedy "the extremist Kennedy".

[trof]

20. Standard "attack the messenger" gambit.

I didn't hear a single c-span caller refute any of Woodward's book.
Just attacked the man.
Now that he's not stroking their boy, he's obviously a Dem "operative".
There are none so blind as those who WILL NOT see.
And I really don't understand it.
:shrug:

[librechik]

28. I counted 7 conservative callers in a row at one point

just a normal morning at the WJ...