Random Comments (RH)

[Henry Hawk]

btw, THAT is what I did here, and it is what gets your panties in a Bimini-twist each and every time ... then you go on as say sh!t, like I know, I know. . . I slipped. . .NOT GOING TO WASTE ANYMORE TIME....

You are pretty easy to get to.....

[Palehorse]

I know, I know. . . I slipped. . .

I will now restart the clock on my vow to not engage in life wasting dialog with those who will not listen to anything that opposes their myopic world-views, and are so lethargic as to be incapable of doing anything but parrot the emotional propaganda that supports the same.

[Palehorse]

. . .
You are pretty easy to get to.....

You will regret taking that position and saying that.

[Henry Hawk]

btw, THAT is what I did here, and it is what gets your panties in a Bimini-twist each and every time ... then you go on as say sh!t, like I know, I know. . . I slipped. . .NOT GOING TO WASTE ANYMORE TIME....

You are pretty easy to get to.....

[Henry Hawk]

You will regret taking that position and saying that.

You guys from Chicago are all alike...

[Exterminator]

... pull out the race card when you got NOTHING else to stand on.

Is it inappropriate to play the race card when race is the issue?

[me]

When you take what was written to Woodward in context, you immediately start asking yourself, "Where's the beef?"

This was no more of a "threat" that my stating to you that "as a friend, you will regret taking this position on this subject".

Woody is playing the extremist card with his position, and the media is trumping things up. You can tell by the backpedaling Woody is doing in the media the last couple of days.

But you have no idea what was said to him during the phone conversation that prompted the email.  He did not want to out the guy because they are friends and was trying to let people know what was going on without naming him.  You also seem to forget he is the one that played a key part in the Nixon investigation and getting him impeached.  Give it up on that race card deal.  We're into the second term here and if that were the case here it would have happened during the first part of the first term. 

[Henry Hawk]

Is it inappropriate to play the race card when race is the issue?

It is not, and YOU know it is not, it is just convenient for you to use it as such....

[libby]

When you take what was written to Woodward in context, you immediately start asking yourself, "Where's the beef?"

This was no more of a "threat" that my stating to you that "as a friend, you will regret taking this position on this subject".

Woody is playing the extremist card with his position, and the media is trumping things up. You can tell by the backpedaling Woody is doing in the media the last couple of days.

I agree. Although it's been all over the news, I hadn't paid much attention to it until this morning, when he was a guest on Morning Joe. Those people, Joe, Mika, other regulars and a guest or two can be really tough, but they were gentle with him, tried very hard to keep it light, but -- I'm sorry -- he didn't take their cue, and it was awkward. Woodward was not at his best.  And that is too bad.

From today's Washington Post, Style Section:
Woodward vs. White House: Washington at its Weirdest
By Paul Farhi,
Published: February 28, 2013

Only in Washington does a tempest turn on the meaning of the word "regret."

Only in Washington does the back-and-forth between a legendary journalist and a White House wonk turn into an epic talking-head fest and trending Twitter topic.

And only in Washington does a sideshow to a looming economic calamity become the show itself.

It all came together like a NASCAR pileup on Thursday as the politerati and the digerati and actual regular people hashed out the who-shot-whom dynamics of Bob Woodward's jeremiad against the White House.

Woodward, chronicler of presidents since the Watergate era (which might not have been an era without his reporting), pushed back against a White House challenge to his claim in a Sunday Washington Post op-ed that President Obama and his budget negotiators had come up with the idea of the sequester and had "moved the goal posts" in talks with Republicans by insisting on new taxes.

That characterization bought Woodward a heated lecture from Gene Sperling, Obama's top economic adviser, who told him the following in a subsequent e-mail: "I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying . . . that [Obama] asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim."

In an interview Wednesday with Politico, it sounded like war; indeed, the headline was "Woodward at War," a play on the title of one of his best-selling books about President George W. Bush.

Politico excerpted Sperling's e-mail, trimming the "I know you may not believe this, but as a friend" part, and suggested Woodward didn't take kindly to Sperling's admonition.

Politico wrote: Woodward repeated the last sentence [of Sperling's e-mail], making clear he saw it as a veiled threat. " 'You'll regret.' Come on," he said. "I think if Obama himself saw the way they're dealing with some of this, he would say, 'Whoa, we don't tell any reporter you're going to regret challenging us.' " (Actually, the Obama press shop has quite a reputation for playing hardball and has been known to deploy a few four-letter words with reporters.)

Woodward said he stands by the idea that Sperling's language was over the line but stops short of suggesting outright intimidation. "I never characterized it as a 'threat,' " he said. "I think that was Politico's word. I said I think [Sperling's] language is unfortunate, and I don't think it's the way to operate. . . . [Sperling's] language speaks for itself. I don't think that's the way to operate."

Politico said it stands by its reporting.

(And if you're a fan of inside baseball, don't even get started on the political-media daisy chain and incest fest at work here: that is, Woodward first spouted off in The Post, then spouted off further to two Politico reporters, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, who used to work with Woodward at The Post, whose reporter now is following up the Politico article by quoting Woodward about a story initiated by Woodward himself.)

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, Woodward never used the word "threat" or said that he felt threatened. But he said Thursday: The White House has "the power. When someone says 'you'll regret something,' they can use their power any way they want. It's a tone question. . . . I've been dealing with White House people going back to the Nixon years. They called us every name in the book. [This] just strikes me as not a way to deal with this. It makes me uncomfortable."

In a statement, the White House said that as "Mr. Woodward noted, the email from [Sperling] was sent to apologize for voices being raised in their previous conversation. The note suggested that Mr. Woodward would regret the observation he made regarding the sequester because that observation was inaccurate, nothing more. And Mr. Woodward responded to this aide's email in a friendly manner."

One of the ironies of this little flap is that Woodward — long savaged by the right for his reporting on Republicans, starting with Richard Nixon — is getting attaboys from conservatives for standing up to all of this president's men. Woodward says there's nothing amusing or ironic in that; he's just going where the facts are taking him.

In fact, it's the Democrats now taking shots at Woodward. "Watching Woodward last 2 days is like imagining my idol Mike Schmidt facing live pitching again," tweeted David Plouffe, Obama's former adviser. "Perfection gained once is rarely repeated."

As for the fireworks the story set off, Woodward is amused. Just a little."People out in the non-Washington world, because of the nature of gridlock and not fixing things in Washington, this is a source of total wonder to them," he reckons.

"In a way, the biggest story in this town is about the town itself. People wonder what's going on here. And every now and again, you get another example of how things operate." 

[Exterminator]

It is not, and YOU know it is not, it is just convenient for you to use it as such....

Yeah, bullshit.

[Palehorse]

You guys from Chicago are all alike...

Fuck you profiler.

[Henry Hawk]

Fuck you profiler.

Fuck You dickhead, learn to have a sense of humor...

[Palehorse]

Fuck You dickhead, learn to have a sense of humor...

  You and your ilk killed it. Deal with it.

[The Troll]

You guys from Chicago are all alike...

  That is like saying that all of you guys from Anderson, Indiana are alike, like Redman the drunk.      Just saying Skippy.   

[Palehorse]

  That is like saying that all of you guys from Anderson, Indiana are alike, like Redman the drunk.      Just saying Skippy.   

You may be onto something there Troll. Last night one of them was ramming a port a potty across the road from me, in their full size van at 2 in the morning. They slung mud all up the sides of their van, and probably busted a light or two from what I saw.

The port a potty is perfectly serviceable though.