Another One Bites The Dust

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

In recent years I'd already begun to think the burnish on Bob Woodward had become a little hazy, but this latest incident has removed whatever admiration I had for his journalism. And I don't mean the fact that he's been wrong about who did what to whom in the sequester nonsense, or where the goal posts are. It's his claim that he was threatened by the White House. Reading the email exchange in question, it's clearly not a matter of innocent misinterpretation. The man has deliberately gone to right-wing crazies and lied. And severely edited his characterization, to boot. Is there no right-winger anymore who isn't a raging asshole and a deliberate liar? Is there no conservative "journalist" (as Sean Hannity, to whom Bob Wayward ran, likes to characterize himself) who'd check things out before raging at the president? Here's the primary source, in part:

Bob:
I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today. My bad. I do understand your problems with a couple of our statements in the fall — but feel on the other hand that you focus on a few specific trees that gives a very wrong perception of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. 

But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying saying that Potus 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. The idea that the sequester was to force both sides to go back to try at a big or grand barain with a mix of entitlements and revenues (even if there were serious disagreements on composition) was part of the DNA of the thing from the start. It was an accepted part of the understanding — from the start...

So not only was it not a threat, it was a claim that because he was clearly wrong in his reporting, he'd regret having said what he said. As a reporter. Being embarrassed. Not because of retaliation. Because he was wrong. How threatened did poor Bobbie feel? Well, here's how he responded to the outrage, poor little maligned fellow: 

Gene: You do not ever have to apologize to me. You get wound up because you are making your points and you believe them. This is all part of a serious discussion. I for one welcome a little heat; there should more given the importance. I also welcome your personal advice. I am listening. I know you lived all this. My partial advantage is that I talked extensively with all involved. I am traveling and will try to reach you after 3 pm today. Best, Bob

Boy, does that ever sound like a guy who'd been threatened, right? You can practically smell the fear.

Naturally, and per usual, without knowing the facts but leaping at the chance, Fox "news" and the rest of the RWS™ have picked it up like dog poop in a little blue bag and run with it to the garbage bin of their listeners' heads, who'll think the stink is perfume.

Meanwhile, Woodward has revealed himself to be a shallow and partisan opportunist. And really stupid. Did he think the emails would never surface? Journalism. Liberal media. What a bunch of bullshit. What a sorry statement of who we are and where we're headed.

I will admit, though, that after the above was revealed, some of the RWS™ cooled off a bit. Not Fox, of course. Let's see if we hear from Laura Ingraham, who compared Obama's "threats" to Soviet Russia.

[Image source]