Why did the Bush Administration speak to Woodward??

[faithincowboys]

I am watching 60 Minutes and I am utterly shocked that the Amdinistration would allow Woodward unlimited access. This is just stunning. Sometimes this administration behaves so stupidly it is baffling.

[Keith in Iowa]

Perhaps they didn't want Woodward whining all over the media about how the Bushies wouldn't let him in...one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't things...I think they figured they could refute what he says easier than they could defend not letting him in.

[grb]

Woodward made it sound like he was in on all these secret meetings. It must have been his anonymous sources

[faithincowboys]

Well, I think tonight proves it was a manifestly bad idea. This is unreal!!

[dogbyte12]

His first book was flattering to the president. My guess is that the Prez thought this one would be as well.

[faithincowboys]

This story is going to be ubiquitous in the days and weeks to come-- a real bad move to have let Woodward in. Even if Woodward is embellishing (which I am sure he is), it was incomprehensibly stupid to grant him access.

[sam_whiskey]

"I am watching 60 Minutes..."

There's your first problem...

[RightWhale]

Ask Sec'y Colin Powell. Also ask him why he screwed up his UN presentation on Iraq's WMD programs.

[jwalsh07]

Thus far the most shocking revelation by 60 minutes and Bob Woodward is that the Bush Administration had the temerity to plan for an attack on Iraq in a post 9/11 world.

These are the same yoyo's who have been screaming about "no plan" for the past year.

Of course Cheneys guarantee to Bandar that Hussein was "toast" if and when we attacked Iraq is equally shocking. Imagine the nerve of the VP stating succinctly the policy of America since the Clinton era, "Regime Change In Iraq".

Shocking stuff, absolutely shocking.

[faithincowboys]

Woodward set the Pres up and it speaks badly of the administration that they fell for Woodward's trap.

I bet they wish they hadn't!!!!

[wagglebee]

I'm not sure Woodward has ever met with anyone, I think he got lucky with "Deepthroat" on Watergate and the left adores him.

[dogbyte12]

No, the damning thing was that we let Bandar see the war plans, and that we made a deal with Bandar to manipulate the oil markets vis a vis the November elections.

This better be untrue, or the President is in trouble. The american people will not tolerate the Saudis meddling in our affairs.

[jwalsh07]

Woodward also offered a transcript of the dialogue between Bush and Powell in a one on one meeting. Who was his source? Powell, Bush or the infamous and fictional Deepthroat.

[StarFan]

Woodward made it sound like he was in on all these secret meetings.

That is what I find most upsetting. GWB keeps things close to the vest, so I suspect it's anonymous sources who are embellishing this. The media is eating this up and lest anyone miss 60 Minutes, Woodward will appear on The Today Show and Hardball tomorrow (that I've heard thus far).

[Pukin Dog]

Uh, no, it was a brilliant move.

You folks have got to remember what day this is. November is a LONG way away. The time to get ideas about Democrat dirt is now. No late October surprises that can be dealt with now. Woodward is to Democrats their bottom line. If you can get them to shoot their best shot in April, that is a wonderful thing.

In their zeal to get the President, Democrats have reveled all of their strategy, while Bush keeps the powder dry. This knee-jerk emotionalism over what the Democrats do really should end. We act as if our side knows nothing. WE WON DIDNT WE?

[faithincowboys]

The narrative he has is damaging--he has buttressed the "Bush is a God nut", "Bush is Cheney's puppet" and "a reckless cowboy." Woodward has mentioned a couple of times that the "Constitution doesn't say that..." he is using rhetoric that suggests the Articles of Impeachment should be prepared.

[Petronski]

Who was deepthroat? A composite of two people:


Deepthroat was Woodward when he was making up stuff for the stories.

Deepthroat was Bernstein when he was making up stuff for the stories.

[OpusatFR]

Why do take Woodward's words at face value?

I really doubt that a journalism studen would get a passing grade if he turned in a report like this with 74 out of 75 sources anonymous. Impossible to verify.

Looks like one huge fantasy on Woodward's part.

[kabar]

Powell is the leaker who is more concerned about his personal image than supporting the President. Powell is the consummate bureaucrat who worked his way through the world's largest bureaucracy, the Pentagon, and came out on top. He knows how to play to the Washington elite.

[federal]

I think President Bush being basicly honest and not really from the Beltway misjudges how badly the jerks and crooks in Washington resent and hate someone who has the gall to be open and honest.

And he misjudged how greedy unethical people get when they realize if you write a smear of him you get millions of dollars of free ad time from the slanted media.

I haven't watched 60 minutes in 10 years I'll bet and I wouldn't watch it tonight, but basicly it's a failing show which has discovered a way to get ratings feeding off the radical left, never mind they spew nothing but lies.

Of course none of this is coordinated with the DNC.

[Pukin Dog]

Articles of Impeachment should be prepared.

No greater gift to our side then for them to try that.

[faithincowboys]

All things being equal, I wish Woodward was never close enough to be able to write this book.

[jwalsh07]

No, the damning thing was that we let Bandar see the war plans, and that we made a deal with Bandar to manipulate the oil markets vis a vis the November elections.

Now wait a minute here. I have been hearing from left and right ad nauseum that Bush should use his influence to lower oil prices. Where is the scandal in getting Saudi Arabia to increase production as a thank you for ridding the world of terrorists and madmen?

This better be untrue, or the President is in trouble. The american people will not tolerate the Saudis meddling in our affairs.

LOL, the American people will tolerate almost anything for lower prices at the local service station.

Of course this is all dependent on the veracity of Mr. Melodrama, Bob Woodward who has shown in the past that he is not above telling a lie here or there to further his "journalism" career.

[faithincowboys]

We're in the middle of a War and the Left is doing what they always do--unfortunately, we've given them a lot of ammo.

[sam_whiskey]

LMAO...how many of you are actually watching this?? I wouldn't worry too much about it. Same ol' BS. I'm watching basketball right now, have no clue what Woodward is saying...and don't really care. And I think that's reflective of most of mainstream America...

[jwalsh07]

Prove it.

[Burkeman1]

Tenet and Cheney are the ones being hammered in this piece- not Bush. Bush comes off as being more concerned about facts and more questioning of intel. But there is plenty of things that will rally pro Bush people and make them yell "liberal bias"- this whole piece was rather cleverly planned.

But the Beltway will see that story for what it was- an attack on both Tenet and Cheney. Interesting.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

I believe there is not now, and never was any one remotely like Deepthroat. Woodward's imagine working overtime. He sure has ridden that for years. None of this is news or interesting.

[dogbyte12]

I haven't said that I believe Woodward. He is a hack after all. The american people can be hypocrites. They will be happy about the lower gas prices, and at the same time scream at Bush for getting in bed with Saudis.

[A Citizen Reporter]

I had to chuckle aloud when at the end of the story, Mike Wallace said, "And though it had nothing to do with our the reporting of this story, Bob Woodward's book is published by Simon and Schuster, a company which is owned by the same company that owns CBS, Viacom."

HAHAHAHA! Finally, we get full disclosure from 60 lame minutes.

[GRRRRR]

Woodward says that President Bush believes he has a "DUTY" to liberate people around the world.
Mike Wallace, waving his hand in the air says, "WHO gave HIM the right to liberate people?"
Woodward says it isn't in the Constitution...
Wallace asks, "How 'deep' is the President? Woodward responds that the President is not an intellectual...not an elitist.

This was a less than fair presentation of the anguish that our President went through during the planning of the Iraqi campaign. It does help stifle some of the handwringing about how President Bush and his team didn't plan or have enough data to make a decision. Tenent's "SLAM DUNK" comment is killer...they ALL firmly believed that WMD were there and ( I think) will still be found buried in the sand.

At the end, SeeBS did acknowledge that Simon and Schuster were owned by the Parent co....Viacom. Something they DIDNOT do with Dickey Clarkey's book...

SeeBS...another Kerry Jock Supporter...

[mfulstone]

Condi Rice called "BS" on Woodward's book. See http://www.FreeRepublic.com/focus/f-news/1120028/posts

[WestTexasWend]

I didn't intend to watch, but I got sucked in trying to figure out what shade of lip color Woodward is wearing.

I think it might work for me...I'm going to write 60Min and ask.

[FreedomPoster]

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

"Incidentally, for the record, though it had nothing to do with our reporting this story, Bob Woodward's publisher, Simon and Schuster, is owned by the same company we are, Viacom."
- Mike Wallace

Yeah. Sure. Nothing to do with your reporting. Whatever you say, Mike.

And I'm sure reason you were so explicit about this, has nothing to do with the fact that 60 Minutes "forgot" to reveal just such a connection when covering Clarke.

[faithincowboys]

What Woodward said was that right before the election the Saudis will work to get Bush re-elected by lowering oil prices. the implication is that the high prices now are a product of a Saudi-Dubya-Cheney agreement.

Also Woodward said that the War plans for Iraq were listed as "Top Secret no foreign" and then he went on to say that Cheney and Bush showed Bandar the plans and then Woodward used rhetoric to suggest that this is an impeachable offense.

Then Woodward said that some of the supplemental for Afghanistan was spent by Franks to get the Iraq plan ready (at Bush's behest) and that the Congress had no knowledge of it. Then Woodward said, "The Constitution sayd that only the Congress should appropriate money from the treasury"-- sounds a lot like another "impeachable offense"-- this whole thing stinks to high heaven. And the Bush administration has no one but itself to blame for letting Woodward have the access he had.

[FreedomPoster]

You beat me to it.

[jwalsh07]

The narrative he has is damaging--he has buttressed the "Bush is a God nut", "Bush is Cheney's puppet" and "a reckless cowboy."

What a surprise, Woodward is regurgitating the lefty line. Why does this shock you?

Woodward has mentioned a couple of times that the "Constitution doesn't say that..."

Say what?

he is using rhetoric that suggests the Articles of Impeachment should be prepared

That will provoke civil war. It will divided the country so thouroughly that it will never again be the same. It will also mean I'll be moving south of the Mason Dixon line a bit earlier than I anticipated.

[dawn53]

Oh, if we didn't give them "ammo", they'd make it up.

Didn't Bush already address one quote from Woodward's book, by saying the words written were taken out of context.

The press, in general, takes everything out of context. They'll spin it like they always spin it. Woodward's book will be Woodward's spin, just like Chrissy's spin and Timmy's spin, it's whatever they want it to be. The truth is relative in their little world.

One good thing is that more and more people are tuning into Fox, which isn't perfect by a long shot, but doesn't do a knee-jerk spin for the left.

Anybody who would lay down $30 for Woodward's book, already has their mind made up about the President and how they'll be voting in November, IMHO.

[Archangelsk]

I'm watching basketball right now

Watching KG hammer the Nuggets, eh?

[faithincowboys]

Yeah, we know that, but the average news illiterate "I only watch 60 minutes to know what's going on in thw World" schmuck who votes (indies, moderates, wing voters) doesn't get the gravity of Viacom's jihad against Bush.

The whole thing stinks. Bush can't afford to have so much scandal talk going around about him this close to an election--this ain't good.

[Archangelsk]

Whoops, my bad, Hornets-Heat.

[Pukin Dog]

We're in the middle of a War and the Left is doing what they always do--unfortunately, we've given them a lot of ammo.

As a fellow political junkie, I don't know how you could think that. Do you think the Democrats actually NEED ammo? I'm on the west coast, just reading the responses from here and from those nuts on the left. Funny thing, both sides seem upset.

Let them have their day and move on. So what if we have two weeks of Woodward? From what I've read on the other side, his accusations seem way over the top, and will only be believed by those who WANT to believe them. Try to remember that for all the things that are said about Bush, one only has to look at the man and listen to him for 5 minutes to know that the liberal argument is based on lies and rhetoric. Bush has been under constant attack for months now. Check the polls, and ask yourself what are you worried about?

It took 2 ads for Bush to kill Kerry's lead. TWO! Kerry has no idea what is planned for him this fall. In October, he will be wondering why he ever dared to take on this president.

[faithincowboys]

You are, but a lot of people who vote are watching Woodward.

[cyncooper]

That's too bad.

Last summer when the Wilson crap was being ginned up, it was none other than Woodward who appeared on LKL and said the business about the SOTU speech was stuff and nonsense.

Oh, well.

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.

[ApesForEvolution]

Why communist subversives are allowed to eat, drink, breathe: live, with the rest of America is beyond me...

[bitt]

I would hope instead that the President met with Bandar to make sure we were going to have an adequate supply of gas if we went to war - a little pre-war game planning to show we weren't going after SA (yet) and then a lilttle assurance of adequate supplies.

[Spotsy]

Bandar/oil price manipulation for election day:

This is Woodward predicting the sun will rise on election day.

Oil prices are always high during peak travel times, mainly Memorial Day to Labor Day.

By October, oil prices will naturally drop.

[Libertarian444]

Bush has been under constant attack for months now. Check the polls, and ask yourself what are you worried about?

I have been watching the polls. Bush's poll numbers are going down. The media smear campaign has been very successful. And it's only April.

[faithincowboys]

I just think we don't need this sh*t right now. Bush's reelection campaign has enough crap to overcome--we don't need this. We have 4 books out there saying Bush is a no good SOB (worse than Nixon) O'Neil, Woodward, Clarke (all owned by Viacom) and John Dean's book too. There is an overwhelming group of powerful forces out to screw Bush and elect Kerry--it's getting very dicey!!

[ApesForEvolution]

Dammit. Now I might have to actually read the screel of another Great American Vermin (GAV)...