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To: RWR8189; Timesink; *CCRM; governsleastgovernsbest; martin_fierro; reformed_democrat; Loyalist; ...
Media Shenanigans/Media Schadenfreude/post-NewsMedia Conservative History ping - Bob Woodward Under The Microscope, II

Andrew Ferguson of the Weekly Standard dissects Woodward: "Inevitably, as the week wore on, there came the sad detumescence, settling in around Excerpt Three or maybe Four, when we realized that the good parts had all been published and only the scraps and crumbs were left. Soon enough the book itself would be here, in piles in the window at Borders, limp as a windsock and giving off the stale odor of old news."

Ferguson again: "It would indeed be a wonderful thing, and Woodward himself would be a national treasure, if he could record the events that interest him with greater precision, and with an eye to their larger psychological or historical or political placement. But he can't. Instead his gift--solitary, as I say, but very large--is for getting people to tell him stuff. This is the reporter's essential talent, and no one has ever had it in such quantity or cultivated it so diligently."

All together a long and odd read, but one that's worth it. I've often felt that Woodward is a "can't see the forest for the trees" sort of fellow, much like Bill O'Reilly. In the body of the post, Freeper Travis McGee weighs in with some predictions.

Bob Woodward: Bibliography & News Mini-Biography (a compilation by aas)

On, Off, or grab it for a Media Shenanigans/Schadenfreude/PNMCH ping:
http://www.freerepublic.com/~anamusedspectator/

11 posted on 04/24/2004 12:34:52 PM PDT by an amused spectator (Kristen Breitweiser didn't want to learn how to land the 9/11 Commission; she only wanted to steer)
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To: an amused spectator
I wondered how Woodward could get the Bush administration to open up and divulge as much information as they did. After seeing several interviews he participated in, it became clear that his technique is to start at low level employees and keep using their stories to blackmail employees further up the food chain. When he approached Bush, he submitted a seventeen page memo itemizing what he had found among his lower echelon. Bush then decided to give him access to his cabinet at that point. Woodward agreed to treat him as fairly as possible within the realm of truthfulness. I have not read it but some comments have indicated he kept his end of the agreement.
12 posted on 04/24/2004 1:01:10 PM PDT by meenie
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