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Woodward Gets Threatened By Whitehouse

Mike

Well-known member
Bob Woodward said this evening on CNN that a "very senior person" at the White House warned him in an email that he would "regret doing this," the same day he has continued to slam President Barack Obama over the looming forced cuts known as the sequester.
CNN host Wolf Blitzer said that the network invited a White House official to debate Woodward on-air, but the White House declined.
"I think they're confused," Woodward said of the White House's pushback on his reporting.
Earlier today on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Woodward ripped into Obama in what has become an ongoing feud between the veteran Washington Post journalist and the White House. Woodward said Obama was showing a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.
The Defense Department said in early February that it would not deploy the U.S.S. Harry Truman to the Persian Gulf, citing budget concerns relating to the looming cuts known as the sequester.
"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying, 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget document?'" Woodward said on MSNBC.
"Or George W. Bush saying, 'You know, I'm not going to invade Iraq because I can't get the aircraft carriers I need?'" Or even Bill Clinton saying, 'You know, I'm not going to attack Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters,' ... because of some budget document?"
Woodward began stirring controversy last weekend, when he called out Obama for what he said was "moving the goal posts" on the sequester by requesting that revenue be part of a deal to avert it.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bob-woodward-obama-sequester-white-house-reporting-price-politics-2013-2#ixzz2M9JFyEcH
 

Mike

Well-known member
Whitewing said:
The King is clearly the worst president ever to occupy the office, clearly.

WE TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The feud also feeds a larger narrative because, like many others, Woodward thinks this is a very thin-skinned White House that does not like being challenged on the facts. He said that explains the senior aide’s in-your-face email. “I think when they get their rear end in a crack here, they become defensive,” he said. “This could be a huge issue if the economy takes a hit. And people are going to go back and say exactly what happened and who did it and so forth.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/woodward-at-war-88212.html#ixzz2M9dQFDvK
 

Whitewing

Well-known member
Mike said:
Whitewing said:
The King is clearly the worst president ever to occupy the office, clearly.

WE TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The feud also feeds a larger narrative because, like many others, Woodward thinks this is a very thin-skinned White House that does not like being challenged on the facts. He said that explains the senior aide’s in-your-face email. “I think when they get their rear end in a crack here, they become defensive,” he said. “This could be a huge issue if the economy takes a hit. And people are going to go back and say exactly what happened and who did it and so forth.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/woodward-at-war-88212.html#ixzz2M9dQFDvK

Shocking that OT didn't post this story. :roll: :roll: :roll:
 

Mike

Well-known member
(CNN) - Veteran journalist Bob Woodward says he was threatened by a senior Obama administration official following his reporting on the White House's handling of the forced federal spending cuts set to take effect on Friday.

"They're not happy at all," he said on CNN's "The Situation Room," adding that an e-mail from a senior administration official - who he would not name - communicated a message which caused him great concern.



"It was said very clearly, you will regret doing this," he said Wednesday.

According to a Democrat aware of the situation, it was Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, who sent the email Woodward cited.

Woodward and Sperling have known one another for decades, dating back to the time Sperling served as a top economic adviser in various posts during the Clinton administration.

Woodward penned a 2012 book reporting that the idea for the spending cuts, known as the sequester, originated with the White House. It's a claim President Barack Obama originally denied, but the White House has since acknowledged.

But it was language that he used in an op-ed published over the weekend in The Washington Post that drew what he said was the Obama administration response.

"[W] hen the president asks that a substitute for the sequester include not just spending cuts but also new revenue, he is moving the goal posts," Woodward wrote. "His call for a balanced approach is reasonable, and he makes a strong case that those in the top income brackets could and should pay more. But that was not the deal he made."

Headlined "Obama's sequester deal-changer," it was widely cited by Republicans seeking to avert the across-the-board cuts without a tax increase.

"The fundamental question here the president has to decide - does he wanna be president of a political party or does he want to be president of the United States?" House Speaker John Boehner asked at a Tuesday news conference. "It is time for leadership."

Obama, however, has argued for an approach that "balances" spending cuts and tax increases.

"I've laid out a plan that details how we can pay down our deficit in a way that's balanced and responsible," he said at an event in Virginia the same day. "We have the plan right on a website, the White House website. Everybody can go see it. It details exactly how we can cut programs that don't work, how we can raise money by closing loopholes that are only serving a few, as opposed to the average American."

While the days now turn to hours before the cuts kick in on Friday, Republicans and Democrats have not engaged in the sort of negotiations they have held before deadlines in previous fiscal crises.

CNN extended multiple invitations to the White House to appear on the "The Situation Room," including after Woodward began his interview, but the invitations were not accepted.

But a White House official who would not speak if named said late Wednesday, "Of course no threat was intended."

The official said the email Woodward referenced "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."

White House adviser David Plouffe, meanwhile, expressed disappointment in Woodward's recent comments over Twitter Wednesday night.
 
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