Bob Woodward slams Obama over sequester

[PSGator66]

I don't how you could disagree with this statement by Woodward.....

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Bob-Woodward-President-Obama/2013/02/27/id/492294?s=al&promo_code=1299E-1

[wgbgator]

Actually, I do disagree with Woodward's statement that the president should just ignore the law (er, "some budget document") to do whatever he wants. I thought conservatives did too.

[G8trGr8t]

keeping the carrier group here is another example of scare tactics constantly employed by oblamer.

meanwhile the navy keeps and maintains 250 golf courses, none of them being shut down.

this is typical crisis manufacturing as he can't get anything done unless it is in a crisis or he has a supermajority because he is unwilling to reach any meaningful compromise.

classic narcissist, he is right, valerie and michelle told him so, and he doesn't care what the other 47% of the country thinks.

pretty bad when a lifelong lib like Woodward is calling you out. Nice to see at least one member fo the journalistic community is willing to tell the emperor he has no clothes

[tegator80]

Mr. Woodward has gotten a hint of a bad smell emanating from the WH for a couple of years now. What you are seeing, IMO, is a liberal who is getting that there are bad guys on all sides. I just wish he would put it in gear one last time and expose the malevolence that is being promoted as "fairness" in the current regime. But probably he thinks the embarrassment will be too much to endure so he will just peck around like he is currently doing.

[RealDeal]

Barack likely cares little about the opinion of woodward--he has no more campaigns to run.

[FlyingGatorII]

Barack likely cares little about the opinion of woodward--he has no more campaigns to run.

You would think that but he just can't leave his Chicago thuggery background behind. Just when you think Obama can't sink any lower, Woodward is getting threats from the White House...

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

[g8orbill]

Barack likely cares little about the opinion of woodward--he has no more campaigns to run.

after reading that report me thinks you are mistaken

[chemgator]

Actually, I do disagree with Woodward's statement that the president should just ignore the law (er, "some budget document") to do whatever he wants. I thought conservatives did too.
Woodward is saying that a real leader (who was also commander-in-chief) would force the military to cut elsewhere until the aircraft carrier left port. Obama is making himself look weak if he can't get the aircraft carrier moving regardless of what is happening with the budget. Other presidents have done much more with less (the sequester does not even CUT any spending based on the previous year's spending!).

Obama has basically surrendered his right to negotiate with Congress with his petulant insistence on more and more spending. He has been unable to acknowledge that his attempts to stimulate the economy with reckless federal spending (for four years now) have not worked. Apparently he is unwilling to negotiate with his own generals (who kinda have to follow his orders). Obama is starting to make GWB look like an average president (instead of a complete incompetent), and that's not easy.

[gatordowneast]

And now the whitehouse is on Woodwards ass for wandering "off the plantation" and getting "off message". Lets see which media outlets pick up on this? My guess is they all start piling on Woodward.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/28/usa-fiscal-woodward-idUSL1N0BS0VD20130228?feedType=RSS&feedName=cyclicalConsumerGoodsSector&rpc=43

[madgator]

Obozo is the most baldfaced liar ever to infest the White House. Pure vermin.

and unless a man of true character on the liberal side of the fence speaks up....we will never know the full depths of just how corrupt and how little respect this administration has for the rule of law.

it can't come from media on the right.....it has to come from a liberal


and yes.....Woodward is admitting that he has been "threatened" by the administration.


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

[fredsanford]

and unless a man of true character on the liberal side of the fence speaks up....we will never know the full depths of just how corrupt and how little respect this administration has for the rule of law.

it can't come from media on the right.....it has to come from a liberal

and yes.....Woodward is admitting that he has been "threatened" by the administration.

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

When Bush does it = good, when Obama = bad.

Such hurt widdle feewings.

[gatordowneast]

Since liberalism is itself a lie, don't see how it would be possible for a liberal to admit the liberal in chief is a fraud.

[mocgator]

If this had been Bush there would have been rallies of leftists Myrmidons screaming about the assault on the first amendment. Th main stream press would be frothing.

Our tyrant in chief and his junta simply cannot be questioned. Really starting to look like Germany in the 1930's. you must support the party or you will be punished. What sad times are these.

Also... Woodward must be a racist....

[PITBOSS]

When Woodward/press slam repubs/Bush - bad and must be part of some big left wing conspiracy/"liberal mainstream media"

When Woodward/press slam dems/Obama - they are spot on and there is no need for the nutty belief of some vast media conspiracy

I like Woodward and his books. He has credence. Like some before him, disappointing how Obama is getting more of an echo chamber around him.

[G8trGr8t]

Lefties are absent here. Is threatening Woodward okay? 108. Care to defend this?

[gator996]

When Bush does it = good, when Obama = bad.

Such hurt widdle feewings.



Yes, Obama's is the FIRST administration to ever try to intimidate a reporter it doesn't agree with... :rolleyes:


...and does anybody with a functioning brain not realize that the WH official was making a comment on Woodward's sequester being wrong...


...not that he would regret this "Chicago-style" :whoa:

[PITBOSS]

... Woodward must be a racist....

....and yet your the first to bring in skin color.

[FlyingGatorII]

Yes, Obama's is the FIRST administration to ever try to intimidate a reporter it doesn't agree with... :rolleyes:


...and does anybody with a functioning brain not realize that the WH official was making a comment on Woodward's sequester being wrong...


...not that he would regret this "Chicago-style" :whoa:

OK, I'll bite. Show me proof of such a clear cut threat against a reporter from any other White House. Woodward said that even the Nixon White House never threatened them during Watergate.

[jmoliver]

Wow 996 you took that white house talking point and ran as fast as you could. Not a republican but it is pretty clear what the WH was doing here. Had nothing to do with being on the right side of the sequester. The WH went on to try to infer that Woodward was an old man past his prime that didnt know hat he was talking about. Oh and Andrea Michell just talked on Morning Joe about getting screamed at by Donald Regan for reporting a story so yes it does happen on both sides.

[wgbgator]

This is apparently is the "threat:"

“I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today,” the official typed. “You’re focusing on a few specific trees that give a very wrong impression of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. … I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/02/28/the_nature_of_the_threat.html

[Row6]

Has Woodward produced the complete email exchange? Can someone post it?

Woodward obviously has a hard on for Obama (unfavorably comparing his manhood to Bush's willingness to invade Iraq no matter what - say what?).

Maybe he wouldn't give him access for one of his "inside story" books, otherwise known as "this is Powerful Joe Blows version of what happened. That'll be $29.95".

[vangator1]

liberals eat their own. you can't express an opinion that has not been approved.

[gator421]

Obozo is the most baldfaced liar ever to infest the White House. Pure vermin.

More than Nixon?

[gator421]

If this had been Bush there would have been rallies of leftists Myrmidons screaming about the assault on the first amendment. Th main stream press would be frothing.

Our tyrant in chief and his junta simply cannot be questioned. Really starting to look like Germany in the 1930's. you must support the party or you will be punished. What sad times are these.

Also... Woodward must be a racist....

Why does the right always have to make everything about race?

[Row6]

If this had been Bush there would have been rallies of leftists Myrmidons screaming about the assault on the first amendment. Th main stream press would be frothing.

Our tyrant in chief and his junta simply cannot be questioned. Really starting to look like Germany in the 1930's. you must support the party or you will be punished. What sad times are these.

Also... Woodward must be a racist....

Germany in the 1930's? Hell no, much worse. This is Warsaw in 1941. Nanking in 1933.

The horror! The horror!

[wgbgator]

Here is the e-mail:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/exclusive-the-woodward-sperling-emails-revealed-88226.html?hp=t1_3


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. Really. It was assumed by the Rs on the Supercommittee that came right after: it was assumed in the November-December 2012 negotiations. There may have been big disagreements over rates and ratios — but that it was supposed to be replaced by entitlements and revenues of some form is not controversial. (Indeed, the discretionary savings amount from the Boehner-Obama negotiations were locked in in BCA: the sequester was just designed to force all back to table on entitlements and revenues.)

Chicago Politics! LOL

[gator996]

OK, I'll bite. Show me proof of such a clear cut threat against a reporter from any other White House. Woodward said that even the Nixon White House never threatened them during Watergate.



Wow 996 you took that white house talking point and ran as fast as you could. Not a republican but it is pretty clear what the WH was doing here. Had nothing to do with being on the right side of the sequester. The WH went on to try to infer that Woodward was an old man past his prime that didnt know hat he was talking about. Oh and Andrea Michell just talked on Morning Joe about getting screamed at by Donald Regan for reporting a story so yes it does happen on both sides.


Thank you for answering Flying's question for me jmoliver...


Now, I'm running with talking points and your providing the same answers?


This is nothing unusual ....it happens in EVERY administration...
(contrary to Flying's beliefs)


The ONLY reason why this "story" has any legs is that it plays right into the conservative gripe that the media is awe-struck with Obama and that its taking a Bob Woodward to crticize him.

[Row6]

Here is the e-mail:

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/exclusive-the-woodward-sperling-emails-revealed-88226.html?hp=t1_3




Chicago Politics! LOL

Wow. Staggering! Poor Bobby.

Moc was wrong in saying this is like Germany in the 1930's and I was wrong in my post above - this is worse than Warsaw and Nanking, this is like the Battan Death March.

[mocgator]

Why does the right always have to make everything about race?

Satire is best when it's based on truth...

[MichaelJoeWilliamson]

it can't come from media on the right.....it has to come from a liberal


and yes.....Woodward is admitting that he has been "threatened" by the administration.


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

Remember: They’re not attacking Bob Woodward because they think he’s lying. They’re attacking him because they think he’s telling the truth.

---Glenn Reynolds

[gator996]

I don't think Woodward is being criticized for lying or telling the truth...


He's being criticized for being an "victim" opportunist...

[tegator80]

Remember: They’re not attacking Bob Woodward because they think he’s lying. They’re attacking him because they think he’s telling the truth.

---Glenn Reynolds

I would spin it a little bit differently. I would categorize the email as "Listen Bob, you are in our fraternity and you are putting yourself ahead of the House. You are free to pursue your ambitions but I should warn you that we are really smart over here and we have masterfully covered up all of the evidence that implicates the WH in anything impeachable. Do you want to continue with your dialog and be a man on an island or do you want to come back into the fold and be a nice relic of past glory? Your choice."

[PSGator66]

Gee wbgator - do we really know if that is the threat or is that the liberal edited versions like we seem to be recieving on a daily basis.

[wgbgator]

Gee wbgator - do we really know if that is the threat or is that the liberal edited versions like we seem to be recieving on a daily basis.

I think conservative media running with "you will regret" is the "edited" version. What I posted was the actual e-mail. Get real.

[madgator]

Woodward has always been a man of integrity


nice to see our democrats so quick to hang the messenger......so ready to destroy one of their own who breaks ranks to expose the truth.


party over principles!

[madgator]

When Bush does it = good, when Obama = bad.

Such hurt widdle feewings.



Change I never believed in


thanks for confirming my intuition

[gator996]

madgator
Are you serious?


Colin Powell, Chris Christie, Karl Rove, Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Charlie Christ, Jon Hunstman, Olympia Snowe...

Pubs have made "hang the messenger" such regular operation that "Rhino" has become a common term...

[FlyingGatorII]

Thank you for answering Flying's question for me jmoliver...


Now, I'm running with talking points and your providing the same answers?


This is nothing unusual ....it happens in EVERY administration...
(contrary to Flying's beliefs)


The ONLY reason why this "story" has any legs is that it plays right into the conservative gripe that the media is awe-struck with Obama and that its taking a Bob Woodward to crticize him.


Another poster relating a very liberal reporter's tale of screaming 30 years after the fact doesn't count. Besides, it's not being yelled at that is the issue here, it's the threats. I ask you again, post a reputable account of any administration ever threatening a reporter for telling the truth. I'll wait. BTW, you are the one spouting beliefs here, not me. I am asking you to back them up with facts, which is something liberals never seem to care about..

[Burke]

Now Lanny Davis, one of Hillary's best buds, is accusing them of doing it to him.

http://www.wmal.com/common/page.php?pt=WMAL+EXCLUSIVE%3A+Woodward%27s+Not+Alo ne+-+Fmr.+Clinton+Aide+Davis+Says+He+Received+White+Ho use+Threat&id=8924&is_corp=0

I'm old enough to remember when the leftist media turned on LBJ despite his extreme liberalism.

It was not pretty,

[wgbgator]

Another poster relating a very liberal reporter's tale of screaming 30 years after the fact doesn't count. Besides, it's not being yelled at that is the issue here, it's the threats. I ask you again, post a reputable account of any administration ever threatening a reporter for telling the truth. I'll wait. BTW, you are the one spouting beliefs here, not me. I am asking you to back them up with facts, which is something liberals never seem to care about..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair

[Row6]

Now Lanny Davis, one of Hillary's best buds, is accusing them of doing it to him.

http://www.wmal.com/common/page.php?pt=WMAL+EXCLUSIVE%3A+Woodward%27s+Not+Alo ne+-+Fmr.+Clinton+Aide+Davis+Says+He+Received+White+Ho use+Threat&id=8924&is_corp=0

I'm old enough to remember when the leftist media turned on LBJ despite his extreme liberalism.

It was not pretty,

Maybe you're old enough to have forgotten that the country turned on him for the extreme conservative war he started in Viet Nam.

[FlyingGatorII]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair

A. From Wikipedia..Wikipedia is open to anonymous and collaborative editing, so assessments of its reliability usually include examinations of how quickly false or misleading information is removed.

Several incidents have also been publicized in which false information has lasted for a long time in Wikipedia.

If that is the best source you have, it's a pretty "Wik" one.

B. I am no speed reader but I saw no reference there to the Bush administration ever threatening a reporter over this. Feel free to copy and paste it her though as I may have missed it..

[wgbgator]

A. From Wikipedia..Wikipedia is open to anonymous and collaborative editing, so assessments of its reliability usually include examinations of how quickly false or misleading information is removed.

Several incidents have also been publicized in which false information has lasted for a long time in Wikipedia.

If that is the best source you have, it's a pretty "Wik" one.

B. I am no speed reader but I saw no reference there to the Bush administration ever threatening a reporter over this. Feel free to copy and paste it her though as I may have missed it..

So, WH "officials" outing the spouse of someone as a CIA agent as retaliation for an op-ed about the non-existence of WMD isnt a "threat," but a polite e-mail exchange is? Maybe we just disagree on what qualifies as "intimidation" or "threats." Because really, by any reasonable standard, we don't have any absolute evidence of a direct "threat" from the Obama WH either. Just Woodward's "feeling" which is being widely ridiculed once the e-mail surfaced, and a guy saying that his editor once got a phone call from an anonymous "official" about some columns he had been running.

[gator996]

Another poster relating a very liberal reporter's tale of screaming 30 years after the fact doesn't count. Besides, it's not being yelled at that is the issue here, it's the threats. I ask you again, post a reputable account of any administration ever threatening a reporter for telling the truth. I'll wait. BTW, you are the one spouting beliefs here, not me. I am asking you to back them up with facts, which is something liberals never seem to care about..

How about Joe Scarboro (on the same show this morning) agreeing with Mitchell and recanting his tale of administration intimidation when he said he was called during a commercial break by the Bush administration and got the same treatment Mitchell & Woodward were talking about.

Scarboro told them "OK" and preceeded to blast them over the topic for the next 2 weeks on-air...


You've got to be kidding that this doesn't happen regularly...and throughout history.

Woodward is playing the victim card and every conservative is falling over themselves to bring it up because of what they view the coverage of the POTUS as biased.

OK. But don't act like this has never happened before...


So that's a fact...


Now what? :grin:

[OklahomaGator]

Obama could send the air craft carrier task group over there and then ask Congress for the money to bring them back.

[PSGator66]

Scarboro is full of Sh@t and by the way Row - LBJ didn't start the war in Vietnam as he inherited it from Kenned who inherited from Eisenhower.

[GatorAbe7]

So we have Lenny Davis, Joe Scarborough, and Bob Woodward - three veteran, immensely respected, and certainly not right wing, Fox News conspiracists reporters - all telling the same story about WH press intimidation and they are all full of sh*t according to those in the know around here?

[tegator80]

Is it possible that the media isn't happy where they are aligned in the cattle pen? Are there a few fence jumpers in the midst? I have to believe that the cattle ranchers are going to have everyone "back where they belong" and things "back to normal" shortly.

Too many people just don't care and the WH knows that.

[jdrgator]

Sure, if you believe Davis' serial liar, er, I mean editor, John Soloman, then I have some beachfront property in Arizona to sell you.

[chemgator]

madgator
Are you serious?


Colin Powell, Chris Christie, Karl Rove, Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Charlie Christ, Jon Hunstman, Olympia Snowe...

Pubs have made "hang the messenger" such regular operation that "Rhino" has become a common term...
Rhino is not a common term in American politics. RINO is the common term. It is short for "Republican In Name Only", and refers to a Congressman who claims to be fiscally responsible, but can't help but spend money like a drunken sailor (you know, like a democrat). It has nothing to do with republicans who express an opinion different from the republican president's or party leadership. I suppose to a democrat, you can't understand this, because spending money like a drunken sailor is presumed to be the only reasonable way to manage your money, so it must be something else. :yes:

[FlyingGatorII]

How about Joe Scarboro (on the same show this morning) agreeing with Mitchell and recanting his tale of administration intimidation when he said he was called during a commercial break by the Bush administration and got the same treatment Mitchell & Woodward were talking about.

Scarboro told them "OK" and preceeded to blast them over the topic for the next 2 weeks on-air...


You've got to be kidding that this doesn't happen regularly...and throughout history.

Woodward is playing the victim card and every conservative is falling over themselves to bring it up because of what they view the coverage of the POTUS as biased.

OK. But don't act like this has never happened before...


So that's a fact...


Now what? :grin:

Now I stop expecting any liberal to ever provide facts to back up their claims. You obviously could not find anything on the record to back up your statement so , just like your fearless leader, you say what you want and expect us all to believe it without question by declaring it a fact. Obama is caught lying on a regular basis so I guess his loyal followers see no problem with it either...As I said, the whole thing is embarrassingly pathetic. Even Pubs had to admit when Bush was wrong and did. You Obamatrons just keep marching in lock step repeating the same old stuff..it's Bush's fault, It's Boehners and the Republican's fault, it's the tsunami's fault, and nothing Obama says or does is ever wrong. Just remember that when you explain why you supported this disaster of a President to your kids and why they have to pay off all the debt your savior built up for them to buy the votes he needed to get elected twice..

[Row6]

Scarboro is full of Sh@t and by the way Row - LBJ didn't start the war in Vietnam as he inherited it from Kenned who inherited from Eisenhower.

Johnson decided to escalate our involvement into a war, not Kennedy, who sent ambivalent messages about whether he wanted to kill it or step it up. He didn't lock LBJ into anything, and was certainly long dead by the time of the bogus Gulf of Tonkin "incident".

[gator996]

Now I stop expecting any liberal to ever provide facts to back up their claims. You obviously could not find anything on the record to back up your statement so , just like your fearless leader, you say what you want and expect us all to believe it without question by declaring it a fact. Obama is caught lying on a regular basis so I guess his loyal followers see no problem with it either...As I said, the whole thing is embarrassingly pathetic. Even Pubs had to admit when Bush was wrong and did. You Obamatrons just keep marching in lock step repeating the same old stuff..it's Bush's fault, It's Boehners and the Republican's fault, it's the tsunami's fault, and nothing Obama says or does is ever wrong. Just remember that when you explain why you supported this disaster of a President to your kids and why they have to pay off all the debt your savior built up for them to buy the votes he needed to get elected twice..


The anecdotes were on TV today...

Others who watch Morning Joe can confirm this (and have in this thread)....


Are you really going to make me pull Morning Joe links and research the last few presidents to prove this non-interesting, totally partisan, completely illogical point you're trying to make?

I swear, that stupid argument isn't enough to move my lazy butt right now to appease you. :laugh:


Maybe I'll do it later...


In the meantime, if its your contention that no other administrations have had run-in's with specific media personalities....I would say your sadly mistaken.

But I will say this in your defense...


You've just trooped across a legitimate argument about the Fourth Estate....

...attempting to be too damn friendly with those they're covering and shirking their public responsibility...


That became pervasive under Bush II and allowed for the unchallenged runup to the Iraq War, WMD and the like...


Conservatives argue that its continued on under Obama... :whoa:

[DeanMeadGator]

keeping the carrier group here is another example of scare tactics constantly employed by oblamer.

meanwhile the navy keeps and maintains 250 golf courses, none of them being shut down.

this is typical crisis manufacturing as he can't get anything done unless it is in a crisis or he has a supermajority because he is unwilling to reach any meaningful compromise.

classic narcissist, he is right, valerie and michelle told him so, and he doesn't care what the other 47% of the country thinks.

pretty bad when a lifelong lib like Woodward is calling you out. Nice to see at least one member fo the journalistic community is willing to tell the emperor he has no clothes

In a recent article in the left-leaning New York Times, it was said that Obama is in danger of becoming the "Chicken Little President."

[ncgatr1]

There are plenty of ridiculous government programs they can cut, but Obama onevagain chooses to be an ass.

[vertigo0923]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/28/bob-woodward-trolled-us-and-we-got-played/

[gator996]

Rhino is not a common term in American politics. RINO is the common term. It is short for "Republican In Name Only", and refers to a Congressman who claims to be fiscally responsible, but can't help but spend money like a drunken sailor (you know, like a democrat). It has nothing to do with republicans who express an opinion different from the republican president's or party leadership. I suppose to a democrat, you can't understand this, because spending money like a drunken sailor is presumed to be the only reasonable way to manage your money, so it must be something else. :yes:


Is Christ a RINO [thanks]?

Christie?
Powell?


That term is being used far more broadly than you suggest.

Hell, the first time I heard it was during Bush's 2nd term and someone here was using it towards Joe Scarboro (obviously not in office) and hardly a spender in congress.

[gatorev12]

I think the thread's gotten waaay off track here...but Woodward is absolutely right in calling out the Obama Administration on this.

Playing politics to the hilt--and it's pretty despicable given where the carrier was supposed to be deploying to.

If the Navy is worried about budgets, a far better idea would be to quit doing port calls in quiet areas of the world (South America, Australia, Europe, the Med, etc).