Did Woodward just double cross Dubya?

[Junkdrawer]

So Woodward write one book that's a puff piece that shows Bush to be a great leader. Because of this, he's given the kind of access an investigative journalist could only dream of. He then writes a second book that blows the lid off the whole Bush nightmare.

Wow, my kind of guy.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

1. Im not sure.

I only saw part of that 60 Minutes interview, and im not sure Woodward was really that hard on Bush.

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

4. Isaw the whole thing

and woodward didn't offer any conclusions unless asked by wallace.
But, you could tell from his demeanor that he is scared shitless.
Scared from what they might do to him, and also scared by this
man-child running the free world. It was clear from the interview
that woodward KNOWS cheney is running the whitehouse.

[Kahuna]

13. Woodward always looks spooked. He's really hard to read at times...

But I will agree that he looked extra spooked tonight.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

18. What could possibly scare Woodward? He is obviously taking....

...directions from some group operating "behind the secret curtain", and they have decided Junior is a liability. Woodward, as connected to the intelligence world as I blieve him to be, is basically untouchable, IMHO.

"Scared shitless"? Not hardly...not even close.

[napi21]

21. I never heard of his connections to Intelligence, but if he is, then

maybe this is retaliation from the Inteligence community. Somewhere I read about how BushCo should be a little afraid to blame everything on the FBI & CIA....they know too much and son't take too kindly to taking a hit for him. Hmmmmm

[Media_Lies_Daily]

30. An article written a few years ago on Bob Woodward...

<http://www.webcom.com/ctka/pr196-woodward.html >

IMHO, Woodward is a VERY interesting character.

[OKNancy]

38. If it is on the internet it must be true!!

n/t

[mitchum]

23. You are absolutely correct!

Bob Woodward=longtime spook

[kera]

5. I saw the whole interview

on the contrary, he shows how B& had been ploting for war without even telling Powell, the fact that almighty told him to do so and the fact that is going to invad more countries

he also highted the sneaky role of Dick and so on

[Junkdrawer]

6. I'm not either. The "God spoke to me", the "Powell informed after the...

Saudis", and the "Saudis promise to lower the price of oil in exchange for invading Iraq" parts are some of the most damning revelations made to date. The "Tenet said Slam Dunk and so the war is Tenet's fault" stuff is more in line with the old Woodward.

[emulatorloo]

20. 700 million stolen from the search for Osama to plan Iraq war

Secret war plans marked NOFOR shown to the Saudis. . .pretty mindblowing.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

31. That is extremely damning, IMHO.

[spanone]

29. I thought he was very tough on bush*

He said that Price Bandar of Saudi Arabia saw the war map before Colin Powell! He said there was no plan. Cheney was running the war show. Bush didn't consult cabinet members before giving war orders. He showed that there was really no evidence of WMD's . I thought this was a very condemning story of a sitting president. He also said bush* diverted 700 million dollars slated for Afghanistan without Congressional knowledge. Pretty damning.

[0007]

32. No Bob didn't call junior a lunatic - is that what it would have taken

to convince you that Woodward was going hard on junior?

History doesn't matter cuz we're gonna be dead. The heavely father is the one I talk too. Oh man, that was soft?

[skooooo]

2. That's what I think is going on...

(Jesus told me.)

[KissMyAsscroft]

3. Ahh...

From everything I have seen, Woodward is Bush's buttboy...he wouldn't put out anything that would really hurt him.

[Soup Bean]

9. I disagree.

I think the more "reasonable" old guard is trying to take out the neocons. I'm with those old guard fellers. On edit, I also think George H.W. Bush is trying to save his son.

Woodward's book looks like a big attack on Tenet and Cheney, with a big nod of appreciation and salvaton going to Colin Powell.

[Jade Fox]

22. Appreciation of Colin Powell?

For being the good soldier and going along with the crap?

He could have saved us all a lot of grief by speaking out.

[Virginian]

10. That "History" comment could be taken two ways.

The stupid way is that History won't judge the war for many, many years to come and by then we will all be long gone, "We will all be dead." (This is from the same source who said the Aug 6 PDB contained only historical information.)

The scary way is that this war is the last war the world will ever see because it is this war that will end the world. History will never get a chance to judge this war, because no one will be left to write history. "We will all be dead."

I think either of the interpretations of that statement could bring forth a negative impression of the president.

The little comment about misappropriating funds that Congress had approved for the Afghanistan war is probably an impeachable act. That could be considered a little hurtful to the administration.

Cheney as the "man behind the curtain," was strengthened. The people aren't voting for Bush, they are voting for Cheney's front man, his puppet. That could hurt at the polls.

That was just the impression I got from the interview. I'm sure there were as many interpretations as there were viewers. I am just one of many.

[napi21]

24. There's yet another possibility.....

John Dean in his book, and several others, have stated that the BushCo has gutted the lasw that made it mandatory for Presidents to release all their papers after, 12 or 25 years (I forget which), so this WH will NEVER have to release theirs! That's why "we;ll all be dead" could make sense.

[DemoTex]

7. Woodward may have done the world a great service. The Boxer.

Boxer's timing. Book one was the feint, book two is the KO punch. All's fair. Thank's Bob. However, watch for long knives. Condi pulled hers out first.

[Junkdrawer]

8. LOL. Condi will stop lying when they pull her voicebox...

from her cold, dead throat.

[napi21]

26. No, she'll stop lying when it starts to reflect on her! n/t

[riverwalker]

11. he was immunizing Powell

for some reason. From what I saw, in between tornado warnings, was a big cushion around Powell. Haven't quite figured out why. Will Powell give us the second punch?

[NewJeffCT]

39. Powell has a lot of support out there

I remember Bill Maher thinks Powell would be his dream president... or, something along those lines.

[Kahuna]

12. Yes he did. He also double crossed Tenet. I can't wait to..

see the fallout from Woodward contradicting Tenet.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

27. It's interesting that Woodward pressed ahead with his version that...

...portrays Tenet as one of the people pushing the Iraqi WMD story, when Clarke and others, to include Tenet himself, are telling a completely different story.

Somebody, or some group, working behind the scenes is trying to create a double-play by attempting to implicate Junior for committing impeachable crimes, and by attempting to discredit Tenet in regards to the Iraqi WMDs.

IMHO, it's a mistake to misjudge Tenet, and Woodward appears to have done so. But I do put stress on the word "appears"...all is not what it seems to be when trying to understand the world of intelligence.

[starroute]

14. Woodward has always been suspected of being close to the CIA

See, for example:

http://www.webcom.com/ctka/pr196-woodward.html
http://www.davidcogswell.com/MediaRoulette/WoodwardBush...
http://truedemocracy.net/td2_1/19-MoreCensorship-1.html

(There are further Washington Post/CIA connections from the Watergate period as well -- see http://www.namebase.org/davis.html for some particularly hair-raising examples. The exposure of Watergate was far from being the simple exercise in democracy we've been led to believe it was.)

If Woodward really has turned on Bush, it could be because the CIA has decided to bring Bush down (either because of the Valerie Plame affair or because of more a general sense that Bush is bad news.)

Whatever the exact details, Woodward's actions definitely have to be considered as those of an Establishment insider.

[Junkdrawer]

15. So the "It's Tenet's fault" stuff was cover or maybe there's...

a piece of the CIA that wants Tenet's hide too?

[chookie]

16. Not clear at this point

He may have been playing a double game -- writing a fawning account during a time when Bush was popular, to bankroll himself.

He may have seen himself as a trojan horse -- and played a game in order to retain his access to His Chimperial Highness in order to keep an eye on what was going on behind the scenes of this very secretive WH.

But one way he covers GW's ass is by offering a post-Sept 11 timeline to the planning of the Iraqi war, contradicting Clarke and O'Neill (and perhaps in the documents of the secret Energy Policy meetins) who have claimed that the war was being planned as early as Jan 2001.

If Woodward is found dead in a motel following a drug overdose with a note saying he was in financial trouble, or if his brakes malfunction, etc -- we'll know he was on our side.

The standard operating procedure is to CRUCIFY anyone who dares to challenge the infallibility of the chimp. Let's watch what they will do to Woodward -- if anything -- and that will provide our answer.

[progressivebydesign]

17. Maybe Woodward is a fair journalist..

perhaps he did the Watergate piece, because it was the truth. Perhaps he did the book about Bush after the 9/11 attacks, because it was the truth at that time. Perhaps he's written this book because it's the truth. Perhaps he has no hidden agenda... The best journalists write pieces that seem to be all over the place, because they should have no bias, either way. I'm grateful for this book... I hope it does something. It scares me to death thinking of how insane Bush is.. thinking that God called him to do this stuff. He's completely insane.

[NewHampster]

28. a sane mind is a good thing

thanks for saying what I was thinking.

[chookie]

34. That is a simpler explanation

That occured to me as well, although I did not express it, but I thank you for reponding with this very rational and plausible explanation as an alternative to the one I posted about.

You're right -- he might just be calling it as he sees it, and doesn't give a care about following a narrative thread, be it pro- or anti-Bush.

I agree also about the religious stuff. American people are for the large part people with deep faith. However, while there may be a tiny minority of religiously insane people around (Bush's base), the majority of people of faith in America also possess powers of judgement and respect for rational thought that are suspicious of or reprelled by such messianic fervor, especially when expressed by a chief executive.

It's one thing to be thrilling to the idea of The Rapture and stuff -- it's entirely another when it is your boy or girl having their arms and legs blown off in the early days of The End Times.

I know it is the RNC plan to increase voter registration by targetting evangelicals. Maybe they have their data right, but I suspect that they have already registered every wacko in America, and that they are not going to come up with many more. I believe this public messianism is going to play very badly in Peoria.

So -- let's change the subject -- what are YOU wearing to the Kerry Inaugural Ball?

[Junkdrawer]

19. As DemoTex said, Condi took the first shot...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/international/middlee...

[DemoTex]

33. Look for a week of "long knives."

I think Woodward can handle it. Who has the long-term credibility, eh? Woodward- lots! Bu$hco - zero.

[MoonRiver]

25. I'm starting to think this is Woodward's "Watergate, the Sequel"

Maybe he started to understand what a dire threat this adm. is, or maybe he plotted the thing from Day One to further his reputation, and, bank account. Whatever, I'm starting to believe he has scammed the greatest liars and deceivers on the face of this earth. The guy has tapes NO LESS! Jeez, how stupid are these bu*hies???

[Junkdrawer]

35. LINK TO TRANSCRIPT...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/15/60minutes/mai...

[Junkdrawer]

41. Kick

[Disturbed]

36. Woodward has tapes

Ah..yes he learned his Watergate lessons well.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

37. I bet he doesn't have tapes of what he has attributed to Tenet.

[mrfrapp]

40. He's not claiming to

From the 60 mins interview, I got the impression that the tapes are of people relaying what other people have said.