Carl Bernstein: "This investigation ... has cast a constant searchlight

[understandinglife]

... that the White House can’t turn off the way it has succeeded in turning off the press. So their methodology and their dishonesty and their disingenuousness -- particularly about how we went to war -- as well as their willingness to attack and rough up people who don’t agree with them are now there for all to see. They can’t turn off this searchlight, which is shining on a group of thugs that makes the Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Ziegler press shop look like a small-time operation.”

And these are the very thugs that Woodward was protecting while attacking the guy operating the searchlight.

<clip>

From Woodward: From Watergate Hero to Plamegate Goat by Arianna Huffington on November 16, 2005

Much more at the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/woodward-from-watergate-_b_10773.html

Congratulations to Ms Huffington for getting the "money quotes"!! on this amazing and totally disgusting story.


Peace.

[understandinglife]

1. "However the Post deals with the Woodward story, we know that bloggers ...

"... won’t let it die. They are already all over it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/woodward-from-watergate-_b_10773.html

And, a related DU thread that I've been assembling with a variety of comments from these bloggers:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5374932


Peace.

[Just Me]

31. Okay,...that is VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!

Salute!!! :patriot:

[ramblin_dave]

2. Why does she say "unintentionally damning"?

Isn't Berstein saying Woodward was protecting thugs? Isn't that what he intended to say?

[Cha]

7. I think that part was Ariana's writing not

Bernstein's.

[understandinglife]

8. Correct. That last sentence is not in "..."; it is Arianna's assessment.

Thank you.


Peace.

[Garbo 2004]

33. But Bernstein has been highly critical of the media's cozying up to power

and their vested interests as members of the power elite. He may not specifically be naming his own buddy Bob, but one can infer on one's own that Woodward certainly among others fits the description.

[understandinglife]

36. I agree with you.

I was just making the distinction between what Bernstein is quoted as saying and what Ms. Huffington stated.


Peace.

[indepat]

3. May that searchlight expose the entire rotten caboodle and all their

illegal and unconstitutional acts.

[understandinglife]

6. "Searchlight" Fitzgerald is laser focused, for certain.

Peace.

[ProSense]

4. Great stuff! Thanks for posting. n/t

[Cha]

5. Brilliant, Ariana!

"I called Carl Bernstein to ask what he thought of his old partner’s behavior. He was loyal as ever but he did say something very revealing -- and unintentionally damning. “This investigation,” he told me, “has cast a constant searchlight that the White House can’t turn off the way it has succeeded in turning off the press. So their methodology and their dishonesty and their disingenuousness -- particularly about how we went to war -- as well as their willingness to attack and rough up people who don’t agree with them are now there for all to see. They can’t turn off this searchlight, which is shining on a group of thugs that makes the Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Ziegler press shop look like a small-time operation.” And these are the very thugs that Woodward was protecting while attacking the guy operating the searchlight."

[EVDebs]

49. Bernstein should update The CIA and The Media Oct. '77 Rolling Stone

article. If HE doesn't maybe Arianna should. What a nifty bit of journalism she just practiced, holding her peers feet to the fire.

Woodward...go back to Naval Intelligence where you belong, and your supervisors can keep a sharp eye on you.

Jim Hougan's instincts were right on target. Secret agenda hasn't stopped, has it ?

[troubleinwinter]

9. Kick, nominated and an excerpt:

"Bob Woodward.... asking a colleague, Walter Pincus, not to mention Woodward’s role in the story. And failing to tell his editor that he had vital information about a major story.

And, to bottom it out, doing the TV and radio rounds, minimizing the scandal as “laughable,” “an accident”, “nothing to it” and denigrating Fitzgerald as “disgraceful” and “a junkyard dog” without ever once divulging that he was not just an observer of the CIA leak case but a recipient -- perhaps the first -- of the leak."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/woodward-from-watergate-_b_10773.html

[leftchick]

10. I Love how Arianna links to his quotes

the man is a traitor covering for..... bush I am sure...

<snip>

And, to bottom it out, doing the TV and radio rounds, minimizing the scandal as “laughable,” “an accident”, “nothing to it” and denigrating Fitzgerald as “disgraceful” and “a junkyard dog” without ever once divulging that he was not just an observer of the CIA leak case but a recipient -- perhaps the first -- of the leak.

Hear that hissing noise? That’s the sound of the air being let out of Woodward’s reputation. Especially now that he’s decided to challenge Pincus to a round of credibility one-on-one. My money’s on Pincus, who was appropriately skeptical about the administration’s WMD claims while Woodward was writing hagiography about the brave president and his fearless aides.


... The man is scum. :puke:

[understandinglife]

13. Laura Rozen refers to it as an "agony play"

There's a kind of agony play at hand now, and I think it demonstrates among other things how very much this administration was willing to manipulate the truth, the press, and ultimately the American public in some sort of never ending campaign that flickered at its most extreme and excessive into the orbit of something I can only describe somewhat ridiculously as fascism. The threat appears to have receded, but the sense one is left with, of a great democracy that is far more vulnerable than many had realized, is one of shock and tragedy, as well as relief.

The link she embeds with the - "at hand" - phrase is to the Howie Kurtz's article on Woodwards "apology":

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/16/AR2005111601286.html

She has more to say at the link:

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003088.html

I watched the "agony play" of Watergate, up close, for the duration; this one is going to redefine the word "agony."


Peace.

[leftchick]

18. redefine agony ...

No Doubt About It... I can not get over the freeps and freaks who think tricky dicky was worse than this group of fascists. There is an amazing amount of denial going on.

I am excited and a little scared at the same time for the year ahead. It will define America's future.

[understandinglife]

11. ThinkProgress: "Smears, Lies and Videotape: A Leak Scandal Documentary"

Want to be sure everyone sees this useful video as to be able to send it to friends, families, colleagues, etc:

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/16/smears-lies-videotape


Peace.

[mod mom]

12. EXCELLENT! Lets forward this around WOO HOO! Their goose is cooked!

[mod mom]

14. UL, May I suggest the video have a thread of it's own?

[understandinglife]

16. Of course -- here is the link to a DU thread announcing the video:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5376669


Peace.

[tavalon]

20. And

it needs a few more nominations to make it onto the greatest page.

[wookie294]

15. Was Bernstein's "group of thugs" remark deleted from Arianna's article?

The article now reads: "They can’t turn off this searchlight, which is shining on a White House that runs a media apparatus so sophisticated in discrediting its critics it makes the Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Ziegler press shop look like a small-time operation."

Was "White House" initially "group of thugs"??

[understandinglife]

17. Good catch. I assure you, the quote in the OP is exactly the way ...

... it read at the time I created the thread. They've done some editing, for sure.

Interesting.

Glad we have preserved the original.


Peace.

[wookie294]

22. Yeah, I like the original

I wonder if Bernstein called Arianna after his remarks and asked her to tone it down a bit. Still, it's good to see Bernstein swinging at the criminals (unlike Woodward).

[upi402]

30. Good work on catching it, it's better originally

thumbs up

[understandinglife]

19. Joan Dideon: "After reading six of Woodward's books, she highlighted ...

... the "disinclination of Mr. Woodward to exert cognitive energy on what he is told." Her observations about Woodward's reliability as a water carrier for his sources ...

<clip>

Link:

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/11/16/141416/18

Insightful.


Peace.

[peekaloo]

52. She is a Goddess.

:D

[understandinglife]

21. Swopa: "Bob Woodward, welcome to Plame Jeopardy"

A few months ago, Joseph Wilson had some thoughts in a Democracy Now interview about Bob Woodward and the outing of his wife as a CIA employee (thanks to pollyusa):

. . . the great irony in all of this is that, of course, Woodward was hanging around the White House and dealing with the most senior officials of our government for several years while he was writing his two books . . . I think the question for Woodward once all is said and done is, "You were sniffing around there. You were talking to all of these people on a daily basis. You were basically taking their dictation, and you didn't sniff out a story? You didn't sniff out a story that might actually be rather important."

As the Washington Post has now revealed, the truth is worse -- Woodward didn't sniff out the story even when the Bushites put it right under his nose:

<clip>

More at the link:

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/2311

Hubris is always deadly.

The irony.

Woodie had the best "arrogance kills" tutor in pre-neoconster history and he flunked his lesson.


Peace.

[Jacobin]

23. Bernsetein has NOT sold out

I was waiting to hear his voice.

Go Carl!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[understandinglife]

25. Definitely NOT!!

Peace.

[Lex]

32. No and he's not out there in elbowing his way on camera either.

But Woodward's kind of publicity queen, isn't he?

Well, he sure gets some publicity now.

[goclark]

40. Good point - Bernstein and Woody may not be close now

at all.

For Bernstein to make that strong a statement, really in opposition to the remarks made by his long time "reporter buddy," speaks volumes.

Sounds klike he knows that Woody has dirty hands on this and he probably knew he had dirty hands on Deep Throat.

[understandinglife]

24. Digby: "But one thing seems obvious to me that nobody is mentioning.

We know Libby leaked about Plame to reporters. We know Rove leaked about Plame to reporters. We now know that some other administration figure leaked to Woodward and another one (perhaps the same one) leaked to Novak. What is it going to take for the media to start calling this what it was --- a conspiracy?

I don't know if Fitz can prove such a thing. But common sense says that if a bunch of different White House sources are talking to the most powerful journalists in Washington about the same subject, it isn't just idle gossip. Woodward knew that. So did every other top reporter in town. They just preferred to pretend otherwise.

<clip>

If all the administration wanted to do was shed light on Wilson's alleged lack of credibility they could have called a fucking press conference and offered their evidence. It's not like they can't get anybody's attention. The very fact that they were dropping this into the ether like it was idle gossip is the reason that Bob Woodward, Judy Miller and all the rest should have written front page stories about it. It's not difficult. They could do what Matt Cooper did. He wrote that the White House was engaging in an underground war on Wilson. That is and was the story.

This crap about protecting anonymous sources is simply cover for the fact that these people are protecting their access to official lies. It's bullshit and it's why they are in trouble today.

Much more at the link:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_11_13_digbysblog_archive.html#113217925089054994

And, I agree with Digby's assessment -- "Deep Throat was misnamed. It's Bob himself who specializes in that particular act."


Peace.

[goclark]

41. Bernstein and Woody may not be friends at all now

For Bernstein to make that strong a statement, really in opposition to the remarks made by his long time "reporter buddy," speaks volumes.

Sounds klike he knows that Woody has dirty hands on this and he probably knew he had dirty hands on Deep Throat.

[SoCalDem]

68. I have always been of the opinion that they were colleagues

but never really friends, except in the way that two young guys, both chomping at the bit to get noticed would have been.. They seem to be very different sorts. and woodward has always been an attention-whore

[Nothing Without Hope]

26. Berstein and Woodward at opposite poles now. Another duality moves

together as many of us already suspected it would: Treasongate and the Niger forgeries:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5376645
thread title (11/16 GD): Hadley and the Forged Niger Documents ---with pix->>>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2254486
thread title (11/16 GD-P): Woodward's source is Hadley!!! Raw Story Scoop

Stephen Hadley is a person in the center of both crimes - but he is not THE center. There is much, much more.

Let's hope John Dean was right when he said recently that Fitzgerald will save this country.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

37. I think Woodward has ALWAYS been at the far right of the spectrum....

...most Americans are just now beginning to suspect that.

[Time for change]

27. This is so ironic

Ever since I read Woodward's books on the Bu$h Administration, I just couldn't understand what happened to him. Is this really the same person who was so instrumental in breaking the Watergate case open? Or maybe, in retrospect, it was almost all to Bernstein's credit, and Woodward was just along for the ride. I mean, his "Bush at War" was just disgusting.:puke:

I am certainly glad that the same thing didn't happen to Bernstein. What must Bernstein think of him now?

[understandinglife]

28. billmon: "All The President's Whores" & More

Had started this thread earlier today, before the Bernstein quotes became available. It contains some related links so I'm posting the URL here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5374932#5377708

And, I'll just continue expanding this thread rather than adding more to the billmon thread.


Peace.

[upi402]

29. Wonderful

Thanks!

[understandinglife]

34. "Nothing in Woodward’s story changes the fact that Scooter allegedly lied

... to the FBI and grand jury, but it does give Libby a chance to plea to something lesser now if he is motivated to do so. And please, spare me the line that Woodward only knew from Hadley that she was an analyst working on WMDs, because the guy who wrote “Veil” would also know from this that she would be working on the Directorate of Operations side of the Agency, in other words, the NOC side.

If Hadley was in fact the first administration official to talk to a member of the media about Plame’s identity, and knowingly revealing that she was a possible covert operative due to her assignment in the Directorate of Operations, how plausible is it that his boss at the time didn’t know about this either. You know, his boss, the current Secretary of State?

And which is worse for Bush: the fact that he knowingly promoted two people to senior positions in the government (Secretary of State and NSA) who may have been involved in this, and lying about his knowledge of this all this time to the American people in advance of a presidential election, or not knowing any of this was going on right underneath his nose for the last two years. And tell me again why, if Bush did know this, did he let both Condi and Hadley keep their security clearances, to this day?

This definitely pulls the whole thing inside the Oval Office, and “high crimes and misdemeanors” is back in the lexicon. The president's current NSA talked to a reporter about the identity of a critic's wife, who happened to work at the Agency on WMDs, and we are supposed to believe that Condi, our current Secretary of State and the NSA at the time kept this information from Bush?

<clip>

More at the link:

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/006039.php

And, what Libby's lawyers and the LAT apparently have not yet grokked (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/ats-ap_top10nov16,0,1820406.story) is that Mr. Fitzgerald can still hold Libby, and every other member of the White House involved in the leak of Mrs. Wilson's identity, to the consequences of their having violated their respective SF 312s.

If Hadley is Woodward's source then we know that more than one person violated their SF 312 and that leads to the logical hypothesis of conspiracy in violation of 18 USC 793, not merely an individual act of violating it.


Peace.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

35. The best way to determine the desperation of the NeoCon Junta....

...is to see who they are trotting out to defend them. A very short list tonight includes:

**Cheny being his usual "public Dick"
**Richard Cohen of the WP parroting Woodward's remarks

[understandinglife]

38. No Plame/Iraq thread would be complete w/o the Waxman debunker:

http://democrats.reform.house.gov/IraqOnTheRecord

I hope they soon add folk like Bolton, Hadley, Fleitz, Feith, ..., oh so many, to the collection (though I know Josh Marshall now has an effort to gather every factlet in this sordid Bush/neoconster history).


Peace.

[AntiFascist]

39. For more on BFEE thuggery.....

http://antifascist2005.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/6/61854/9150


He further goes on to provide details about how both Bush administrations have a sordid history of launching brutal attacks against uncorrupt Americans when the Bushes believe that their political ambitions are in jeopardy. He describes how he stumbled upon illegal dealings with the Bush family, the Saudis and the Israelis in the mid to late 1980's involving the "laundering of Bin Ladin money".


THERE'S MUCH MORE!

[BamaBecky]

42. kick

[MellowOne]

43. I don't understand how Woodward's sudden recall changes anything

Libby lied.

[Warren Stupidity]

59. It changes nothing.

The bullshit lead paragraph in the Wapo article, that this somehow helps libby's defense is contradicted several paragraphs later with the obvious observation that libby is charged with lying and obstructing not with 'being the first to out Ms. Plame'. This is just the usual lies and distortions from the whore-media.

The talking point on woodward's stunning revelations, revelations that directly point to a conspiracy, is that rather than being bad news, this gets "loose scooter" libby off the hook. Its the usual 180 spin tactic. It aint bad news see, its good news.

Oh and as for ariana's wondering if the NYT is no longer the paper of record, and the WaPo which looked like the hier apparant is also damaged goods, who is the paper of record? There is no paper of record. The 'papers' are committing suicide by stenography. The blogs are taking over as they are the only source of independent journalism and critical thinking left for the public to read.

[understandinglife]

66. Exactly. And, as Josh Marshall notes: "But look what Fitzgerald actually

... said:

But Mr. Novak was not the first reporter to be told that Wilson's wife, Valerie Wilson, Ambassador Wilson's wife Valerie, worked at the CIA. Several other reporters were told.

In fact, Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporter when he talked to Judith Miller in June of 2003 about Valerie Wilson.

Link to Fitzgerald transcript: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801340_pf.html

Fitzgerald chose his words carefully. He didn't state as a fact that Libby was the first government official to leak Plame's identity. Nor did he hang any of his indictment on Libby's having been the first.

What he said is that Libby's was the earliest instance he'd found of an official leaking Plame's identity.

In truth, this whole point seems like a tempest in a teapot. For better or worse, I doubt that precisely what Fitzgerald said about who was first will play any role at Libby's trial. But it seems worth running this bit of imprecision to ground before it becomes a 'fact' by endless repetition.

Link:

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/007043.php

I agree. That's why I'm posting it here. Please spread this fact, far and wide.


Peace.

[democrank]

44. I really like this "searchlight" angle.

Imagine how Asia Junior feels about now. All these years Bush has been able (with help from his image makers)to escape accountability.
Citizens are finally getting fed up and there isn`t a flight suit in the world that`s going to save him.

[Metta]

45. This gives the story an extra base.

Although, nothing is on the table legally until its on the table, you know.

[dalaigh lllama]

46. thanks for the great links, UL. n/t

[EVDebs]

47. Will Carl Bernstein update his great Oct '77 Rolling Stone article

The CIA and The Media ? It really needs to include a segment on his old pal Woodward. BTW, please read the DU post below for clues as to Woodward's true identity

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5373313&mesg_id=5373313

[EVDebs]

48. Learn more about Operation Mockingbird at

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKmockingbird.htm

and that domestic CIA operations to influence the media, just as with Operation Chaos, are ILLEGAL

Domestic Surveillance: The History of Operation CHAOS
by Verne Lyon
from Covert Action Information Bulletin, Summer 1990
(Verne Lyon is a former CIA undercover operative
who is now a director of the Des Moines Hispanic Ministry)

www.serendipity.li/cia/lyon.html

"...a massive illegal domestic covert operation ..."

Who can hear that on Mr Fitzgerald's staff and not have the hair stand up on the backs of their necks ? Who can doubt that now you have Judy Miller and Bob Woodward operating domestically ... to actively promote a cult of personality around an administration that the last thing on earth deserves is a 'free pass' as Dennis Miller would frame it.

Shame on the media; while good men die for neocon fantasies in Iraq and give fresh excuses for our enemies to attack. Shame on this administration.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

50. What's "the paper of record" now?

The Seattle Weekly? :shrug:

:disgust:

[understandinglife]

57. DU, Huffington Post, firedoglake, noquarter.typepad.com, TPM, TWN, ....

Conyersblog, Swopa/Needlenose, War&Piece, ThinkProgress, MediaMatters, Bloggerman, dKos, RawStory, TruthOut, The Next Hurrah, billmon, Digby, BradBlog, ........ -- we're it, now, and we might as well accept the fact and build our investigative, documentary and archival capabilities, quickly.


Peace.

[Warren Stupidity]

60. Exactly.

'The papers' have committed suicide by stenography. A bunch of desperate amateurs, typing in basements, studies, bedrooms, dormitories, and cubicles across the planet on blogs and boards are the new 'paper of record'.

What killed print journalism? Lies, distortions, greed, and stupidity.

[understandinglife]

61. "What killed print journalism? Lies, distortions, greed, and stupidity."

Precisely.


Peace.

[satireV]

76. Nah.... The Stranger! :)

[bobbieinok]

80. for NOLA the Times-Picayune; for FL hi crimes etc a StPetersburg paper??

[frogmarch]

51. I think Woodward calling Fitz

a junkyard dog is a compliment, even though I'm sure Woodward didn't intend it as such. And it helps me keep the faith that Fitz's investigation is far from over.

And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown
The baddest man in the whole damned town
Badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog

If these bastards can be nailed, Fitz is the man to do it.

[Gman]

53. You youngsters can't appreciate how profound these words are

coming from Bernstein:

"They can’t turn off this searchlight, which is shining on a group of thugs that makes the Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Ziegler press shop look like a small-time operation."

You just had to be there with the rest of us in 1974.

[understandinglife]

55. I know what you mean ... We lived across the street from Nixon's ...

... "Harriet Miers" equivalent -- what a show, beginning with Ellsberg's initial publication in the NYT in 1971!




Peace.

[goclark]

56. 1974 is child's play compared to this...

For Bernstein to say this is for him to speak TRUTH to POWER as clearly as he could possible speak.

[AntiFascist]

70. Exactly....

I was very young at the time, but Watergate was a very, very big deal. The problem is that the current administration may be so corrupt that many people are unable to accept the idea and emotionally turn it off, or latch onto some delusional religious belief that supersedes rational thinking.

[understandinglife]

54. Bush shares secrets with Woodward, but not our US Senators

When I read this little item Digby posted:

In his most recent book, Bush at War, Bob Woodward brags that he was given access to the deeply classified minutes of National Security Council meetings. He also noted, not long ago, that the President sat for lengthy interviews, often speaking candidly about classified information. This surprised even Woodward, who observed, "Certainly Richard Nixon would not have allowed reporters to question him like that. Bush's father wouldn't allow it. Clinton wouldn't allow it.''

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_11_13_digbysblog_archive.html#113218083452582891

I reflected on not only how inappropriate it was for Bush to have ever disclosed ANY classified information to Woodward (more laws broken because nothing Bush could state would ever justify sharing classified information with a reporter/biographer given the "need to know" caveat attached to all classified information disclosure).

But I also reflected on a topic discussed many times, and that was the efforts Bush took in the Fall of 2001 to prevent our elected representatives from having access to classified information -- information they most definitely have a "need to know" in their role of scrutiny and legislative authority. See the following recent DU post by "Justice Is Comin" and several of the comments in that thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5363118&mesg_id=5363118

Particularly:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5363118&mesg_id=5363187

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5363118&mesg_id=5363231

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5363118&mesg_id=5363681

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5363118&mesg_id=5363861

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5363118&mesg_id=5368296

And, this one from DUer BR_Parkway entitled Bush Pulls Security Clearances From 92 Senators:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=5340848

It IS Tribunal Time in the United States of America


Peace.

[ChiciB1]

58. Thanks For This Post understandinglife!

I went off on Bob-O at another thread and was directed here.

I had picked up on the Woodward/Bernstein thing some time back, and watched with GREAT interest as the Duo HAD to appear together during the Deep Throat episode!

Bernstein was clearly uncomfortable without making evident noises!

Thank you Carl for staying true blue!!!

And for you Bob-O... as with what I say to Cheney and all the Goons at the WH.... Pay Back Is Hell!!!

We're gonna getcha, getcha, getcha! Don't turn around, be VERY afraid!

You Bad Bad PEOPLE!! I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!!!

And I must say... Arianna has really outdone Maureen Dowd!!!

[understandinglife]

62. "Bob Woodward's explanation of why he didn't come clean with his ...

... executive editor does not add up":

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/bob-woodwards-explanation-of-why-he.html

True.


Peace.

[loudsue]

72. Woodward didn't come forward until his SOURCE outed him as

a recipient of the information. If this source had not come forward to Fitz, we STILL wouldn't be having this conversation.

Woodward, and the one who outed him to Fitz, I believe, are just trying to carry water for the Libby case, and try to make it look like "everyone knew".... which is how the republicans have been trying to spin this for so long.

I hope it backfires and blows 'em all out of the water.


:kick::kick::kick:

[understandinglife]

63. Digby: "I haven't revered Woodward in a long time. And I still mourn ...

... the loss of my youthful faith in what Woodstein stood for --- that the truth will out. Woodmill (hat tip to my pal) has been the sad reality ever since.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_11_13_digbysblog_archive.html#113220196735677062


Peace.

[understandinglife]

64. Will Bunch: "I've never been very trendy, but there was one time in ...

... in my life when I did find myself swept up by a trend, a big one. And so today I come here to confess: I am a charter member of that '70s show, a generation of starry-eyed idealists who became newspaper reporters all because of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

It all started in the summer of 1973. I wasn’t a total geek when I was 14 -- just a total Watergate geek. I still remember getting home from shooting archery (badly) and swimming laps (slowly) at summer rec camp every day, and racing upstairs to our black-and-white set so I could catch John Dean’s testimony to the Senate Watergate Committee.

<clip>

Until some war-mongering torture freaks came along and asked Woodward and his accolytes to take a little dictation.

Me? I lost interest in Woodward a long time ago. As someone who grew up and later worked in New York for much of my life, he's always reminded me a lot of Mets' phenom pitcher Doc Gooden. Just like Woodward, Gooden burst on the scene with two Hall of Fame seasons. And then, April after April, I kept waiting for the Gooden of 1984 and 1985 to come back, until the grudging acknowledgement he never would.

Thirty years later, I can't tell you how glad I am that I never became much like my former hero. I'd much rather be, to paraphrase Lyndon Johnson at his crudest, a camel outside the Beltway pissing in, than one on the inside of the Beltway pissing out. Still, it's kind of sad to feel so jaded about Woodward's plight in 2005, when I can still summon, however faintly, the way I felt in that geeky summer of 1973.

I believed.

More at the link:

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002488.html

As did I. And, all I can say is == thank you Mr. Carl Bernstein.


Peace.

[understandinglife]

65. Jane Hamsher: "WoodMill: The Distaff Side"

While Little Mr. Run-Amok has his return moment in the spotlight after several decades in an undistinguished chorus, his counterpart in WoodMill (so dubbed by Digby) -- Judy Miller -- takes the stage again, this time at the Open Source Media shindig in New York this afternoon.

<clip>

As one of the commenters over at Sadly, No! said, "you know you don't have a leg to stand on when the ACLU tells you to shut up and take your medicine! They defended Rush Limbaugh. Jesus tapdancing christ, LIMBAUGH!

Evidently Judy still isn't taking her medicine. But boy don't we keep trying to give it to her.

More at the link:

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005/11/woodmill-distaff-side.html

Some diseases are way beyond medication, and always will be.


Peace.

[understandinglife]

67. "Mr. Cheney did not join the parade of denials. A spokeswoman said he ...

... would have no comment on a continuing investigation. Several other officials could not be reached for comment."

<clip>

In fact, only a small group of officials - at the White House, the State Department, and the Central Intelligence Agency - are believed to have known by early June 2003 about Ms. Wilson's ties to the C.I.A. They included Secretary Powell, Mr. Tenet, Mr. McLaughlin, Mr. Cheney, Mr. Libby; Marc Grossman, then the under secretary of state for political affairs; Carl Ford, then the head of the State Department's intelligence bureau; and Richard L. Armitage, then deputy secretary of state.

<clip>

Link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/national/17leak.html?ei=5088&en=a72b56b59dae5c1c&ex=1289883600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

In an otherwise bullshit article that could well be Purdum taking dictation from Karl, Scooter or their respective lawyers, these few items seem noteworthy.

Let's face it, the New York Times Company owns a bunch of death and destruction and they and their lawyers are going to point in as many different directions as they can:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5380307&mesg_id=5380307

Unfortunately, for them, the World Tribunal on Iraq has already charged them and the facts are not going to spoil with age.


Peace.

[goclark]

73. All these and Condi didn't know? Right! nt

[flyarm]

69. salute to you UL!! thanks again !

you are always a step ahead of the rest!!

:patriot: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

fly

[autorank]

71. Bernstein rocks UL. Thank you. So does Ariana. she's earned her stripes

No more Woodward and Bernstein...more like Woodward versus Bernstein.

I wonder how Bob Woodward looks at himself in the mirror.

I wonder what...what that might look like...I think I have it!


The Picture of Dorian Woodward

[understandinglife]

74. "The Picture of Dorian Woodward"!!

Please post a link as I would very much enjoy seeing the picture and it doesn't seem to be available in your post.

I agree -- Bernstein VS. Woodward and we know which one will tell the truth.


Peace.

[understandinglife]

75. Jane Hamsher: "I've spent way too much time now listening to Bob Woodward

... try to explain why he used his Watergate credibility to convince people that a legal imbroglio he was intimately involved in was nothing more than "gossip" even as he failed to admit he was one of the gossipers. Then Len Downie got to go to school on Bill Keller and try to bail his paper out of the Official White House Stenographic Pool.

Neither was particularly successful.

Woodward's cast-iron refusal to act like a journalist and name a source he has now testified about most assuredly and permanently bestows upon him Chief Stenographer status. His mea culpa was even more embarrassing than Judy Miller's (at least the Times named Libby as Miller's source upon her release from jail -- who thought that sordid affair would ever be invidiously compared to anything?). The Post's up-and-comer status as the "paper of record" to replace the NYT was dealt a serious blow as they refused to buck their star reporter's desire to play White House suck-up. Woodward verily laughed at any suggestion that he bore some professional obligation to the Post that might compromise his prized, self-serving "access."

But enough Bob bashing for the moment -- we have other fish to fry. What did we learn about Woodward's source from this most recent round of excuse mongering? Well we learned a heap more from Len Downie than we did Bobby, that's for sure.

<clip>

Much more at the link to Plan of a Hack:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/plan-of-a-hack_b_10809.html

and at firedoglake

http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005/11/plan-of-hack.html

Whack.


Peace.

[understandinglife]

77. Swopa: "Tenet's 'slam dunk' came in garbage time"

<clip>

With Bob Woodward in the news these days, praktike took a look back at his oft-cited account of CIA director George Tenet telling Dubya that the case for Iraq having chemical and biological weapons was a "slam dunk."

Not only does the context make that claim look far less convincing than the words themselves suggest, but the conversation happened in late December 2002.

<clip>

In other words, Tenet supposedly "convinced" Dubya and his crew long after everything had already been decided. And Woodward wrote it up with a straight face.

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/2319

http://www.liberalsagainstterrorism.com/drupal/?q=node/1905

'nuf said.


Peace.

[understandinglife]

78. "Memory Lane"

Useful quotes from lier-in-chief:

http://lawandpolitics.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_lawandpolitics_archive.html#113211211687159442

And, from some of his fellow war criminals, as well:

http://billmon.org/archives/000172.html


Peace.

[Burried News]

79. You critters don't like the light. We do - especially ultra violet -

it's antibacterial.