What's everyone's take on Bob Woodward now?

[skypilot]

I haven't paid much attention to him since that last book he wrote. Had assumed that he'd sold out or that he'd had us fooled all these years. Now I'm wondering if he was simply gaining the trust of WH officials for the sake of access. Would love to hear from people with more knowledge and perspective.

[NVMojo]

1. the book is great. I haven't watched any TV on it. Get the book!

Piss off the White House!

[bryant69]

2. Well my policy is consistancy

I'm a real believer in consistency. And my consistent policy is that I like and support people who tell me what I want to hear. Right now Woodward is telling me what I want to hear, so I naturally assume he's a great guy, worthy in all ways.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Hav]

4. DITTO!

;)

[Warpy]

3. I think he was fooled

because he really wanted to believe that a guy who cut his taxes was going to do the best thing for the country.

I think the Katrina fiasco woke a lot of people up to the reality of what this gang is all about. Woodward might be one of them.

This book might have started out as another puff piece. His interview on 60 Minutes had me reading between the lines about decreasing access to the inner circle as time went on and his questions started to get tougher.

Remember, this book has been in the works for at least a year and a half.

[npincus]

5. willing to forgive

[acmavm]

6. So he's spilling the beans now. That's all well and good. But

does that make up for his lies and the cover he provided the neocons?

I don't think so.

[Cary]

7. Me neither, but. . .

maybe the cover was really just to get to this?

[acmavm]

30. Right.

[DURHAM D]

8. My opinion of Woodward is even more hardened -

he is a completely selfish tool.

He is first and foremost a reporter. He is on the staff of one of the most important newspapers in this country. Instead of reporting the news he held it back for profit. Why does he still have a desk at the paper?

[RobinA]

16. I Second That

I have gained zero respect for him despite this foxhole conversion. As for him being "fooled," nonsense. He gets paid the big money to not get fooled. And if he was fooled, he's an idiot, because these fools weren't even that good at IraqScam. There's been plenty of people around since day one calling them on this Iraq stuff. NOTHING that is now emerging is new, the only thing new is that David Broder and Bob Woodward have finally seen what's been staring them in the face since, oh... 11/2000.

[bpeale]

9. he's an opportunist

[trotsky]

11. Bingo.

Riding the Chimpy "popularity" when he was high, and now jumping on the anti-Chimp bandwagon when he's low. The journalist who brought down a president is but a 2-bit media whore in the end.

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. He played the game with the Bush's

to earn their trust and to get inside for the real story.

He would never have had the access he was allowed if they didn't trust him. LOL. Looks like that was a big mistake.

This is the guy who helped bring down Nixon after all.

[bdamomma]

12. his book just shows us again, how sick these guys are

he was very good on 60 minutes.

[bunny planet]

13. Glad he's doing this, but wouldn't it have been so much more

helpful to have spoken out about what he knew before the '04 election. He could've have done one book for access, and then revealed what he knew in the second book. I'm glad he's got tapes though, hope he's got lots of copies in safe locations.

[The2ndWheel]

14. A real patriot!!!!

No, wait, Bushbot!!! Wait, no, wait, truthteller!! No, wait, no, corporate hack! Wait, wait, wait, our savior! No, no, no, propagandist! Hold on, are we talking about people in Congress who vote one day to kill democracy, then to uphold it the next day? Wait, what?

[alfredo]

15. He pisses off people on both sides of the political

spectrum. That is a sign of a good investigative journalist.

[RobinA]

26. I Good Investigative Journalist

Brings forth the facts BEFORE everybody on Earth knows them, not well after. A good invetigative journalist tells me what I don't know, not what I've been reading for six years from various other sources.

While he was writing those other books about what a hero the administration was, didn't he wonder about those weapons inspectors who were saying that Saddam didn't have anything, or the CIA saying they were being forced to cook analysis, or George freakin' Tenet saying in print quite soon after 9/11, if not BEFORE 9/11, that in August he was seriously worried about an impending attack? To anybody with a memory, this Tenet stuff is not the least bit new. If a doctor or a lawyer performed their jobs as poorly as certain esteemed (although god knows why) members of the press have in this fiasco, they'd be sued out of town.

What's next, the blockbusting revelation that there's a prison at Quantanamo Bay?

[alfredo]

28. He first built up trust within the junta and with their followers.

Now with the release of this book, he can point to his more friendly writings when attacked. He will be able to reach an audience we can't. We are known partisans, he isn't. It was a total blind side. I don't think the rank and file Republicans expected this.

Yeah, we knew all of this, but some of this might be news to those who get their news from Faux or NBC.

[European Socialist]

17. Like many others in Washington, he wanted to be part of the Iraq part II..

success story. When he saw what a fiasco it had become--he wanted to get back on the right side of history.

[Javaman]

18. He's a self serving lout. He bends with the wind, which ever way it blows.

And in that direction he gets his glad handing money.

He speaks out when he finds it most advantageous to him.

What do you expect from ex-cold war CIA?

He helped us, he screwed us, now he's helping us aging, but it won't be long before he's screwing us again.

To me, he's a voice in the wind.

[Swamp Rat]

19. I do not trust him at all

Maybe some of his books are based on factual information, but as a person I do not trust him at all. He is an opportunist and a fair-weather patriot who is likely running interference for the neo-feudal corporate barons.

[lonestarnot]

20. Neither do I, and I'm not spending my money on his book. I'll

let others tell me about it. Use him like he used us!

[Swamp Rat]

22. I wouldn't even accept a copy of his book for free.

It would be a waste of shelf space.

[lonestarnot]

24. Me either. Wouldn't want my other books to run off their shelves!

:rofl:

[bdamomma]

25. hey swamp rat, I agree with your poster totally

that's what they are exactly.

[bigtree]

21. my take

Woodward Comes Out From Inside the White House on Iraq (10-2-2006)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2858332#2858350

[Wickerman]

23. He's digging gold and going for old glory days

Look, he cashed in on national "patriotic" fervor with his first two books. Sales for the second must have sucked so now he writes the expose. Good for him for that - but wait until his next hit book on the Democratic president or position. It will be as unfair as the first two books handled BushCo** with kid gloves.

He has blood on his hands and I still consider him a tool.

[warrens]

27. Here's my take, courtesy David Carr

But David Carr points out it took the journalism legend three books "to arrive at a conclusion thousands of basement-bound bloggers suggested years ago: that the Bush administration is composed of people who like war, don't seem to be very good at it and have been known to turn the guns on each other."

[underpants]

29. I have "Plan of Attack" but haven't read it yet

I never got that he was glorifying the Bushies I thought he was showing how determined they were to go to war no matter what-at least from what I have read. I think that he got them comfortable with him and then came in for the WHAM trying to get another Presidency under his belt.

He wouldn't be doing this if someone didn't want it to happen. He has always had a strong and quite strange connection to the real powers that be in DC.

[Hamlette]

31. As someone who has read all three of his books on Bush. . .

actually, I'm not finished with State of Denial but well into it...

I've forgiven him.

Even his first two books were not all favorable to the admin. He broke several stories in each of those books that raised questions about this admin and reflected poorly on it. I'm wondering if the people who are trashing him here read the same two books I did.

Yes, he took what Bush said at face value which was stupid but he is a republican. I'd do the same for one of "my own". (Democrat)

What's interesting about this third book is it sounds like he's using material he got when doing his first two, stuff that he didn't use then or that he did use but he's now connecting the dots. It's also really interesting who exactly is/was talking to him which you can figure out by the content. Also, its a very detailed history we would not have otherwise had from this highly secretive admin had he not been allowed access early on. Many of the stories he tells in this book didn't really mean very much 3-4 years ago but now, like pieces in a disturbing puzzle, are preserved for history.

Woodward could have become a well paid GOP pundit/operative. I think he's remained as objective as anyone on either side as been. I remember thinking during Vietnam how hard it is to stop a war once started. As Kerry said about being the last soilder to die for a lie, how to you tell all the parents of the dead soilders they died for a lie. Compound that with the moral obligation (I feel even more strongly with Iraq than with Vietnam not sure if it's my memory or age) to "do no harm" and pulling out might do that. You gotta honestly look at the long term consequences of your actions, which is so much easier to do when it's one of "your own" and not "the enemy".

I've not finished the book but so far it is just facts, not opinion.

[noonwitch]

32. Has Judy Belushi forgiven him yet for "Wired"?

That's a hard book to read, but I think he was pretty truthful about Belushi's drug consumption rate-he burned out at 33, after all.

His wife was very upset when the book came out, but I don't think I've ever read a better book to motivate me not to use cocaine or heroin (or the two together).