Thursday, February 28, 2013

What the Hell Happened to Bob Woodward? -- Daily Intelligencer

Bob Woodward is a self-important buffoon.  His reliance on access journalism makes Andrew Ross Sorkin look like Sy Hersh.
"His more recent books often compile interesting facts, but how Woodward chooses to package those facts has come to represent a barometric measure of a figure's standing within the establishment. His 1994 account of Bill Clinton's major budget bill, which in retrospect was a major success, told a story of chaos and indecision. He wrote a fulsome love letter to Alan Greenspan, "Maestro," at the peak of the Fed chairman's almost comic prestige. In 2003, when George W. Bush was still a decisive and indispensable war leader, Woodward wrote a heroic treatment of the Iraq War. After Bush's reputation had collapsed, Woodward packaged essentially the same facts into a devastating indictment. Woodward's book on the 2011 debt negotiations was notable for arguing that Obama scotched a potential deficit deal. The central argument has since been debunked by no less a figure than Eric Cantor, who admitted to Ryan Lizza that he killed the deal."
I don't think history will be as kind to the Woodward mythos as the last 35 years have been. 

Oh, and who could forget Woodward's disgraceful commentary on the Plame affair, when he tried to cover for his pals in the Bush administration?  The man nauseates me.

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