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Lol at current HuffPost headline
DRAMA KING! WOODWARD CRIES FOUL... RUNS TO HANNITY?
(CNN) - Veteran journalist Bob Woodward said Wednesday he was threatened by a senior Obama administration official following his reporting on the White House's handling of the forced federal spending cuts set to take effect on Friday.
"They're not happy at all," he said on CNN's "The Situation Room," adding that an e-mail from a senior administration official - who he would not name - communicated a message which caused him great concern.
"It was said very clearly, you will regret doing this," he said.
According to a Democrat aware of the situation, Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, sent the email Woodward cited.
Woodward and Sperling have known one another for decades, dating back to the time Sperling served as a top economic adviser in various posts during the Clinton administration.
Woodward penned a 2012 book reporting that the idea for the spending cuts, known as the sequester, originated with the White House. It's a claim President Barack Obama originally denied, but the White House has since acknowledged.
But it was language that he used in an op-ed published over the weekend in The Washington Post that drew what he said was the Obama administration response.
"[W] hen the president asks that a subs ute for the sequester include not just spending cuts but also new revenue, he is moving the goal posts," Woodward wrote. "His call for a balanced approach is reasonable, and he makes a strong case that those in the top income brackets could and should pay more. But that was not the deal he made."
Headlined "Obama's sequester deal-changer," it was widely cited by Republicans seeking to avert the across-the-board cuts without a tax increase.
"The fundamental question here the president has to decide - does he wanna be president of a political party or does he want to be president of the United States?" House Speaker John Boehner asked at a Tuesday news conference. "It is time for leadership."
Obama, however, has argued for an approach that "balances" spending cuts and tax increases.
"I've laid out a plan that details how we can pay down our deficit in a way that's balanced and responsible," he said at an event in Virginia the same day. "We have the plan right on a website, the White House website. Everybody can go see it. It details exactly how we can cut programs that don't work, how we can raise money by closing loopholes that are only serving a few, as opposed to the average American."
While the days now turn to hours before the cuts kick in on Friday, Republicans and Democrats have not engaged in the sort of negotiations they have held before deadlines in previous fiscal crises.
CNN extended multiple invitations to the White House to appear on the "The Situation Room," including after Woodward began his interview, but the invitations were not accepted.
But a White House official who would not speak if named said late Wednesday, "Of course no threat was intended."
The official said the email Woodward referenced "was sent to apologize for voices being raised in their previous conversation. The note suggested that Mr. Woodward would regret the observation he made regarding the sequester because that observation was inaccurate, nothing more. And Mr. Woodward responded to this aide's email in a friendly manner."
White House adviser David Plouffe, meanwhile, expressed disappointment in Woodward's recent comments over Twitter Wednesday night.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...use/?hpt=hp_t1
Lol at current HuffPost headline
DRAMA KING! WOODWARD CRIES FOUL... RUNS TO HANNITY?
"you will regret doing this"
that's a THREAT?
http://m.politico.com/iphone/story/0213/88226.html
emails released. Gotta say Woodward does kinda sound like a drama queen.
"you will regret doing this"
that's a THREAT?
How is it anything other than a threat?
Left reflexively defends Precious, er POTUS
The Night Planet Liberalism Turned on Bob Woodward
http://reason.com/blog/2013/02/27/th...m-turned-on-bo
Funny seeing the liberal guy mad.
Matthew Yglesias, Slate:
Woodward's managed to make me suspect Nixon got a raw deal.
lol
Oh my God! Is Woodward in the Federal Witness Protection Program yet? Does he have armed guards? His life is at stake, people!I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.
Don't go off message. Just ask Juan Williams
R I F
threat from what? by whom? This could be harmless as "you are on the wrong side of this issue, you will regret it (when Americans knows the facts and the serious damages the Repugs are forcing on to America)
LnGrrrR quoted the 'threat'. Woodward is being a melodramatic pussy of epic proportions.
Bob Woodward Emails Show White House 'Threat' Was Not So Threatening
Woodward made waves on Wednesday night when he took to CNN and Politico to accuse the White House of deploying heavy-handed tactics with him after he questioned the Obama administration's account of the negotiations over the looming budget sequester. Sperling -- who he did not name at the time -- had told him he'd "regret" moving forward with his narrative, Woodward said, making it clear that he saw this as a threat.
"It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, you're going to regret doing something that you believe in," he told Wolf Blitzer. The White House told The Huffington Post that Sperling was merely trying to tell Woodward he would regret writing something that was inaccurate.
On Thursday morning, Politico released the text of the email exchange between Woodward and Sperling. The emails look to be a far cry from the kind of thuggery that Woodward implied.
Here's an excerpt from Sperling:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...=Daily%20Brief
BW is grandstanding, "look at me, I get emails from the WH, pay attention, I'm BOB ING WOODWARD, RESPEK!.
Man, you guys are a bunch of lemmings. Talk about groupthink
Coming from you, that's pretty priceless.
That said, did you read the email? Did you really think it was threatening?
(Here's a hint: You can use the word regret without it being a threat, like, "I regret not buying the chalupa meal instead of the burrito meal.")
What do you think he is being threatened with, Darrin?
A vicious YouTubing?
That said, did you read the email? Did you really think it was threatening?
(Here's a hint: You can use the word regret without it being a threat, like, "I regret not buying the chalupa meal instead of the burrito meal.")
Life threatening? No. Bodily harm? No. Threats come in many forms. I just don't think its good form for the WH to be making threats to any journalists. Probably not too smart to pick on a very famous one, either.
Bob's reply shows how terrified he is of this threat tbh.
Point missed. Color me shocked
Give an example of something this particular official can threaten Bob Woodard with.
Make your point, Darrin.
Had I Woodward's ear, I'd tell him he might regret characterizing this as a threat. I have nothing to threaten him with.
See how that worked?
Tbh, the Obama administration is pretty lame for trying to bully journalists, but let's not pretend that message is the huge, menacing threat it's been made out to be....
Bob Woodward: "they're gonna send me to "sleep with fishes" in the Potomac, eaten by crabs"
"Watch what you say" famously by dubya's mouthpiece, Ari Fleischer
You guys are kicking that straw man's ass
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