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You are here: Home / The man who trolled the world

The man who trolled the world

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If Bob Woodward’s goal was to do something so ridiculous it would generate tweets that make me laugh out loud (sometimes at the tweet, sometimes with it), then Mission Accomplished.

Reader Interactions

135Comments

  3. 3.

    Feudalism Now!

    I love the Lanny Davis tweet. I was threatened too! By the same staffer, or someone similar. He said remarkably similar things. Pay attention to me!

  4. 4.

    TooManyJens

    Holy shit, I just read the “threatening email” and I can’t stop laughing.

    Did Bob Woodward think nobody would find out what the email actually said? Or did he just know that it wouldn’t matter because he could whip up the wingnuts to believe anything about anyone associated with Obama?

  6. 6.

    General Stuck

    More and more, I think the WH set up Woodward, to take him down a notch or two from the palace Svengali perch he had enjoyed since Bush 2. And he is trying to wriggle out of it like a caught bug in a spider web. The harder he tries to escape, the more he is caught in his own web of conceit. Highly entertaining.

  7. 7.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Anyone thinks these clowns still make sense, why? I’m confused.

  8. 8.

    Soonergrunt

    What’s great about this is that EVERYBODY is mocking Woodward’s creative interpretation of the incident.
    It turns out that the staffer in question didn’t know just how right he’d actually be when he told Woodward he’d regret doing that.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    It’s interesting how conservatives are rushing to Woodward’s defense. I seem to recall after his third, less than positive book about the Bush administration, how much energy they put into badmouthing and smearing Woodward.

  10. 10.

    Wag

    @JPL:

    I like that the name of the politco column that you link to is “Behind the Curtain.” This is the Great and Powerful Oz of polital stories. Once the curtain is pulled back on woodward it is revealed that there’s nothing there.

  12. 12.

    Scott S.

    Obama is clearly much more scary than Nixon. Nixon only had convicts and lunatics on his side — Barack has Michelle, who has Dance Ninja training…

  14. 14.

    Punchy

    Speaking of goals, is it correlation or causation that we have not had a single post about Sullivan after he safely ensconced himself inside a shitty paywall?

    Having said that, what’s Sully think of Woody and Lanny?

  15. 15.

    the Conster

    Hannity will shine a bright light on all this Woodward horse-head-in-the-bed intrigue with his hard hitting no-nonsense interview today, like he did with Sarah Palin. Nothing says “I’m a very serious person, not a right wing hack” like going on Hannity’s show to whine.

  17. 17.

    Mark S.

    If I had read that email, I would have been calling the FBI. It sent a chill down my spine.

    The way Woodward was able to reply to it when he was obviously in great fear just shows what a professional he is. This isn’t his first trip to the rodeo.

  18. 18.

    lojasmo

    Ordinarily I would be displeased at a link to Policrap, but this was precious. I never actually heard the flap, as I don’t really twatter much.

    Mountains/molehills, I guess. Pretty polite letter, really.

  20. 20.

    Linda Featheringill

    @TooManyJens: #4

    Did Bob Woodward think nobody would find out what the email actually said? Or did he just know that it wouldn’t matter because he could whip up the wingnuts to believe anything about anyone associated with Obama?

    Methinks Mr. Woodward ran into that guardian angel that causes Obama’s enemies to make fools of themselves.

  22. 22.

    handsmile

    I realize that Bob Woodward is the King of the Village, but with such a title shouldn’t this post be about Joey Ratz?

    Punching out for the last time in about 75 minutes, he will be air-lifted by Pope-copter to his “summer residence.” Hankies at the ready, all major US television “news” channels will be covering this live (and then will return to wailing about attacks on the First Amendment by the White House).

  24. 24.

    Samuel Knight

    Bob Woodward’s books have been filled with BS for years. I would really hope that the Chief of Staff would order everyone in the White House to not waste their time blabbing to that guy.

  26. 26.

    JPL

    @Samuel Knight: Well if you want to know why they are filled with bull, this line from Politico might explain it.

    It is no secret on Capitol Hill that Cantor and his staff cooperated extensively with Woodward. It is fairly obvious as you breeze through the opening chapters of the book. But we have talked with many Democrats and Republicans who cooperated with the book.

  27. 27.

    Comrade Jake

    Woodward’s only goal is to sell more books. Unfortunately, I suspect all of this recent attention has only helped him to achieve that.

    Still, I was LOLing at some of Yglesias’ tweets last night. Josh Barro had some good ones too.

  30. 30.

    Gex

    @TooManyJens: It doesn’t matter. Read the comments. The nutters are dismissing every single part of that email except for the sentence in question, and continue to claim it is a threat.

    IOW the actual contents of the email do not matter, because Woodward has already created a new reality for these guys. And as he noted, they make up their reality. We’re stuck dealing with the consequences of that.

  33. 33.

    schrodinger's cat

    There was a time when I read WaPo daily, haven’t read the Pravda on the Potomac for years now. The only columnist I miss is Joel Achenbach. He was kinda like WaPo’s Gail Collins, funny and substantive, but not as high up in the WaPo food chain as Collins is at the NYT.

    BTW is it only me who finds Bob Woodward’s whiny voice grating?

  36. 36.

    schrodinger's cat

    @amk: My FIL’s first year death anniversary is approaching (in April) and I have to make up my mind whether I am going. Its going to be for 4 days. I have been to other varsha shraddhas, all they included were some rituals in the morning and then lunch. What are they going to do for four days, do you have any idea?

  40. 40.

    handsmile

    Far from “mocking” Bob Woodward, both CNN and MSNBC this morning were full of praise for his brave exposure of this aggressive White House “threat.” And its by no means just conservatives who are doing the defending, e.g., the New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza remarked that he “worships Bob Woodward.” Moreover, it’s being linked to last week’s Village tantrum that the Washington press corps is being denied access by Obama and his henchmen.

    With its King under attack, the Village media is rounding the wagons and now as a martyr to First Amendment Freedom!, Bob Woodward’s reputation there will only be burnished.

  41. 41.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Gawd, please don’t make a habit out of quoting schMoe Lane on the FP here!

    First thing in the morning too?! Fuuuuuuuuck you.

    Talk about ruining a morning.

  42. 42.

    SenyorDave

    @TooManyJens: Definitely the latter. In fact, the right media will say the e-mails proved Woodward to be right.

    What I don’t get is now I would assume that people like Sperling will never talk to Woodward again, and even those inclined to agree with him might be a little hesitant to give hm access.

  43. 43.

    amk

    @schrodinger’s cat: It’s mainly a men only event. Women are bystanders.

    Four days seems to be a brahmin thingy. We in south do it for a day and it lasts about 2-3 hours.

    You can go just to piss off your mil, if you wish. :)

  44. 44.

    Zifnab

    @Scott S.: The National Review isn’t exactly a hotbed of moderate opinion and calm rhetoric. And he got booted out of that rag for being too explosive. Where else is Derbyshire supposed to go? He’s already put all his cards on the table.

  48. 48.

    Redshirt

    Regardless of the facts, truth, context, whatever, this incident is going right into the Wingnuts “Obama the Ruthless Dictator” file. Look how he tramples over the media! (The same media we usually vilify as LIBERAL but today, and perhaps only today, we defend them!)

  50. 50.

    GregB

    After reading that e-mail I can only imagine that Woodward’s response to a knock at the door from the local Girl Scout would be to hide behind a curtain while clutching a gun.

    Boyo, he sure is outing himself as a shrill hack for the plutocrats.

    Hopefully Sean Cronkite Hannity will get to the bottom of this dark chapter of Presidential abuse of power.

  51. 51.

    Yutsano

    @Redshirt: Tribal affiliation turns out to be very elastic when it comes to defeating the IslamocommunistfascistKenyan usurper.

    @MikeJ: You sound threatened. Does WA have a SYG law? I forget.

  53. 53.

    jon

    See the Chicago-style Political Thuggery in Action! See the Quivering Journalist say “You do not ever have to apologize to me” which is Obamacode for “I will update my will and await my fate.” See the Rightwing Fuckwit Overreaction! Be scared, America! Tyranny is here! Wolverines!!!!!!

  54. 54.

    LGRooney

    Woodward is feeling butthurt because he hasn’t been given the exclusive on a book deal about this presidency yet. He is Bob Woodward and when Bob Woodward wants an exclusive, Bob Woodward gets an exclusive. Jesus, don’t they know how Washington works?

    On another note, WTF Yglesias? What was quiet about Vince Foster’s murder by Hillary’s lesbian paramour? You think that watermelon exploded quietly?

  55. 55.

    Gex

    @amk: I think the thing I most love about Twitter is the ability for the entire citizenry to join in on the mocking of our Galtian Overlords. It’s hard work to keep pretending you have clothes when everyone else is pointing out the naked man. The MSM can talk about you like you were the best dressed and it doesn’t matter because you are being widely mocked on the Internet.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    @GregB:

    Hopefully Sean Cronkite Hannity will get to the bottom of this dark chapter of Presidential abuse of power.

    I don’t think he has time right now – he’s in the middle of a shocking expose’: he has heard a rumor, and is moving heaven-and-earth, turning over every stone, and fucking every chicken, to discover the truth about whether there is a Secret Mooslim in the House of Representatives. His sources have informed him that one “Ralph Waldo Ellison,” Representative from the 27th District of Arabrownistan, prays to some entity known as Al. To make things even scarier, Hannity’s minions tell him that, No, dad-blam-it! Ellison is Near!

    I tells ya, I think we’re witnessing the reincarnation of Edward R. Moron.

  58. 58.

    MikeJ

    @Yutsano:

    You sound threatened. Does WA have a SYG law? I forget.

    I’m sorry, I should have pointed out that tweet was stolen from pourmecoffee.

  66. 66.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @SFAW:

    Screw that, I’m going to bed! Really, I’ve been up all night and I don’t give a shit what you say, it’s morning!

    I notice neither of you had anything to say about schMoe Lame being on the FP.

    Commies! :p

  69. 69.

    smintheus

    Maybe Yglesias will figure out how to spell ‘euthanize’ after he’s had to put a pet to sleep.

  74. 74.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @smintheus:

    Maybe Yglesias will figure out how to spell ‘euthanize’ after he’s had to put a pet to sleep.

    All signs point to “no.”

  78. 78.

    Roger Moore

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    All signs point to “no.”

    This. If Yglesias manages to make it though a day without misspelling something* is the day we know his account has been hacked.

    *I don’t think this is properly a typo, which involves getting something wrong because your fingers get crossed while typing. The man simply can’t spell and can’t bother to use a spell checker.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    Some people regret it:

    Now that the correspondence between Bob Woodward and the White House has been revealed as tame and cordial, conservative commentators are reacting with disappointment to the veteran journalist’s claim that he was threatened over his sequestration reporting.
    Politico on Thursday posted the emails between Woodward and White House economic adviser Gene Sperling, who told Woodward, “as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.”
    “Looks like we were played,” The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis wrote Thursday morning.

  82. 82.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Roger Moore:

    *I don’t think this is properly a typo, which involves getting something wrong because your fingers get crossed while typing. The man simply can’t spell and can’t bother to use a spell checker.

    PotAYto, PotEto.

  83. 83.

    drew42

    @Just One More Canuck: Redford was an extremely unfortunate choice. The best-looking, most charismatic man in Hollywood playing somebody who in real life was, and is, a total airhead.

    The book wasn’t so kind to Woodward. It made it clear that he was political socialite, in love with his own access to powerful people, who would give him gossip because they knew it wouldn’t make it into his reporting. Woodward didn’t even understand the importance of a lot of the information he received. Bernstein was the one who put all the pieces together, and essentially made Woodward his useful idiot.

    Ever since then (or at least since the movie) Woodward has an unearned reputation as a hard-hitting writer. Every time one of his books on the Bush administration came out, everyone got all excited about how he’s gonna nail them to the wall — only to discover each book was just dull, whitewashed storytelling that gave Bush every benefit of the doubt.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @Roger Moore:

    The man simply can’t spell and can’t bother to use a spell checker.

    That’s because he’s too busy thinking the big thoughts, unlike the proles here.

    (I have nothing against Yglesias, but it seemed like an appropriate response. Or, as MattY would type, “risponse”.)

  85. 85.

    Ben Franklin

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    If I were he, I would plead not guilty to all charges.

    In Barker v. Wingo (1972), the Supreme Court developed a four-part test that considers the length of the delay, the reasons for the delay, the defendant’s assertion of his right to a speedy trial, and the prejudice to the defendant. A violation of the Speedy Trial Clause is cause for dismissal with prejudice of a criminal case.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedy_Trial_Clause

  86. 86.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    “Looks like we were played,” The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis wrote Thursday morning.

    The chances that the wingnuts will see this as a reason to question Woodward’s credibility about the history of Sequester: approximately zero.

  87. 87.

    GregB

    When Fox’s Brit Hume mocks Woodward for allegedly feeling threatened by an apologetically bespectacled shmector like Gene Sperling the jig is up.

    Hume: “On one hand, only Woodward can say if he felt threatened by WH email. On the other, hard to imagine feeling threatened by Gene Sperling.”

  88. 88.

    Mark S.

    Here’s a good description of what Woodward has been doing for the last 40 years:

    [Woodward] simply talks to powerful people in his kitchen and then “re-creates” events based on what they tell him. Powerful people talk to Woodward because of his reputation, and because talking to Woodward is the best way to ensure that they come across well in his best-selling books. They talk because they figure if they don’t give him a self-serving account of events, someone else will give him a version that makes them look bad.

  91. 91.

    drew42

    One last thing, the fact that Woodward co-wrote All the President’s Men shows how not self-aware he is. He probably didn’t even realize how bad he came across in it.

  92. 92.

    Mandalay

    @Comrade Jake:

    check out the current Rubin-Goldberg twitter war

    It’s not that different to the bickering and sniping that goes on here all the time, except they get paid big bucks to look like school kids.

    We are better than that, and do it pro bono.

  93. 93.

    The Red Pen

    It has become impossible to parody wingnuts better than they parody themselves.
    Comedy gold

    (Link to “Reganite Republican” blog which cross-posts all its crap to Free Republic)

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ben Franklin: Under the Barker test, Manning definitely satisfies the first prong. I know that his lawyer asserted his right at some point during the process, so, at least from the time he asserted the right, the third prong is covered. The second and fourth are the ones that would be arguable.

  95. 95.

    Bulworth

    @mouse tolliver: And how “humble” and good the last two popes who serve as the highest profile anti-gay and anti-women nimnods are. And gawd how “loved” PJPII was. Good grief. People can be such followers.

  97. 97.

    Chris

    @Mark S.:

    Someone a few days ago posted that Woodward had made his career out of being basically a stenographer for powerful people who used him to tell the stories they wanted, and that Watergate was him doing that for Mark Felt.

    If Drew’s correct and Woodward didn’t even understand what he was listening to and required Bernstein to do the work for him, well, that just makes him a superlatively useless tool.

  98. 98.

    Chris

    @Bulworth:

    I’ve never understood why JP2 got so much love while B16 got so much hate. In terms of their beliefs, their theology, their practices for the Catholic Church, they were identical twins. Heck, Benny was basically JP2’s lieutenant for years before he became Pope.

    I understand why people would love them and why people would hate them, but not people who love the one and hate the other.

  99. 99.

    Ben Franklin

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The fly in the ointment is the jurisdiction of UCMJ.

    813. ART. 13 PUNISHMENT PROHIBITED BEFORE TRIAL

    No person, while being held for trial, may be subjected to punishment or penalty other than arrest or confinement upon the charges pending against him, nor shall the arrest or confinement imposed upon him be any more rigorous than the circumstances required to insure his presence, but he may be subjected to minor punishment during that period for infractions of discipline.

    I really think the 4 criteria run together like a watercolor landscape, but it seems moot, as the UCMJ prevails and there seem to be no Constitutional avenues within the Praetorian Guard.

    It’s easy for me to say I would endure in the stockade, waiting for a successful petition to the Supremes.

  100. 100.

    dmsilev

    What gets me about this little tempest in a teapot is how stupidly clumsy Woodward was in saying that he was “threatened” by the White House. That claim would last just about two nanoseconds past the release of the full text of the email, and since The White House(tm) had said email and incentive to release it, said release was an inevitability.

    Where’s the craftsmanship in coming up with lies that will be at least plausibly defensible?

  103. 103.

    Unsympathetic

    @dmsilev:

    The other fun part: Woodward seems to be self-indulgent enough to actually believe his lies won’t be called out. I love it.

  104. 104.

    Chris

    @dmsilev:

    I assume Woodward figured that regardless of the facts, the Village would protect him by releasing stories that were somewhere between “both sides did it” and “Obama is a Chicago thug and Woodward a brave white man standing up for truth, justice and the American Way.” Which doesn’t seem to have been entirely off the mark.

    He just missed the fact that the released email would go over the Village’s head and hit the Internets, where it would cause uproarious laughter.

    ETA: really, the guy and the entire Village live in a world where facts don’t matter and you’re actually rewarded for lying or ignoring them as long as the way you do it pleases The Right People. Same basic principle as righties who’ve lived in a bubble for so long they think they can simply “unskew” polls and it’ll be the same as addressing the conditions the previous polls revealed.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    … I withdraw the objection.

    You’re right, it doesn’t make any less sense than mushy moderates loving Reagan but not his political children.

  105. 105.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @amk: Thanks. I have my moments.

    @Ben Franklin: Yeah, the UCMJ aspect does change things. But I will also say from having worked on hundreds of habeus cases while at a federal court, speedy trial claims can get very murky once one starts delving into prongs two and four. One and three are pretty straightforward. Functionally, you end up balancing the reasons for the delay against the harm suffered by the defendant. In this case, given the abuse he suffered, the harm quotient would be high. OTOH, there are a shitload of files that were released and going through them alone would take time…. It would not be a slamdunk either way.

  106. 106.

    Roger Moore

    @Chris:

    I understand why people would love them and why people would hate them, but not people who love the one and hate the other.

    It’s basically a PR thing. John Paul II had the same agenda as Benedict XVI, but he spent his time playing good cop while Cardinal Ratzinger played bad cop. When he died, people remembered the good stuff he had done personally and heaped the blame for the bad stuff on his underlings. That’s hurt Benedict XVI’s reputation- people still blame him for the stuff he did at John Paul II’s command as head of the Inquisition Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith- and he hasn’t seriously tried to lose the bad cop reputation since becoming Pope.

  107. 107.

    mouse tolliver

    @Bulworth: Bernstein was on, and started talking about the “stain” on the church. But they shut that down real quick and went back to giving the pope a blow job. Now they’re back to talking about the pope’s humility again. It’s really disgusting.

  108. 108.

    drkrick

    @Chris: A lot of people admired JPII’s role in support/inspiration of the Polish resistance to the communists in the ’70’s and 80’s. BXVI didn’t have that opportunity and a history with the Hitler Youth to boot. Not hard to see how some people could differentiate on the basis of that, even if BXVI was pretty much a continuation of JPII’s record post 1992 or so.

  109. 109.

    the Conster

    @Kay:

    “Looks like we were played,” The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis wrote Thursday morning.

    If by “played” he means revealed for the moronic chumps they are, then yeah. Well played, nutjobs.

  110. 110.

    SmallAxe

    @dmsilev:

    It only makes sense to me as a rat fk. Woodward can’t possibly be that obtuse that he would think the emails wouldn’t come to light. Has to be a set up and he’s being played unknowingly with his ego trumping any insight. It’s entertaining.

    Also too, he really could be that dumb as it never ceases to amaze me how the old folks forget everything electronic is permanent, that coupled with ego set him up I think.

  112. 112.

    Soonergrunt

    @Ben Franklin: You are relitigating something that’s already been litigated.
    Manning made his case about pre-trial-confinement, and that has been dealt with. He got sentence credit, both one for one for each day, and an extra day for each day that was deemed inappropriate.
    He can take an extra shot at that apple with the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, and even with the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, but it’s highly unlikely that he’s going to get his time reduced much more, and even more unlikely that he’s going to be released because of that issue.

  113. 113.

    kay

    @the Conster:

    My favorite part of the email is where Woodward writes “I’m listening.”

    It’s so personal and fake-warm! It’s not even that this exchange is the opposite of how he portrayed it. Just, yuck, on so many levels.

  114. 114.

    Comrade Dread

    @Chris: JP2 had a kindly grandfather look and a back story about the triumph of faith over communism.

    B16 looks as if he might be a Bond villain if you put him in an expensive suit and has a back story that includes the Hitler Youth.

  115. 115.

    Soonergrunt

    @Omnes Omnibus: Do you think ACCA will go there? I don’t see any reason to believe that. IANAL, but I follow this fairly closely–what can I say, it’s a weird diversion, I know–and I just don’t see it. A couple of years ago, CAAF was all over the excessive trial delay and excessive appellate delay issue, but I don’t see anything to believe that either court will simply dismiss with prejudice over this issue.
    @Soonergrunt: And further to my last, I personally think that Manning should have gotten more sentencing credit, but he got what he was able to prove to the Judge that he deserved.

  116. 116.

    Chris

    @drkrick:

    I admire that part of JP2’s record, the role he played as a supporter of the anti-communist movements in Poland and Eastern Europe. It just would’ve been fucking nice if his Vatican had actually been consistent about it, instead of then turning around and either ignoring or applauding the practices of fascist governments in Central America. Cause the message I get out of that is “no no, I actually have no problem at all with brutal authoritarian tyranny, I just object to the Polish version because it wasn’t the right people doing it.”

    (Preaching to the choir, I know).

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ben Franklin: I didn’t file the cases; I drafted the opinions for judges. To answer your question (or more accurately, to not answer your question): I have not read the entire case file, so I do not know the what is in it. Manning’s counsel is experienced and has a good reputation. If they plead out, that should tell you something.

    @Soonergrunt: See my weasel words to Ben Franklin.

  119. 119.

    Roger Moore

    @SmallAxe:

    It only makes sense to me as a rat fk. Woodward can’t possibly be that obtuse that he would think the emails wouldn’t come to light. Has to be a set up and he’s being played unknowingly with his ego trumping any insight. It’s entertaining.

    I don’t think so. The email in question is so inoffensive, it’s hard to imagine anyone having Woodward’s reaction to it. I think he’s just generally throwing a snit fit and is jumping on the dumbest excuse imaginable to complain about the Obama administration. And he probably believes the thing about not arguing with anyone who buys ink by the barrel. He’s a DC press institution, so he assumes that everyone in the Village will take his side without bothering to examine the facts- sadly not an unreasonable assumption.

  120. 120.

    nemesis

    Perfect example of rw alternate reality.
    Woodward was not threatened by the WH. The convo was civil. No name calling. No threats.
    BUT, the media cant make a story out of playing nice, so the press corpse will band together and breathlessly condemn the WH, especially in light of the FL golf outing debacle.
    Its like Benghazi and Hagel and any number of other fake outrage stories. The press knows what they are doing. To them, a chance to create news is so much easier than actually reporting factually.

  122. 122.

    Mandalay

    @SmallAxe:

    Woodward can’t possibly be that obtuse that he would think the emails wouldn’t come to light.

    It is a diversion. The Village – who can’t possibly do more than one thing at a time – focus on silly emails, and Woodward’s lying on the facts gets conveniently pushed aside.

    He decided it was better to be the center of a manufactured squabble than being exposed by all as a lying sack of shit.

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mandalay:

    He decided it was better to be the center of a manufactured squabble than being exposed by all as a lying sack of shit.

    Now it appears that he gets to do both. I weep for him.

  125. 125.

    Roger Moore

    @Chris:

    Cause the message I get out of that is “no no, I actually have no problem at all with brutal authoritarian tyranny, I just object to the Polish version because it wasn’t the right people doing it.”

    You probably get that message because that’s the truth. The Catholic hierarchy is inherently authoritarian; it’s a top-down organization for enforcing theology. It allows a certain amount of questioning at the lower levels, but rising through the organization exerts a strong filter for authoritarians. It should be no surprise that the top of that kind of organization is full of right wing authoritarians. The biggest problem with Communism is that it saw the Church as a competitor for power and tried to suppress it. If the Communists had been willing to partner with the Church, there wouldn’t have been any problem.

  127. 127.

    Soonergrunt

    @Ben Franklin: “Behenna……”
    Deserves to rot in prison. His whole defense to premeditated murder boils down to “I’m an incompetent officer with no moral compass.”
    Neither the original members panel, nor the ACCA, nor the CAAF believed that he was either truthful or (to paraphrase ACCA’s ruling) that even his version of events was anything other than intentional murder.

  128. 128.

    Ben Franklin

    @Soonergrunt:

    I offered Behenna only as precedent for UCMJ appeals to the Supremes. Please read above comments for context.

    Now, about that Manning thread……..

  129. 129.

    SmallAxe

    @Mandalay:

    Agree I think that sequester obfuscation is the rat f’ing goal. Maybe by both parties and I don’t discount Woodward’s ego which is prodigious clouding his judgement and the WH using it as an op to ultimately completely sink his cred & everyone involved throwing up dust on the sequester idiocy to bye a week of media reprieve.

  130. 130.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Ben Franklin: One can always appeal to the SupCt once one has gone through the intermediate courts of appeal. The Court has discretionary jurisdiction in most cases and, indeed, chooses not to take them. In this case, on the speedy trial issue, it comes down to an application of the Barker test. It isn’t the kind of case that the Court generally takes.

  131. 131.

    Soonergrunt

    @Ben Franklin: The thing to remember is that SCOTUS’ appellate jurisdiction is limited by Congress, and Congress, for whatever reason, did not extend appellate jurisdiction to SCOTUS on issues that CAAF does not examine. If CAAF refuses to hear an appeal, or if they hear one issue on appeal but not another issue, the SCOTUS has no jurisdiction on that issue.
    It’s not fair, but it is within the limits on SCOTUS’ power set by the Constitution.

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