Apparently, Bob Woodward said Obama could patch things up if he personally visited Woodward:
“I’m in the business of listening, and I’m going to invite him over to my house if he’ll come, and hopefully he’ll bring others from the White House — maybe the president himself. …Talking really works.”
Steve M digs up a description of Bob Woodward’s humble abode:
The moment you enter Bob Woodward’s Georgetown home, you realise that he long ago crossed the threshold from ordinary working journalist to something far grander. It has the mansion-like dimensions of a diplomatic residence….
I’m reminded of David Broder’s description of his friendship with Karl Rove:
“Let me disclose my own bias in this matter. I like Karl Rove,” wrote David Broder, the lead political columnist for the Washington Post, on May 18, 2003. “In the days when he was operating from Austin, we had many long and rewarding conversations. I have eaten quail at his table and admired the splendid Hill Country landscape from the porch of the historic cabin Karl and his wife Darby found miles away and had carted to its present site on their land.”
Sickening.
burnspbesq
Now that’s some industrial-strength hubris.
Maude
Bob Woodward is a bit “uppity” demanding the President of the US come and visit him. He is a worthless hack. He had his day and now it’s time for him to go away.
I know he asked Gene Sperling first, but my FSM, what an arrogant pri..
He can go and visit Rodman who is interfering with US foreign policy in North Korea. Another arrogant pri…
Unabogie
Because nothing says you felt threatened like inviting the thugs to your house for dinner and champagne.
Ron Thompson
In the ride to his inaugural in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt remarked to President Hoover that he needn’t concern himself with returning Roosevelt’s call on him at the White House the previous day.
“Mr. Roosevelt”, Hoover replied, “when you have been in Washington as long as I have, you will understand that the President of the United States does not make house calls.”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Once again, where to begin? I can’t believe a Broder-obsessive like me is seeing that for the first time. As to Woodward, I’m willing to concede he was joking about Obama coming to his house– doesn’t mean it’s an un-douchey comment– but he genuinely seems to think he’s being magnanimous in being willing to “listen” to Sperling, whom he’s been flat out lying about for a week. He’s even willing to receive others from the White House! The old fool has gone doolally.
Comrade Mary
Some say that we are currently without a Pope. Bob Woodward would differ.
Suffern ACE
@Maude: all Kim wants is for Obama to call him and says there will be peace. Woodward wants more than Kim, but doesn’t have nearly as much to offer.
General Stuck
Couple of vultures dining on small dead birds. What else is new under the sun.
Chris
Jesus, the hubris of these fucking people.
Hacks like Bob Woodward are the reason nobody in America listens to the Washington media anymore. And now that they’ve dug themselves into irrelevance, they’re begging Obama, the same man they’ve been flinging shit at for the last five years, to help them stay relevant.
Fuck that. Obama may have to kowtow with congressional Republicans, but has no such obligation towards Big Media. Woodward can pound sand.
David Koch
It was a great day when Obama’s drones finished off Broder.
Redshirt
Let them eat Turduckens, or some such.
Citizen Alan
I love it when Broder gets mentioned. The warm soothing feeling I get when I am reminded that he is dead is almost as pleasurable as the one I get from references to Breitbart.
Ted & Hellen
Well, of course, it IS sickening.
But no more sickening, I suppose, than President Obama’s friendship with George W Bush.
They do seem to enjoy each other.
It’s D.C. They’re all whores.
burnspbesq
@Suffern ACE:
Woodward agreed to allow IAEA inspectors into his root cellar, but the carriage house is off limits.
ruemara
jeez. Woodward can go fuck himself with his huge ass ego.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Shorter Woodward: “Kiss My Ring”
jl
As I just typed in previous thread, I damn near spat out my coffee laughing when I realized crazed hick and courtly gracious journamalist Shiefer was doing a seque to Woodward on his show today. Yeesh. Couldn’t believe what that retread Schief thinks is worthwhile to talk about.
Oh, yeah I do: “Now, heh heh, let’s downta fun an’ talk poleeteeks…”
Old crazed centrist GOP goofball Schief, God love him.
Guess his show didn’t rate a nod from Rodman to talk about North Korean basketball diplomacy. Even that would be more interesting and relevant than self serving liar and pompous ass Woodward.
Edit: I turned off Face the Nation, rather than hear Woodward blather. But now I know Woodward has gone full megalo, I will belt down a few shots and look at it to see ol’ Schief’s reaction.
Maude
@Suffern ACE:
For Kim, it is propaganda. He wants the US President to kow tow to him. It would put Kim in the catbird’s seat and also refute the international community condemnation of nuclear trials by North Korea.
This is like the North Vietnam psychological warfare during the war.
If Kim were serious, he knows how to make contact and open talks.
Rodman is a fool.
Redshirt
Has Rodman become a Teabag hero yet?
Yutsano
@General Stuck: It’s always about the barbecue and the tire swings. Sigh.
David Koch
Mokhtar BelmokhtarOsama bin LadenMohmar KhaddaffyiAdam SandlerAnwar al-awlakiWhitey BulgerAndrew BreitbartBob NovakDavid BroderObama wasn’t joking when he swore to protect the country from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Hill Dweller
Brokaw said Woodward had a glass jaw when asked about his spat with the WH.
kc
This is why pitchforks and torches were invented.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Hill Dweller: once again, considering the source, that’s something, but even that’s overgenerous. Woodward dishonestly spun a fantasy in which he was the intrepid, ink-stained wretch, standing up to ruthless threats from the Most Powerful Man In The World!
jl
Since our crazed fever swamp centrist media celebs have been telling us to emulate ‘free market’ Switzerland, I am sure they will tell us that this is a good development too. I will be waiting.
Swiss Voters Approve a Plan to Severely Limit Executive Compensation By RAPHAEL MINDER
March 3, 2013, NYT
” GENEVA — Swiss citizens voted Sunday to impose some of the world’s most severe restrictions on executive compensation, ignoring a warning from the business lobby that such curbs would undermine the country’s investor-friendly image. ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/business/global/swiss-voters-tighten-countrys-limits-on-executive-pay.html
Frankensteinbeck
@Maude: and @Redshirt:
I saw Rodman on TV while eating supper. He was wearing a suit made of 100 dollar bills. He has actually become a bad parody of himself.
Maude
@jl:
#25 Isn’t that great?
gcwall
KRove plays people like a fiddle. He knew exactly what to do with “the Dean of American journalism;” he made him feel entitled.
lojasmo
@Ted & Hellen:
Two pictures?
You could make a federal case.
For your own assholery.
srv
You know, I’ve always had negative feelings about the Salem Witch Trials and medieval burnings, but maybe we all need to think about bringing back some old traditions.
Just for a decade or two.
Full Metal Wingnut
@Ted & Hellen: zomg! Two photos of them standing next to each other and smiling! Smoking gun!
jl
@Maude:
I think it is great. Hurray for the Swiss people (if not for some of their ruthless corporations like UBS and Nestle). I forgot the snark tag again.
Ronnie Pudding
@Ted & Hellen:
Yes, it is astonishing that Obama would have himself photographed with a previous President. And he is smiling! What a scandal!
Hungry Joe
I bet I.F. Stone never admired the splendid Hill Country landscape from the porch of ANY pol’s historic cabin. Real reporters don’t socialize with the people they’re covering. Period. Paragraph. Chapter. Verse.
jl
@jl:
I think this is funny graph from the article on the Swiss vote to strictly limit corporate exec pay. Basically, unprofitable and criminal (like UBS) Swiss corporations continued to dump gazzilions of Swiss francs on corrupt and incompetent suits, and the Swiss chamber of commerce flak blandly talks about ‘errors’, and how corrupt business deals among execs had prevented a ‘reasonable debate’.
‘ Cristina Gaggini, an official from EconomieSuisse, the Swiss business federation, said Sunday that the business lobby had made some “major errors” in its efforts to stop Mr. Minder’s decade-long crusade, adding that the Novartis payout plan had amounted to a turning point in the referendum campaign.
After that, Ms. Gaggini said on Swiss national television, “It became impossible to return to a reasonable debate.” ‘
David Koch
@Frankensteinbeck:
actually, it was a printed pattern of $100 bills.
Had he wore a suit made up of actual $100 bills, that would have been nice.
danielx
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s gone off his medication and started channeling Watergate again…as though the Kaplan Daily News for Village Courtiers would ever run such a series of articles today.
Not bloody likely.
Narcissus
@Ted & Hellen: this is just sad
troll harder please
danielx
@Hungry Joe:
These aren’t reporters, they’re courtiers. And they’ve completely forgotten (if they ever knew it) H.L. Mencken’s famous dictum that the only way a reporter should ever look at a politician is down.
sharl
OT:
An Editor’s Note by Alex Madrigal serves as introduction into a harrowing personal, inside account by Quinn Norton of the arrest of Aaron Swartz (Norton’s lover at the time), and its aftermath.
Prosecutorial overreach happens every day in a thousand places, but is rarely followed up by an eloquent and detailed post-mortem published in a (relatively) widely read forum.
Hal
Has anyone told Woodward his big, scary Obama is comin for me story fell right into the shitter, largely due to his own words? I’m guessing Obama isn’t going for another beer summit anytime soon. Unless Sally Quinn comes over to visit after one of her raids on Costco.
danielx
@jl:
A reasonable debate, of course, would have been one that ended in those same incompetent and/or corrupt suits getting what they thought they deserved.
The utter audacity of those Swiss proles – what on earth was the Swiss parliament doing, actually listening to the wishes of voters? It wouldn’t be handled that way here, I’ll tell ya…over here, corporate execs and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce expect legislators to stay bought once they’ve been paid for and they generally do, senators in particular.
jl
Guess I’ll have to get me some of that new Jim Beam moonshine whiskey and watch the video of Press the Meat. What happened to Gregory today?
Probably won’t last. I should just interpret this episode as the the corporate media’s way of warning the GOP to put out better ‘newsworthy product’. But, you know the GOP is in trouble when their BS is too stupid for the corporate media to peddle. Let’s see if Johnny Bones, that cheap two-bit hood, and McTurtle can some up with some new comedy gold that will sell.
[Edit: from TPM story, after Boehner claimed WH and Dems have no plan]
David Gregory To Boehner: ‘Mr. Speaker, That’s Just Not True’
Pema Levy, TPM
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/david-gregory-to-boehner-mr-speaker-thats-just
“Mr. Speaker, that’s just not true,” Gregory said. “They’ve made it very clear, as the president just did, that he has a plan that he’s put forward that involves entitlement cuts, that involves spending cuts. That you’ve made a choice, as have Republicans, to leave tax loopholes in place and you’d rather have those and live with all these arbitrary cuts.”
Boehner called Gregory’s objection “nonsense.”
“Well David, that’s just nonsense. If they had a plan, why wouldn’t Senate Democrats go ahead and pass it,” he said.
Boehner returned to this point throughout the interview, insisting that Democrats do not have a plan because the Democratic-controlled Senate has not voted on one.
amk
This prick reminds me of the drunk fifth columnist pundtwit in one of the ludlum’s novels. Was it bourne identity ?
jl
@danielx:
” what on earth was the Swiss parliament doing ”
Nothing, as far as I can tell from the stories.
The measure that passed was a citizen referendum that an independent member of parliament has been pushing for a decade. He finally got it on the ballot, and it passed.
Hill Dweller
@jl: Did Dancin’ Dave not know the Republicans filibustered the Dems’ plan last Thursday? Or did he just refuse to rebut the Orange Man?
The Republic of Stupidity
And at that point I had to quit reading… ’cause I threw up in my mouth and was headed towards the bathroom… pronto…
jl
@Hill Dweller: I don’t know, I haven’t had time to read the transcript or watch the thing. Will get slightly drunk soon and watch how the whole thing went on the intertubes. I’m just surprised that Gregory would push back like that against Boehner.
But, then, crazed fever swamp centrists like Gregory love them some social security and medicare cuts, so maybe that (IMHO shitty and unnecessary) grand bargain Obama has been dangling is irresistible catnip to money bag media celeb news actors.
AxelFoley
@Ted & Hellen:
Speaking of the company one enjoys, how’s Jerry Sundusky?
Redshirt
We need to metaphorically eat the rich.
AxelFoley
@David Koch:
Full of fuckin win! LOL
Mandalay
@jl:
It’s not just the Marxist Swiss who are at it. The Maoists in the EU agree to cap bankers’ bonuses:
Aux armes, citoyens!
Walker
@jl:
Actual investors want profits reinvested in the company, not pilfered by incompetent CEOs.
Frankensteinbeck
@David Koch:
That thought occurred to me, but it doesn’t make it even slightly less tacky, does it? If anything, it adds ‘poseur’ to the problem.
Yutsano
@AxelFoley: Never roll in the mud with a pig. You both get dirty and the pig enjoys it.
SatanicPanic
If Bob Woodward comes to my house and brings some beer I might stop calling him an irrelevant old fool.
El Caganer
@SatanicPanic: Depends on what kind of beer, doesn’t it?
SatanicPanic
@El Caganer: I’ll try to be gracious, but I will judge his sincerity based on the quality of beer he brings.
burnspbesq
@David Koch:
Had he worn a suit made up of actual $100 bills, Yutsano would have put a lien on it. Rodman owes millions to a host of creditors, including the IRS and several state tax agencies.
piratedan
Methinks Bob has suffered an 18 year gap denoting his break from reality
GregB
Broder was the Dean Wormer of American journalism.
Suffern ACE
@danielx: with a caveat that he didn’t mean “down from the window of that palace you built with the money you made from the Malaysian Government and various political communication consulting gigs.”
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: He probably owes enough by now that he has a revenue officer on speed dial.
jamick6000
On the topic of horrible people in the media, Greg Mitchell posted a column Tom Friedman wrote 10 years ago today on the eve of the Iraq war (http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2013/03/friedman-and-his-popcorn-war-of-choice.html):
eemom
@Ted & Hellen:
I don’t agree that the Prez has a “friendship” with W, but I am glad you made this comment, because it at least injects a note of creativity into a “Sickening” that is SO fucking obvious, everyday and mundane that my proverbial gorge can’t even be bothered to rise at it.
Woodward is an ostentatiously rich asshole, and the dreary hive of worthless parasites of which he is a drone, including the departed Broder, suck up to other ostentatiously rich assholes like Rove? Why who, prithee, would have thunketh thus?
patroclus
Actually, real reporters socialize with politicians all the time. It’s just that, in the old days, when journalism at least tried to live up to its pretenses, ALL such socializations were either completely off the record or, at the very least, on background. And the reporter never made the reporter part of any story that was written, and if he/she did, editors would take it out. Sam Rayburn used to hang out with Cecil Dickson and other Texas reporters all the time – he also went to Henry Luce’s and other publishers’ homes for dinner frequently. Once Prohibition ended, he also used to go drinking with some (those that could be trusted). But none of that was written about, there were never any direct quotes and Rayburn was usually only a confirming source about a story that actual reporting was already done on.
Woodward, Broder and modern journalists are different – they are almost always part of the story, if not the dominant element and they frequently write about personal details that really have nothing to do with policy or politics. All the President’s Men set a new standard – the journalists themselves became glamorized stars. Virtually no one practices the old style of journalism anymore – today’s journalists became journalists because they wanted to be Woodward.
Hill Dweller
Hopefully Obama doesn’t go to the negotiating table too quickly. I’d like to see him let some pressure build on Republicans beforehand, because they aren’t going to do anything without being forced.
It would be even better if Obama publicly ask the Republicans why they just don’t end the sequester. If they truly don’t like the sequester, then end it. Put the onus on the Republican controlled House to move.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@SatanicPanic:
He could come to my house with that beer. I would invite some friends over so we could drink the beer and break the bottles over Woodward’s head. Maybe save one to shove up his ass…
and then break it with a hammer.
lojasmo
Woodward would bring Pabst, because all the hipsters drink that shit.
Being unaware that it is bilgewater would be the icing on the cake.
Patricia Kayden
“eaten quail at his table”
Sounds like a metaphor for something sinister.
Patricia Kayden
@Hill Dweller: I agree. It feels that they can do pretty much anything without any consequences. Let businesses and the public put pressure on them to negotiate with the President. Otherwise, the President should hang tough.
taylormattd
@Ted & Hellen: I wonder if this is the stupidest thing ever written on the internet
Kathleen
@Patricia Kayden: And Broder probably honored since Cheney shot him in the face as they were hunting the quail.
grandpajohn
@Hill Dweller: This. I note for all of Dave’s supposed backbone that after one brief callout he meekly did not respond to the rest of Boners bullshit
TriassicSands
The reasons are straightforward: I detest people who are racist or use racist tactics in political campaigns; I hate people who are interested in nothing but power, and have contempt for democracy and free and honest elections; and I despise people who steal election or at least try to steal elections and define legitimacy as “winning.”
Thus, I detest, hate, and despise Karl Rove.
Further, I despise media figures who bow and scrape before politically powerful people, who more impressed by the superficial than by substance, and who willingly socialize with corrupt politicians and political operatives because they believe that it enhances their own careers.
Thus, did I detest, hate, and despise David Broder and now feel similarly about his memory. Rot in “bipartisan” Hell, Broder.