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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Troutmouth Bob on the Road

Sunday Evening Open Thread: Troutmouth Bob on the Road

by Anne Laurie|  April 7, 20136:18 pm| 41 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Assholes, Bring On The Meteor

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legacy of our betters
(Joel Pett via GoComics.com)
.
Guess Bob Woodwood’s latest bitchbrick about That Black Man in Our White House didn’t get as much blind approbation as he thought it deserved, because (via Wonkette) Bob’s out in the hustings of Youngstown State University, pontificating about kids these days, who don’t understand How Things Should Work:

… Woodward called Obama a “complex political figure” who “understands the truth in the notion that he who desires peace must be prepared for war. The inner Obama does not like war and wants to get out” of it….

Bob was in The Good War, y’know, before that loser Nixon turned all the young people into wussies.

The legendary journalist said partisanship runs Washington, D.C., and is largely responsible for the nation’s economic woes…

In response to an English major college student who asked about the difficulty of finding employment, Woodward said, “I think there will be all kinds of jobs and opportunities, but the political class needs to get their act together.”

Woodward said partisanship would lessen if people spent more time together and realized the person on the other side of the table is a friend rather than an enemy because he is the person who can give you what you want….

And there’s the core Beltway Insider definition of “friend”: Someone who can give you what you want. Right now. In return for your “bipartisanship” tomorrow, of course…

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41Comments

  1. 1.

    Cacti

    April 7, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    The best punishment for Bob is that he’s an elder statesman of a dying form of news media, and that no one under 45 has any living memory of why he’s famous.

  2. 2.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    April 7, 2013 at 6:26 pm

    In case you guys missed it yesterday here is Ms. Flossie having fun with the garden hose

    http://crittersbybritty.com/

  3. 3.

    smintheus

    April 7, 2013 at 6:27 pm

    Sounds like Bob would have approved of the ‘friendship’ between Caesar and Pompey, and between Octavian and Antony. That worked out so well for everybody in Rome.

  4. 4.

    Blake Suttle

    April 7, 2013 at 6:34 pm

    Better still that to many of those under-45s who do know of his fame, he’s a less lionized figure than he was only years ago. Mistermix shitted on Jeff Himmelman’s magazine piece then book about Ben Bradlee, but it did get out there the idea that our hero of Watergate may not be so unimpeachable a character himself. Then with the “threat” nonsense, he’s just an increasingly diminished figure…

  5. 5.

    David Koch

    April 7, 2013 at 6:34 pm

    if bob likes war so much he should have volunteered for Vietnam.

    if bob likes war so much he should get his children to enlist and deploy in the first wave.

    not a single person in Georgetown and the Washington Post has a son or daughter in uniform.

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 7, 2013 at 6:36 pm

    The Lion Jackal Remora in Winter. Jackals have too strong a bite for this whiny old dishrag to be compared to them.

  7. 7.

    David Koch

    April 7, 2013 at 6:39 pm

    partisanship would lessen if people spent more time together and realized the person on the other side of the table is a friend rather than an enemy because he is the person who can give you what you want

    this shows you who out of touch he is.

    the moment a republican would say something nice about obummer or pelosi, he would sign his political death warrant. he would be vilified on hate radio and primaryed by the club for growth. Just ask Charlie Crist and Bob Bennett.

  8. 8.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    April 7, 2013 at 6:45 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: FlossiePuppeh! She’s so adorable, and has delightful ears. Harry Potter has a great sister.

  9. 9.

    Yastreblyansky

    April 7, 2013 at 6:48 pm

    t

    he core Beltway Insider definition of “friend”: Someone who can give you what you want. Right now. In return for your “bipartisanship” tomorrow, of course…

    Explains an awful lot.

  10. 10.

    Anoniminous

    April 7, 2013 at 6:48 pm

    Woodward is a second rate hack, a third rate “intellectual,” and on his way to a well deserved oblivion.

  11. 11.

    lamh35

    April 7, 2013 at 6:56 pm

    I’ve been doing my best to be a one woman film promoter on FB and anywhere I post trying to make sure people go see the new Jackie Robinson movie that comes out this week.

    I came across this article today and just had to share it cause it was such a lovely article and if I wasn’t already awed by the courage of Jackie and Rachel Robinson beforehand, I’m a little in love with Mrs Robinson after reading this article.

    “Jackie Robinson’s widow says ’42’ hits home”

    Rachel Robinson, 90, feels the new film on her husband breaking baseball’s color barrier in 1947 not only faithfully captures their plight but reminds people today of his achievement.

    Oh and the pic of Mrs Robinson (who’s 90 BTW) is just gorgeous. Man, I hope to live to see 90 and look that good too.

  12. 12.

    Gin & Tonic

    April 7, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Bob Woodward is a turd, but that Wonkette piece wasn’t funny, even in a Wonkette way. Is it funny when a woman writes “lick my balls”? I don’t get it.

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 7, 2013 at 7:14 pm

    Oy, there’s so much to dislike about Woodward just in that brief write up

    He also told an unflattering, but amusing story about sitting next to former Vice President Al Gore at a dinner, saying being with him was “taxing,” and added, “To be really honest, it’s unpleasant.”
    Gore was a former reporter before becoming a politician, and “he thinks he invented [reporting] also,” Woodward joked in reference to an often misquoted statement that the ex-vice president claimed he invented the Internet.

    It’s possible that Booby is not the snivelling, droning bowl of gruel he comes across as on the TeeVee, but if he’s a charming and amusing dinner companion, I would be rather surprised. Also, too, “amusing”? Where?

  14. 14.

    Xboxershorts

    April 7, 2013 at 7:19 pm

    @David Koch:

    this shows you who out of touch he is.

    the moment a republican would say something nice about obummer or pelosi, he would sign his political death warrant. he would be vilified on hate radio and primaryed by the club for growth. Just ask Charlie Crist and Bob Bennett.

    The better part of the past 40 years has been spent, by the media he represents so well, pretending that the Southern Strategy and later, Newt Gingrich’s infamous “List of words”, never, ever happened. Bob helped create the media sport known as “Hippy Punching” that professional bloviators like David “Bobo” Brooks and Jonah “Doughy Pantsload” Goldberg have turned into a lucrative art form. An art form which, not uncoincidentally, has morphed into a form of Generational Warfare well portrayed in the cartoon linked to in this OpEd.

    Sadly, an improbable but honest reading of history would show that the Hippys were mostly right. That “The Man” was an extension of corporate interests, that our government refused to deal with it’s own citizens honestly, that the war on drugs was pure evil and intended to break “them dirty fucking hippys”.

    And this fading hippy genuinely hopes that Bob’s legacy is given an equally honest treatment. He’s become a self serving douchebag and cheerleader for the corporate state. A traitor.

  15. 15.

    RSA

    April 7, 2013 at 7:23 pm

    Awww. I can imagine one of those big-eyed cartoon kids on a greeting card, maybe hugging a puppy, and saying, “A friend is someone who can give you what you want…”

    Let me think. What have my friends done for me lately?

  16. 16.

    zombie rotten mcdonald

    April 7, 2013 at 7:35 pm

    The legendary journalist said partisanship runs Washington, D.C., and is largely responsible for the nation’s economic woes…

    The lack of self-awareness is staggering.

    realized the person on the other side of the table is a friend rather than an enemy because he is the person who can give you what you want….

    I have been on one side of that table enough to know that that is very nearly NEVER true.

  17. 17.

    Redshift

    April 7, 2013 at 7:37 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, I read that little “anecdote” as “The former vice president and major public figure had the gall to complain about how I did my job, instead of kissing my ass! Can you imagine?!”

    It’s certainly telling when the story has to be described as amusing, because there’s nothing apparently amusing about it.

  18. 18.

    Anya

    April 7, 2013 at 7:37 pm

    “I think there will be all kinds of jobs and opportunities, but the political class needs to get their act together.”

    Wow. How profound. I am sure the guy who asked the questions was blown away by Woodword’s originality and insight.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This just shows that he was looking for attention. I don’t know why anyone will have dinner with him anymore after he what he did to Jean Sperling and now this stupid anecdote.

  19. 19.

    Nutella

    April 7, 2013 at 7:37 pm

    Wow, he was really helpful on employment: detailed, cogent analysis of the job market and wise advice to the student. That’s why he gets paid to give all those speeches.

    /snark

  20. 20.

    Redshift

    April 7, 2013 at 7:39 pm

    @zombie rotten mcdonald:

    The lack of self-awareness is staggering.

    A better illustration of “when his salary depends on his not understanding it” would be hard to imagine.

  21. 21.

    Chris

    April 7, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    Woodward said partisanship would lessen if people spent more time together and realized the person on the other side of the table is a friend rather than an enemy because he is the person who can give you what you want….

    Well, it would help for a start if we noted that one of the two parties has been slowly and carefully built over the course of fifty years by amassing a coalition of people whose only unifying trait is a raw seething hatred for the people on the other side. And that by definition it’s impossible to give people what they want when “what they want” is to go on stomping on you.

    I have a short presentation to do in a few days on why attempts at peace failed in the run-up to World War Two, and I literally just picked up three or four books about it from the library before sitting down at the computer. It’s strangely appropriate that you should post this now.

  22. 22.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    April 7, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): She really is a joy, except when she is a PITA of course :)

  23. 23.

    different-church-lady

    April 7, 2013 at 7:42 pm

    Woodward said partisanship would lessen if people spent more time together and realized the person on the other side of the table is a friend rather than an enemy because he is the person who can give you what you want…

    Well, let’s see… the person on the other side of the kinds of table Joe Q. Public sits at want to figure out a way of getting on with their rich lives without sharing any of that money with Joe. Because that is unrealistic (seeing as Joe also has something they need — namely, labor) they will instead attempt to give Joe as little as possible of what he needs, and attempt to psychologically manipulate him into being grateful he’s getting anything.

    Oh, wait, Woodward was talking Washington, not employment? OK: the people on the other side of the table have nothing to lose, and their only pleasure in life is to deny the other side what they want. Apparently Bob not only hasn’t gotten the memo, he hasn’t gotten any of the memos from the last 4 years.

  24. 24.

    David Koch

    April 7, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Is it funny when a woman writes “lick my balls”?

    Only when Jamie Lee Curtis says it.

  25. 25.

    quannlace

    April 7, 2013 at 7:55 pm

    The legendary journalist said partisanship runs Washington, D.C., and is largely responsible for the nation’s economic woes…

    Wow, what a PROFOUND insight!

  26. 26.

    patroclus

    April 7, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    So Woodward said that politicians should spend time with one another and become friends in the same article as saying that he spent time with Al Gore and then shit all over him afterwards? Why exactly would Al Gore consider Woodward to be a friend after that? Didn’t Woodward spend time with John Belushi and then write an extremely critical and trashy book about him? Why didn’t he befriend Belushi and write a hagiographical stenographic book about Belushi’s every utterance the same way he did those many many Bush-fluffing books? Wasn’t Gene Sperling supposedly a Woodward friend? Why did Woodward slime all over Sperling, blow the source and lie about supposed threats contained in an e-mail that contained no such threats?

    As others have said, the lack of self-awareness on the part of the Bush-fluffer is stunning. I truly wonder if Bob Woodward has any friends, and if he does, I am sure they are all either Republicans, fellow Village sycophants of Republicans or misguided Democrats who foolishly think that being friends with Woodward could possibly result in him treating them the same way he does Republicans.

    Woodward made his bones transcribing Mark Felt’s criticism of a corrupt Republican – Nixon – and he apparently thinks that’s all the criticism that Republicans will ever get from him. Even State of Denial, Woodward’s supposed mea culpa for the Bush-fluffing books isn’t really all that critical and it never got personal the way Woodward trashed Gore (or Sperling or Belushi) – it just sort of noted some mistakes that were made along the way.

    Woodward is a partisan slimy hack with no self-awareness – despite being lionized for decades for supposed journalistic excellence, he is one of the biggest reasons for the decline of journalistic standards, the utter destruction of the Washington Post and the horrific omnipresence of inimical Village groupthink that got us into countless wars, caused countless deaths and destroyed the nation’s economy. He is a terrible journalist.

  27. 27.

    Spaghetti Lee

    April 7, 2013 at 8:22 pm

    @quannlace:

    Wait, wait, let me guess: Does he say that we need to look past partisan affiliation and come up with original, non-partisan solutions to our problems? Man, we don’t deserve this level of insight.

  28. 28.

    andy

    April 7, 2013 at 8:43 pm

    Watching anime all afternoon on Hulu. Kicked out a loaf of bread, and now quiche for dinner. Really excited about the greens- they are the first of the year and the only reason they exist at all is because the St Mathias Farm put in some high tunnels last fall- letting them get a jump on the weather up here in Minnesota. Kind of a neat miracle IMHO.

  29. 29.

    danielx

    April 7, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    Woodward said partisanship would lessen if people spent more time together and realized the person on the other side of the table is a friend rather than an enemy because he is the person who can give you what you want….

    VIllager profundity in a nutshell, right there.

    No, Bob, the person on the other side of the table is an opponent, because he or she opposes what you want to do. More specifically, unless his last name happens to be Boehner, he probably opposes what you want because he’s a true believer who would rather see you dead in a ditch than to give an inch of what you want in exchange for a yard of what he wants.

  30. 30.

    AA+ Bonds

    April 7, 2013 at 9:12 pm

    Woodward said partisanship would lessen if people spent more time together and realized the person on the other side of the table is a friend rather than an enemy because he is the person who can give you what you want…

    If capitalists could give the working class what they want we would not be where we are now.

  31. 31.

    Bruce S

    April 7, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    Honestly, the worst thing about Woodward is that it’s hard for me to think of anyone who appears on my TeeVee who is a bigger bore.

  32. 32.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    April 7, 2013 at 9:39 pm

    You people are so partisan. If the Democrats just agreed to privatize Social Security, repeal ACA and sell the naming rights to the military (101st Coca Cola Airborne, oh yeah!) the Republicans would agree to raise taxes on the poor. Whats wrong with you?

  33. 33.

    Darkrose

    April 7, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    @lamh35: I’m torn. I really, really, want to see it. Jackie’s been one of my heroes since I was a little kid. On the other hand, I’m afraid my rage will go off the charts. Hmmm…

  34. 34.

    Darkrose

    April 7, 2013 at 10:21 pm

    @lamh35: She’s 90? Man. Talk about black don’t crack. I wish I looked that good now!

  35. 35.

    sharl

    April 7, 2013 at 11:51 pm

    @patroclus:

    I’m glad you brought up the Belushi book he did back in the 80s.* I was unaware of that book until a recent interesting fisking of the tome, by Tanner Colby over at Slate:

    Regrettable: The troubling things I learned when I re-reported Bob Woodward’s book on John Belushi

    At least for me, some things about Woodward’s problematic “reporting” methods became more clear, thanks to that Slate piece.

    *Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi [amazon.com link]

  36. 36.

    Redshirt

    April 7, 2013 at 11:56 pm

    It’s never too late for Rev0lution, you know.

  37. 37.

    Matt

    April 8, 2013 at 9:42 am

    Well, Woodward’s statement is technically true about the GOP – as long as “what you want” is to either be called a dirty commie or have Paul Ryan shit in your mouth.

    Expecting anything *else* is probably a fool’s errand, tho.

  38. 38.

    StringOnAStick

    April 8, 2013 at 12:03 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Loved the video of Flossie biting at the water coming out of the garden hose – great audio!

  39. 39.

    Julia Grey

    April 8, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    Is it funny when a woman writes “lick my balls”?

    Yes.

  40. 40.

    Julia Grey

    April 8, 2013 at 12:15 pm

    Oh, and I love how Woodward says you just have to make friends at dinner parties, after trashing Gore’s dinner party company just this week.

    What a brain-dead old man.

  41. 41.

    mclaren

    April 8, 2013 at 5:32 pm

    Obama’s regressive record makes Nixon look like Che.

    And Hillary will be even worse, since she’s far to the right of Obama.

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