dagblog - Comments for "A thread for news related to Bob Woodward's "Rage""

I agree this is a smart

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 22:27:13 +0000

In reply to A thread for news related to Bob Woodward's "Rage"

I agree this is a smart observation, I like the whole idea of comparing the two men, find it useful:

Smart observation by ⁦@harrispolitico⁩:
Both Woodward and Biden are 77, and were born within four months of each other during World War II. Both made their Washington debuts in 1972, when Watergate started to boil and Biden was elected to the Senate. https://t.co/DYlJ8hnzqX
— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) September 17, 2020

Woodward: Restricting travel

artappraiser — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 01:49:26 +0000

In reply to A thread for news related to Bob Woodward's "Rage"

Woodward: Restricting travel from China wasn't Trump's idea https://t.co/iqVclF7MzY pic.twitter.com/4kTFIPkRqD
— The Hill (@thehill) September 15, 2020

You try to assess how many

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 05:10:00 +0000

In reply to here's one more I missed from

You try to assess how many people are like a Mattis, perhaps too much for our tastes but professional, vs a Stephen Miller evil suck ups or Kellyanne spin-away-everything types, and imagine how much the sinking ship has tilted to the latter these last 3 1/2 years. I mean, part of civil service is always a compromise between your own values and any specific administration, but this is a (I'm)purity test at every level.

here's one more I missed from

artappraiser — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:30:16 +0000

In reply to Bob Woodward says that on

here's one more I missed from 60 Minutes:

In his new book, Bob Woodward says former Defense Secretary Mattis told an associate, “there were so many stupid things that [POTUS] decided. But withdrawing troops, in December 2018, was felony stupid.”

More from Scott Pelley’s interview with Woodward: https://t.co/248QvfcnkL pic.twitter.com/qDigA4PGj3
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 14, 2020

Bob Woodward says that on

artappraiser — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 01:28:03 +0000

In reply to A thread for news related to Bob Woodward's "Rage"

Bob Woodward says that on January 28, National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien told President Trump that coronavirus “will be the biggest national security threat” of his presidency. https://t.co/TdjOvN9Nwy pic.twitter.com/O2UI0ErlcV
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

“[President Trump] then went on to publicly dismiss the virus… and he knew that this was a pandemic coming.” Bob Woodward says POTUS was warned in January of the threat of COVID by National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and his deputy, Matthew Pottinger https://t.co/zqJson8HpO pic.twitter.com/a02nxiMrCl
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

“I wanted to always play [coronavirus] down, I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic,” said President Trump in a March phone call with Bob Woodward. https://t.co/3nM9TO3crK pic.twitter.com/RcwZscOCx1
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

“The title, “Rage,” comes from [President Trump.] He said he brings out rage in people. And he doesn’t know whether that’s a positive or a negative or a good thing or a bad thing,” says Bob Woodward about the title of his new book. https://t.co/AmxVsOTmV8 pic.twitter.com/2M2qEIapKO
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

Bob Woodward says President Trump, in the first year of his presidency, gave Defense Secretary James Mattis authority to shoot down any North Korean missile aimed at the U.S.

“You don’t know how close we were to war,” President Trump told Woodward. https://t.co/lEuUSMmrRd pic.twitter.com/erCyl4wi51
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

In a conversation with Bob Woodward following George Floyd's death, President Trump dismissed Woodward’s question about white privilege, responding that Woodward “really drank the Kool-Aid.” https://t.co/vhSVs5t9Zb pic.twitter.com/ztdSFtoPCb
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

In an August interview with Bob Woodward, President Trump concluded that “nothing more could have been done,” in response to coronavirus. https://t.co/wzxvsY3K4B pic.twitter.com/qbW8B5n5EI
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

“I say the president is the wrong man for the job.” Bob Woodward says he came to this conclusion “based on evidence, overwhelming evidence.” https://t.co/aDGioTLG22 pic.twitter.com/yTpZJdVnZk
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

Bob Woodward says an hour and a half after he told President Trump that his new book would be tough on him, the president “tweeted out that the Bob Woodward book is going to be fake.” https://t.co/dFnYXQkgtk pic.twitter.com/gwcuJf8ohY
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

More from Bob Woodward, including why the president's intelligence team said he is a “threat to the national security.” https://t.co/OlUm0pMYxH
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 13, 2020

It reminds me of the theme of

moat — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:08:22 +0000

In reply to “Most of us say, ‘What the

It reminds me of the theme of having an informer share a cell with the Criminal in order to coax the lonely killer into revealing where the bodies are located.

“Most of us say, ‘What the

artappraiser — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 12:42:12 +0000

In reply to A thread for news related to Bob Woodward's "Rage"

“Most of us say, ‘What the hell is he doing talking to Bob Woodward at 11 at night?’” said one GOP senator. https://t.co/fXKKh42LGg
— The Hill (@thehill) September 11, 2020

Woodward likely works for

PeraclesPlease — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 09:42:30 +0000

In reply to If it turns out he did this

Woodward likely works for prestige, money, sense of service/duty, and habit. All but the last is "gain" of sorts (even if you out your elf helper bonus points in escrow for others, they're still a personal thrill of sorts). He'll be judged as he's judged. But certainly better than Trump.

P.S. I am guessing Trump took

artappraiser — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 08:13:40 +0000

In reply to Initial reactions similar to

P.S. I am guessing Trump took up the offer because as usual he thinks he is a genius and he could prove to Bob that the current White House was not "crazytown" as Bob's previous book had described it. Trump thought he had cleaned house of all the previous sources that told Bob it was "crazytown". Trump wanted to prove to Bob that it was those people who were crazy and now the White House was working as a brilliant well-oiled machine, that the genius had gotten all the flaws out now.

Bob just listened and watched, he wasn't there to ask "gotcha" questions like a press conference. He was there to record what new or different was going on. He was trying to figure out the reality of the situation.

Initial reactions similar to

artappraiser — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 08:05:24 +0000

In reply to I have tempered my first

Initial reactions similar to yours, though, got me thinking about something related, that this a long debated philosophical problem for scholars. In humanities, they fancy themselves as practicing like objective scientists as best they can, not interfering in the unfolding of whatever is happening but just being a bug on the wall. But where do you draw the line on that and interfere if you see evidence of something horrible going on, get activist or political, become more of a journalist informing the public and less of a historian?

I believe one of the reasons Woodward and Bernstein had fallouts is that Woodward fancies himself a historian and scholar and Bernstein fancied himself becoming more of a political activist pundit.

Bernstein does "outrage" as a pundit all the time. Woodward rarely if ever.

I have seen the problem in your own reaction to me in the past sometimes, it's almost like you get real aggravated that I won't show outrage about this or that. I just don't have much belief that one person showing outrage anonymously on the internet is that useful of an activity. And I don't see debating as changing minds, it's merely a game. I believe in people being as best informed as they can and then voting, and voting is private.

Right now, I suspect Woodward did the best he could and there's not a lot of mercenary intent there, judging mostly by what he did with the previous book.

Actually I can't believe Trump took him up on the offer! Propagandists Tucker Carlson and Hannity are correct to be outraged at Lindsey Graham about that. The whole deal with the Trump admin is not just hide the facts, but to support Trump's postmodern alternate reality narrative, which happens to change day to day on whim.

But my opinion about what Woodward did could change, I am not sure. Still, to me all that would mean, like moat pointed out, is that he deserves a bad rep for his own historic reputation.

One thing; do you realize that reacting to his book with "you could have saved lives and you didn't" is partly falling for the savior complex that was built up around the Woodward & Bernstein team by "Hollywood"? Journalist using anonymous whistleblower sources as hero, journalist as the only one who can save us, etc.