White House Caught Threatening Reporter

[sharkman]

"It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, 'You're going to regret doing something that you believe in,'" Woodward said.

"I think they're confused," Woodward said of the White House's pushback on his reporting.

The White House aide who Woodward said threatened him was Gene Sperling, the director of the White House Economic Council, BuzzFeed's Ben Smith reported.

Earlier today on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Woodward ripped into Obama in what has become an ongoing feud between the veteran Washington Post journalist and the White House. Woodward said Obama was showing a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.

The Defense Department said in early February that it would not deploy the U.S.S. Harry Truman to the Persian Gulf, citing budget concerns relating to the looming cuts known as the sequester.

Has anyone heard about this story? It seems as if the Obama administration is getting pretty heavy handed as the Sequester looms large. It also seems to be that the Administration is making these decisions so as to fearmonger and press Republicans to do their bidding on the Sequester question.

Should Aircraft Carrier deployments to danger zones be based on whether the short term budget situation is favorable or not?

[GostHacked]

Some other news stations have picked this up as well. Might as well give Obama another peace price or he gets another award for open government behiind closed doors.

[DogOnPorch]

Yes...seemed like a threat to me.

[BubberMiley]

Yes...seemed like a threat to me.

That's just because, like Sharkman, you don't look to an independent source before you post here. The "threat" in question was a White House staffer saying "as a friend" that Woodward would likely regret reporting something that is inaccurate.

Nevertheless, it's fun taking something out of context and running with it. You can even win elections that way. Remember when Obama lost because they said he said people "didn't build" their own businesses?

Oh wait...

[bush_cheney2004]

Yes...seemed like a threat to me.

Indeed...the 'poison pill' sequester process (originated in the White house) is having very interesting side effects, exposing the true political and fiscal skeletal structure. $85 billion is nothing, and if so little hurts so much, then "Big Government" will never go on a much needed diet.

Make it hurt.....

[jacee]

I think Woodward sounds a bit ... mad!

Woodward said Obama was showing a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" ...

Edited February 28, 2013 by jacee

[sharkman]

Alarm bells should be going off about this if you're a reporter or journalist. If the administration doesn't like your story is it proper for them to yell at you?

Woodward also spoke to Politico, and read out part of the email. He said he had been "yelled at" for about 30 minutes, and that the official wrote, “I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today. You’re focusing on a few specific trees that give a very wrong impression of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. … I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

[bush_cheney2004]

Not sure who originally said it, but the White House just broke the cardinal political rule about not getting into a pissing contest with a man who buys newspaper ink by the barrel.

[Moonlight Graham]

from the OP article:

"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying, 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget document?'" Woodward said on MSNBC.

No, I can't, because he plunged the country into an insane amount of debt based on military spending.

OMG, dare a US president actually show financial restraint on defense spending!! Maybe Woodward has stocks in Raytheon and Lockheed Martin or something. Bwaahahaha me so funny.

[DogOnPorch]

That's just because, like Sharkman, you don't look to an independent source before you post here. The "threat" in question was a White House staffer saying "as a friend" that Woodward would likely regret reporting something that is inaccurate.

Nevertheless, it's fun taking something out of context and running with it. You can even win elections that way. Remember when Obama lost because they said he said people "didn't build" their own businesses?

Oh wait...

One: I saw it last night...not just now.

Two: Your "independent source", I gather?

[bush_cheney2004]

..

No, I can't, because he plunged the country into an insane amount of debt based on military spending.

OMG, dare a US president actually show financial restraint on defense spending!! Maybe Woodward has stocks in Raytheon and Lockheed Martin or something. Bwaahahaha me so funny.

President Reagan's budget deficits never approached 9% of GDP, and Eastern Europe thought it was worth it.

[BubberMiley]

Alarm bells should be going off about this if you're a reporter or journalist. If the administration doesn't like your story is it proper for them to yell at you?

What was the part of the quote that you edited out with ellipses?

[BubberMiley]

One: I saw it last night...not just now.

Two: Your "independent source", I gather?

Who are you talking about?

[Guest Derek L]

Has anyone heard about this story? It seems as if the Obama administration is getting pretty heavy handed as the Sequester looms large. It also seems to be that the Administration is making these decisions so as to fearmonger and press Republicans to do their bidding on the Sequester question.

Should Aircraft Carrier deployments to danger zones be based on whether the short term budget situation is favorable or not?

Aside from the National Security implications, the last minute (As in the crew found out hours prior from the media) cancellation also put a strong financial burden on the crews of the Carrier (USS Harry Truman) and her Battle Group…………Many give-up their apartments, put their things in storage etc prior to deployment……….

The thing I don’t understand is why they cancelled the Truman’s deployment at the beginning of the month, but the USS Eisenhower, which just returned from a Mideast deployment in November, was just sent out again to replace the USS Stennis, which was supposed to be replaced by the USS Nimitz which is apparently suffering mechanical problems…………Couple this with delaying the midlife refuelling of the USS Lincoln (Which will push back the refuelling of the USS George Washington in a couple years) and recently retiring the USS Enterprise, three years earlier then USS Ford is scheduled to enter service, and I don’t think the USN has had these numbers associated with Aircraft Carrier availability since 1942-43.…….even post WW II, they had 8 long hulled Essex carriers and the three Midways, not mention all the other Essex carriers in reserve…….

[bush_cheney2004]

Stars and Stripes reported the falling carrier dominoes late last year. USS Nimitz needed a new cooling pump, which required a hull cut.

http://www.stripes.com/news/navy/faulty-part-on-carrier-has-domino-effect-on-deployments-1.198541

Nimitz would be 50 years old in 2025, but won't stay in commission that long because refueling is required by 2021. Nuclear propulsion has many advantages and disadvantages !

Edited March 1, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[Guest Derek L]

Stars and Stripes reported the falling carrier dominoes late last year. USS Nimitz needed a new cooling pump, which required a hull cut.

http://www.stripes.com/news/navy/faulty-part-on-carrier-has-domino-effect-on-deployments-1.198541

Nimitz would be 50 years old in 2025, but won't stay in commission that long because refueling is required by 2021. Nuclear propulsion has many advantages and disadvantages !

It’s alarming to say the least………….From my understanding, under the current fiscal climate, the Navy deemed it necessary to “trim” the operating and maintenance budget, in exchange for keeping hulls and the production drumbeat of the Ford class……….With the intent to replace Nimitz and Ike with the Ford class JFK and Enterprise………..

Again from my understandings from chatting with a friend/former co-worker (and retired USMC)is that by letting the “Big E” go a few years earlier, and in turn saving money on training for and maintaining her unique reactors, the Navy will have “saved” the other carriers………

And many thought Clinton buggered the Navy by cutting the maintenance budget to the dirt burners in the 90s……….What they did to the previous JFK was near criminal and lead to her decade early retirement…..

I just hope your carriers don’t get the same treatment as the bean counters in London, Ottawa and Canberra did to their respective navy’s flattops…………In the case of the Royal Navy & the United Kingdom, the Falklands war can be attributed to the retirement of HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal several years prior…..

[bush_cheney2004]

...I just hope your carriers don’t get the same treatment as the bean counters in London, Ottawa and Canberra did to their respective navy’s flattops…………In the case of the Royal Navy & the United Kingdom, the Falklands war can be attributed to the retirement of HMS Eagle and HMS Ark Royal several years prior…..

Sometimes it just depends on where the CVN asset is in its refueling cycle. The U.S. Navy has to keep track of reactor power levels and manage refueling overhauls economically, and there is limited yard capability/capacity for the bird farms (and subs). If President Obama is serious about a WestPac pivot because of China, the deployments will just have to get longer.

[Guest Derek L]

Sometimes it just depends on where the CVN asset is in its refueling cycle. The U.S. Navy has to keep track of reactor power levels and manage refueling overhauls economically, and there is limited yard capability/capacity for the bird farms (and subs). If President Obama is serious about a WestPac pivot because of China, the deployments will just have to get longer.

Or move more carriers to San Diego and Bremerton……….And perhaps suggest Japan amending their Constitution to include “defensive aviation vessels”……….

[bush_cheney2004]

Or move more carriers to San Diego and Bremerton……….And perhaps suggest Japan amending their Constitution to include “defensive aviation vessels”……….

It's getting harder (impossible ?) to forward deploy or home port a nuclear asset overseas. Even the Aussies would put up quite a fuss. The U.S. Navy loses a lot of on station time just due to transits to and from any given region.

[Guest Derek L]

It's getting harder (impossible ?) to forward deploy or home port a nuclear asset overseas. Even the Aussies would put up quite a fuss. The U.S. Navy loses a lot of on station time just due to transits to and from any given region.

That's too bad.......Perth and HMAS Stirling/Garden Island have the San Diego thing going in spades.......Give it a few years till a change of Government.....

[bush_cheney2004]

AFAIK, Yokasuka Japan is the only overseas naval base with a home ported (U.S.) CVN. Nuclear power, terrorism, and tree huggers make for a volatile cocktail. I hate to admit it, but sometimes we wanted to smack down the Greenpeace idiots more than any real enemy because of its stupid antics in the channel !

Edited March 1, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[Boges]

This was on Jon Stewart last night. In context the e-mail doesn't seem like a threat at all. Woodword is being a bit dramatic here.

[Pliny]

This was on Jon Stewart last night. In context the e-mail doesn't seem like a threat at all. Woodword is being a bit dramatic here.

The email seemed rather innocuous to me but the nuances of politically loaded rhetoric and demagoguery are best known by

the originators and those involved. I would like to have heard the 1/2 hour telephone diatribe.

[waldo]

This was on Jon Stewart last night. In context the e-mail doesn't seem like a threat at all. Woodword is being a bit dramatic here.

He was on 'Morning Joe' this morning, attempting to weasel his way out of his CNN and Politico interviews... interviews where he didn't challenge the use of the word 'threatened', which as it turns out actually originated from the Politico journalist. Effectively, Woodward appears to have perpetuated the drama by not actively challenging media's early attempts to create that drama. Of course, Woodward's own Washington Post editors ran with the threat headline. Only when the actual emails came forward does one have a true inkling of just how bad Woodward looks in all this... he's now being severely skewered everywhere.

[Pliny]

He was on 'Morning Joe' this morning, attempting to weasel his way out of his CNN and Politico interviews... interviews where he didn't challenge the use of the word 'threatened', which as it turns out actually originated from the Politico journalist. Effectively, Woodward appears to have perpetuated the drama by not actively challenging media's early attempts to create that drama. Of course, Woodward's own Washington Post editors ran with the threat headline. Only when the actual emails came forward does one have a true inkling of just how bad Woodward looks in all this... he's now being severely skewered everywhere.

Especially where it matters, wink wink nudge nudge! Lanny Davis has been told he is safe - never to be troubled again.