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» Monday, October 2, 2006

The underreported Woodward claim

I saw the 60 Minutes interview last night, and one part of it just absolutely shocked me - new information that I hadn't heard reported anywhere else, and that still, to which I've seen no one call attention. From the Crooks and Liars transcript, with some emphasis added:

Mike Wallace: And do you know what? There are people who are going to say, "Look, Woodward is savaging President Bush because he wouldn't see him for this book."

Bob Woodward: That's not true.

Wallace: Well, he…he didn't.

Woodward: He did not, and I asked. And I made it very clear to the White House what my questions were, what my information was. What could he say, that the secret chart is not right? That these things that happened in these meetings didn't occur? They're documented. I talked to the people who were there. Your producer, Bob Anderson, has listened to the tapes my interviews with people to make sure that it's not just "kind of" right, but literally right. This is what occurred.

Did you get that? Woodward told the White House his questions in advance, giving the president all the time he needed to construct and memorize the best possible answer, and the president still wouldn't meet with him as he did for the previous two books. Even knowing the questions ahead of time, Bush didn't think he could answer them credibly.

It's times like this that you wish you didn't see it coming.

# - Posted to Dubya Dubya II, The 24-hour cycle on 10/2/06; 11:17:58 AM - Discuss -

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