Bob Woodward is a White House Appeaser -- Canada Free Press, Cliff Kincaid

[bsteadman]

Bob Woodward is a White House Appeaser

Canada Free Press
Cliff Kincaid
3/1/2013

Excerpt:

If the White House will push Bob Woodward around on such a mundane matter as Obama’s role in a budget stand-off, what else will they do? A look at Wikipedia’s page on Obama’s communist mentor Frank Marshall Davis might give us some indication. It is apparent that Obama supporters and Internet “trolls” have sanitized the page in order to eliminate any hint that Obama’s Marxist policies are being driven by the relationship he had for almost 10 years with a Communist Party operative under surveillance by the FBI.

In the current controversy involving Washington Post reporter Woodward and Obama White House official Gene Sperling, the email exchange publicized by Politico shows Woodward referring to “Gene” and being called “Bob” in return. This is a friendly exchange of views.

Alluding to how “Gene” had yelled at him and apologized, Woodward said, “You do not ever have to apologize to me. You get wound up because you are making your points and you believe them. This is all part of a serious discussion. I for one welcome a little heat; there should [be] more given the importance. I also welcome your personal advice. I am listening.”

Can you imagine famed Watergate reporter Woodward referring to Nixon Administration officials in such friendly terms?

This exchange has all the earmarks of a “journalist” who, rather than being threatened, is being fed a line by the Obama White House and wants more of it. Woodward comes across not as a tough reporter engaged in an adversarial relationship with the White House but rather a whiner who wants more access to Obama.

Sadly, it is all too typical of how the liberal media do Obama’s bidding. The treatment of Frank Marshall Davis is a case in point.

The 600-page FBI file on Frank Marshall Davis covers the years 1944-1963, meaning that he was under investigation or surveillance for at least 19 years. One document refers to Frank Marshall Davis having CPUSA affiliations dating back to 1931. Davis was included in the FBI’s security index, meaning that Davis could be arrested or detained in the event of a national emergency. The FBI material also documents Davis’s anti-white and pro-Soviet views, and the Communist infiltration of the Hawaii Democratic Party.

Wikipedia’s page on Davis ignores Obama’s relationship with Davis, except in a footnote on the bottom, and does not mention Davis’s CPUSA membership. It also ignores Paul Kengor’s authoritative 2012 book on Davis, The Communist.

Wikipedia says Davis’s “actions were tracked” by the FBI. But without the facts about Davis’s involvement in a subversive Soviet intelligence network on the island of Hawaii, a major strategic target of the Soviets, this makes it seem as though Davis was an innocent victim of government authorities.

Wikipedia refers to Davis as an “avid photographer” without noting that the FBI was suspicious of Davis taking photographs of the Hawaii coast, an activity that suggested espionage on Davis’s part.

One of the most disturbing FBI documents refers to information that Davis “was observed photographing large sections of the [Hawaii] coastline with a camera containing a telescopic lens.” The FBI information states:

“Informant stated that DAVIS spent much of his time in this activity. He said this was the third different occasion DAVIS had been observed photographing shorelines and beachfronts. Informant advised that it did not appear he was photographing any particular objects.”

AIM’s original piece on Davis, Obama’s Communist Mentor, was published on February 18, 2008, about nine months before Obama was elected for his first term. Trevor Loudon, a New Zealand-based writer and activist, had noted evidence that the mysterious “Frank” in Obama’s book, Dreams from My Father, was Frank Marshall Davis, in a posting in March of 2007.

There was plenty of time for the major media to “vet” Obama. But they were not interested. And that includes Bob Woodward and his Washington Post colleagues. Now, all of a sudden, there is a controversy over Woodward reporting something that seems negative about Obama’s position on the sequester. This is so minor in the overall scheme of things that you wonder if it is all just a diversion from the big picture.
.............................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/53478

[bsteadman]

Bob Woodward Retreats: Death of the Free Media

Canada Free Press
Marinka Peschmann
3/4/2013

Excerpt:

Last week establishment journalist Bob Woodward of Watergate fame walked back the initial reports that claimed he had been threatened by the Obama White House’s economic adviser Gene Sperling regarding his reporting that President Obama had moved the goal post on the sequester by seeking additional taxes/revenue. Woodward insisted that he had never used the word “threat.”

“I think that was Politico’s word,” he said, “I said I think that language is unfortunate and I don’t think it’s the way to operate. . [Sperling’s] language speaks for itself. I don’t think that’s the way to operate.”

Woodward took issue with Sperling’s use of the word “regret” during an email exchange from Sperling to Woodward on Feb. 22, 2013 that read in part: “But I do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying saying [sic] that Potus asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

No, that’s not the way an administration should operate in America where the media is supposed to be the watchdog instead of this hybrid fan club cult-of-personality-false-idol-worship journalism we see now. A real journalist should never regret reporting the truth.

That said I have to ask with all due respect where has Woodward been all these years when scores of journalists and citizens have been threatened, marginalized or smeared by their government for daring to speak truth to power?

During the Clinton era that would include anyone who dared to challenge the official narrative during the investigation into the death of Vince Foster or Oklahoma City bombing. Remember how Chinagate and Pardongate were shut down? Did Woodward not see how people were trashed during impeachment? How about getting a straight answer from both the Bush and Obama administrations about their mutual unwinnable war policy called “catch and release” where year after year troops have been sent to war and ordered to catch terrorists only to release them? How many books has Woodward written on these administrations six, seven, eight? I don’t recall him ringing any alarm bells, do you?

No, instead of using his prominent stature to always speak truth to power and stand with others who do despite being threatened or smeared, Woodward’s response to being made to feel “uncomfortable” by his friend of 20 years in the Obama White House was to preserve his access.

Email from Woodward to Sperling on Feb. 23, 2013:

“Gene: You do not ever have to apologize to me. You get wound up because you are making your points and you believe them. This is all part of a serious discussion. I for one welcome a little heat; there should be more given the importance. I also welcome your personal advice. I am listening. I know you lived all this. My partial advantage is that I talked extensively with all involved. I am traveling and will try to reach you after 3 pm today. Best, Bob”

The dirty little secret politicians and editors do not want you to know is how access has been used by elected leaders and their political appointees to compromise the integrity of journalists for decades. Those in power do not take kindly to journalists who ask tough questions and deny them access. Editors demand their reporters have access. Woodward is legendary for his extraordinary access. However access does not always mean the public is told the truth. The public is told what the players want them to know by granting access. It’s called publicity stunts disguised as news. More and more journalists act like stenographers and have abdicated their critical role as truth tellers to stay employed.

And now the media’s gradual slide over the last two decades towards becoming a state media is accelerating. As I reported in The Whistleblower referring to the Clinton era treatment of the press that is being repeated today in the Obama White House:

“The more Linda [Tripp] spoke, the more I saw that the press took whatever they could get as the Clintons Hollywood-ized politics and ultimately the justice system, by controlling what was reported and more importantly, what was not reported in the court of public opinion. Writing a critical article about the Clintons, for example, meant no access for that journalist. Getting access to boost circulation and ratings meant having to play by the Clinton White House rules. That nifty trick was a Hollywood maneuver where publicists deny reporters’ access to their celebrity clients unless their clients receive selective and fawning press coverage. This hard-nose tactic to control the narrative saw daylight during Hillary’s failed 2008 presidential bid when Politico reported, “Clinton Campaign kills negative story,” recounting how GQ Magazine was instructed to kill the piece they were writing on the infighting in Hillary’s campaign or lose access to Bill Clinton for their “Man of the Year” December issue.[134] GQ Magazine caved in and spiked the story.

History repeats itself. In April 2011, Obama White House officials “banished” a San Francisco Chronicle reporter who had videotaped protesters interrupting an Obama fundraiser—then claimed they didn’t after they were exposed. Shortly thereafter, the regime refused full press access to the Boston Herald claiming pool reporters are chosen based on whether they cover the news “fairly,” and yelled at a CBS reporter for asking about the “Fast and Furious” gunrunning operation, a Justice Department and Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) operation that allowed Mexican drug cartel intermediaries to purchase guns at licensed U.S. firearms dealers and then cross the border.[136]”

There is good reason why a recent Rasmussen poll showed that only “6% rate news media as very trustworthy.” It is a mystery that Woodward is shocked that the Obama administration played fast and loose with the truth. Again, where has he been?

My personal hope is that Woodward will write an unauthorized book using the information he accumulated over decades of having access that never saw the light of day to maintain that access, speak uncompromising truth to power, and stand with others who have faced the heat in what has been a long history of an abuse of power coming from the executive branch to control the media. Will Woodward use his mighty stature to help restore the media’s dwindling credibility?

Unfortunately that appears to be wishful thinking. Yesterday on Bob Schieffer’s CBS’s Face the Nation Woodward offered his version of a publicity stunt disguised as news like the “beer summit” when he invited Obama to his house to make nice. “[Gene Sperling] is a peacemaker. 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… [T]alking really works.”
.................................................. .......

View the complete article at:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/53510