in case you missed it, there is a big journalism story today - bob woodward has known of the adminstration's talking about valerie plame since june of 2003. he testified on monday. the world only found today. he's sat on this during a criminal investigation. while he's been sitting on what he was told, he's taken to the tv and radio to explain to every 1 that this isn't a story, that it's just gossip and that america should pay attention to something else.
gee bobbo, why might you feel that way?
once upon a time he was played by robert redford. if they made a film of his life today, he'd be played by david spade. which might be insulting david spade.
he's totally useless.
gossip, which is what bobbo calls the outing of valerie plame, is what bobbo's made his business for years now.
he grabs his pad and pen, heads down to the white house and waits for crumbs to be tossed to him. then he pulls it all together in a badly transcript (which reportedly then gets improved slightly but is still a writing mess) and calls it a book.
there is an author in the woodward & bernstein team and his name is carl.
carl can write.
carl can also do investigative journalism.
bobbo can take dictation.
he took it from felt and he took it every day since. he laid on his reporter's back and took it gladly some might say (if you want to extend the whore motif).
he made his name on access, some even say he got his job on access.
in the years since watergate, he's had no explosive story and a lot of people scratch their heads and wonder why that is?
how could he uncover watergate, they wonder, and not be breaking stories since?
because he was fed a story then and he was paired with a report who was an actual reporter, someone who went after a story with the belief that the press mattered and that the role of the press was to inform the people.
without carl bernstein at hi side, woody was happy to suck up to power and mitigate the truth.
he is the ziegiest journalist. writing chatty little gossip that will at most embarrass slightly but never get to the core of what's going on, bobbo has made quite a career for himself.
you see him on tv introduced as the breakthrough journalist. watergate was 30 years ago. he's stayed in the field of 'journalism' so where are the brave stories?
let's take a look at his peer group, ok?
there's carl bernstein who broke additional stories but had to break them outside of the washington post which tells you a great deal about the culture of that paper.
now carl became an actual writer and not just a reporter. he graduated and grew up.
and bobbo kept spitting out what he was fed.
but let's look at a reporter who remained a reporter. sy hersh. he was at the new york times when bobbo was covering watergate.
what has sy done just in the last 4 years? he's broken story after story.
he's broken the story about abu ghraib, he's broken the story about the truth of the iraq elections, he's broken stories about what the u.s. is doing re: iran. he's broken the news that we let osama escape in afghanistan because we didn't have enough people on the ground.
that's just in the last four years.
and bobbo?
bush at war? any 1 need to read that piece of crap?
his books read like transcripts of a barbara walters tv special.
so who can pretend to be surprised that it turns out while he was saying 'nothing to see her, move along' the whole time he's being less than honest?
hasn't his post-career since watergate been built upon being less than honest?
there are 2 set of rules at the washington post, there are the rules for bobbo and then there are the rules for every 1 else.
'little miss run amuck' could have been and should have been bob woodward's name. while judy miller was still a reporter - yeah kiddies, once upon a time, she was a real reporter - bobbo was already a practicing stenographer.
you get rewarded for stenography and bobbo certainly has been rewarded.
year after year he's trotted out as the 'brave' reporter who once helped break the watergate story. smarter voices ask the janet question: 'i know you used to do nice stuff for me, but what have you done for me lately?'
nothing.
forget barney, he is the white house pooch. belly scratched, head petted and fed, he was neutered and white house broken long ago.
need more info?
check out c.i.'s 'Editorial: Someone explain to Bob Woodward that a reporter reports.'
plamegate
scooter libby
bob woodward
the washington post
valerie plame
the common ills
