Tucker Carlson: It looks to me like Woodward hyped his claim of being threatened
“It looks to me like Woodward hyped that claim,” Carlson said of Woodward’s assertion that he had been threatened by White House advisor Gene Sperling. Carlson said that Woodward replied to the so-called threat by writing “Gene, you do not ever have to apologize to me.”
MacCallum suggested that Woodward was probably just being polite in an attempt to keep the lines of communication with his sources in the White House open.
“I gotta say, this offers a window into how Washington actually works,” Carlson added. “The kind of suck-upy, air-kissy relationship between reporter and source. It’s a little bit, to be honest about it, hard to claim you were threatened when you’re writing an email saying, ‘you never need to apologies to me. I’ll see you at lunch!’”
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It looks to me like Tucker Carlson is a beltway establishmet tool.
idesign on February 28, 2013 at 11:30 AM
Actually to me it seemed that Woodward never considered it much of a threat.
Zaggs on February 28, 2013 at 11:31 AM
That doesn’t change the fact that it was.
I wouldn’t consider it much of a threat if Joe Biden pointed his shotgun at me either. More likely than not, he’d have the wrong end pointed at me.
CurtZHP on February 28, 2013 at 11:33 AM
Given Tucker’s own penchant for hype he really shouldn’t talk. Rememeber his huge Obama video we all.
tbrickert on February 28, 2013 at 11:37 AM
Regardless of how Woodward handled his response to it – it was an outright threat.
Pork-Chop on February 28, 2013 at 11:39 AM
Whether or not he did or it was, it certainly demonstrated how the Stenography Media will turn on anyone who goes after their idol.
DrMagnolias on February 28, 2013 at 11:40 AM
Bob Woodward fired a warning shot across the administrations bow. To warn them to play nice or else.
meci on February 28, 2013 at 11:41 AM
Wasn’t it one of Tuckers reporters that was ostracized for asking the rainbow haloed savior a question in the rose garden regarding Benghazi?
antipc on February 28, 2013 at 11:45 AM
Nah. Tucker Carlson is a good businessman, but his eye for a story is mediocre, at best. That’s why he moved out of the reporting gig and into the reporting business gig and hired smart reporters to do what he can’t.
Dusty on February 28, 2013 at 11:51 AM
I agree. It was more of “you got it wrong, you’re hurting yourself” rather than “I’m going to hurt you for what you said”.
Paul-Cincy on February 28, 2013 at 11:52 AM
As usual, the way to tell is to ask “What if Bush had done it?”
Odysseus on February 28, 2013 at 11:52 AM
Of course it was. But Woodward’s detractors are trying to act like Woodward thought his life was in danger. To me Woodward was just “Yeah, little man threatened me….big whoop”.
Zaggs on February 28, 2013 at 11:55 AM
I’m always amazed at how eager supposed “Republicans” are to give the Obama administration extra insulation from criticism.
Doomberg on February 28, 2013 at 11:55 AM
I think it was a question about the impact of giving 1 million illegals free green cards, or something related to that. And I think it was Tucker, himself.
Anyway, it was a threat. If Tucker Carlson wants to get involved, he should try pulling a Woodward and bringing down this crime family of an administration.
The Rogue Tomato on February 28, 2013 at 11:55 AM
Why, never? Because he responded conciliatorily initially, maybe not having the threat not considering it first or having it foremost in his mind. Now he says it was a threat. Maybe he didn’t know the WH lingo and now he does.
Dusty on February 28, 2013 at 11:59 AM
Of course it was a threat. This is the group of Chicago thugs in DC we’re talking about. You know, one of those nice, friendly “gee, it would be a shame if something happened” type of suggestions.
Katja on February 28, 2013 at 12:01 PM
It was a barely veiled threat but journalists will do just about anything for access. No way Carlson honestly thinks the polite small talk means it wasn’t a threat.
forest on February 28, 2013 at 12:01 PM
Yup. I’m guessing that it has become so commonplace for this White House to threaten the press, that they are now becoming blasé about the threats. That doesn’t mean they are not threats.
Hey press, in general,
Yup, yup.
Fallon on February 28, 2013 at 12:03 PM
Worst case is, to paraphrase Dan Rather, “Fake but accurate.”
Does anyone doubt that WH threats are SOP?
petefrt on February 28, 2013 at 12:29 PM
Me too. It’s soooo disheatening. I generally like Tucker, but he needs to stop running at the mouth. If he can’t do better than a gratuitous defense of Obama in a prospectively damaging affair, then STFU.
.
petefrt on February 28, 2013 at 12:33 PM
You know, when you read the email from Spurling to Woodward there doesn’t seem to be much of a threat made. However, the email itself refers several times to the fact that in a previous conversation Spurling was yelling at Woodward over the phone and he apologizes profusely. So, yeah, maybe the email was not an implicit threat, but the fact that Spurling was screaming at Woodward over the phone previously was definitely mean’t to intimidate Woodward. IMO.
KickandSwimMom on February 28, 2013 at 12:38 PM
Well let’s send the White House an email telling them they’re going to regret something they said and see if they treat it as a threat.
Xavier on February 28, 2013 at 12:47 PM
LOL. Bob freaking Woodward doesn’t understand White House lingo as much as you do??
MikeknaJ on February 28, 2013 at 12:48 PM
They threatened him by phone.
The e-mail is to apologize about the threats.
The WH acknowledges the threats. This article is written in Goebbels fashion.
Schadenfreude on February 28, 2013 at 1:06 PM
Bob Woodward isn’t even saying that. You’re pulling things completely out of your butt. Seriously, where did you get that from?
segasagez on February 28, 2013 at 1:16 PM