From The VG Bookshelf: “Fear” [VIDEO]

From The VG Bookshelf: “Fear” [VIDEO]

From The VG Bookshelf: “Fear” [VIDEO]

With all the media hype regarding Bob Woodward’s latest book “Fear,” it seemed like it would be an interesting read. Here is a guy who has contacts at every level of government and has had those contacts for years. He’s plugged in don’tcha know? Which means “Fear” should answer ALL our questions about Trump right?

Book Cover: Simon & Schuster Victory Girls Artwork: Darleen Click

Not so much! Woodward’s ‘Note to Readers’ is illuminating:

“Interviews for this book were conducted under the journalist ground rule of “deep background.” This means that all the information could be used but I would not say who provided it. ”

~Snip

“I have attributed exact quotations, thoughts or conclusions to the participants, that information comes from the person, a colleague with direct knowledge, or from meeting notes, personal diaries, files and government or personal documents.”

So all his sources were on super secret DEEP background yet every quote through the book is for realz? Even the quotes from Trump, who refused to be interviewed for the book? Heck of a way to get things rolling there big guy.

It is evident that Woodward was never a fan of Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, nor anyone else tied to the Trump campaign. As he makes clear in the first few chapters, even Woodward couldn’t believe that all those deplorable Americans were going to choose blowhard Trump over Hillary Clinton. I mean, she DESERVED the Presidency!

Here’s something else about Woodward’s book. He quotes a significant number of people regarding events as if Woodward himself had been present. But he wasn’t.

Oh wait, there are some sources who aren’t anonymous. Kind of. You see, Hillary Clinton and James Comey have stuff to say! From their books that is. Yes indeed, you read that correctly. In working to make his supposed case that the White House is a fearful place under President Trump’s leadership, he lifts passages from Hillary and Comey’s books to make his point. Would those books be classified as ‘deep background’ sources? I guess so.

By 300 pages in, I realize this book reads more like a work of gossipy fiction rather than a factual accounting of the time from Trump’s campaign to now. But the media is buying everything that Woodward is selling. Hook, line, and sinker.

Uh huh… only there’s a big problem with Woodward’s veracity in his book. This is not the first book where Woodward is slammed for getting his source work wrong or relying on false info to fill the pages. As the Daily Caller reported, Woodward’s history extends all the way back to “All The President’s Men.”

You see,Washington Post publisher Ben Bradlee had some HUGE misgivings about the veracity of ALL of Woodward’s sources.

Bradlee gave Himmelman full access to his files, which revealed that details about Woodward’s relationship with infamous Watergate source “Deep Throat” gnawed at Bradlee years later. Details such as Woodward communicating with Deep Throat by placing a flag in a potted plant on his balcony, or their dozens of shadowy garage meetings.

“You know I have a little problem with Deep Throat,” Bradlee said to an assistant in a 1990 interview that he originally intended to use for a memoir but which remained private until Himmelman published his book.

As you go through the rest of the Daily Caller article, one can see that Woodward has been called out on multiple times for lying about key information and people in his books.  But as CNN’s Brian Stelter says, It’s Woodward, so Shut Up.

“Woodward is different,” wrote Stelter, host of a CNN show called “Reliable Sources.”

“As the CNN team of reporters who read ‘Fear’ in advance wrote on Tuesday, ‘his reporting comes with the credibility of a long and storied history that separates this book from previous efforts on Trump,’” Stelter added.

Oh wait. Not so fast. You see, with “Fear” there are already folks quoted in the book who are fighting back.

John Dowd pushed back hard against Woodward’s assertion in the book that Dowd called Trump a “liar.” From his statement, it sure looks like Dowd was never interviewed for Woodward’s book. Which is particularly telling since Woodward devotes the very last chapter to Dowd, Mueller, and Trump regarding the Russia collusion investigation that is going nowhere. It also seems that John Kelly wasn’t interviewed. 

What is more telling is that Secretary of Defense Mattis, according to Woodward, supposedly told close associates that Trump essentially acts like a fifth or sixth grader, and also rolled his eyes various times during meetings and more. Well, Sec Def Mattis was having NONE of that!

Here’s the entire statement:

“The contemptuous words about the President attributed to me in Woodward’s book were never uttered by me or in my presence. While I generally enjoy reading fiction, this is a uniquely Washington brand of literature, and his anonymous sources do not lend credibility,” Mattis said.

“In serving in this administration, the idea that I would show contempt for the elected Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, or tolerate disrespect to the office of the President from within our Department of Defense, is a product of someone’s rich imagination,” the statement said.

Pissing off Sec Def Mattis is NOT a good move Bob.

Woodward, in the interview above, says that Trump is involved in a ‘war on truth’ against everyone. Well, given the fact that several key folks supposedly directly quoted in Woodward’s book have pushed back at Bob, and given Woodward’s long history of false reporting in prior books, exactly WHO is waging a war on truth right now?

This book is quite the read. However, is there anything new in it? No. Bob Woodward wrote a book that uses supposed ‘anonymous sources,’ the media, Hillary Clinton, and James Comey as his primary sources and includes 42 chapters of source notes and media attributions to make his case.

“Fear” is an excellent work of anonymous fiction. Maybe Bob Woodward and James Patterson need to team up. It could work.

Book Cover: Simon & Schuster

Victory Girls Artwork: Darleen Click

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1 Comment
  • GWB says:

    But the media is buying everything that Woodward is selling.
    I think “promoting” more than “buying”.

    a long and storied history
    “Storied” history usually means “full of lots of bullpuckey”.

    Pissing off Sec Def Mattis is NOT a good move Bob.
    Ain’t that the truth.

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