Tarnished forever

In the 1970s, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein worked journalistic magic and exposed the corrupt Nixon administration which eventually (and rightfully) brought his Presidency to an abrupt and fitting end in August of 1974.  Their work justified--not that it was needed--the inclusion of the right to a free press in our Bill of Rights, and may very well be the greatest journalistic episode in the history of America.  It resulted in a book, All the President's Men, which is the book that began my fascination with American politics that lasts to this day.

In fairness, it would be virtually impossible for Woodward and Bernstein to ever top their first big story.  Bernstein may have realized this when he walked away, but Woodward kept pushing forward.  It eventually resulted in his first big failure, Bush at War, which was basically literary fellatio of Bush the Lesser, conerning the wars he presided over in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which are remarkable only for their abject failure (a fact that never seemed to dawn on Woodward).

This week Woodward topped himself, going on Fox News and whining about how he had been "threatened" by Gene Sperling of the Obama administation in an e-mail concerning the current republican created fiscal crisis in Washington.  Woodward proceeded to release a copy of  the e-mail in question to the press, which was a colossal failure on par with Custer thinking he was going to kick the Native Americans' asses all the way back to their tepees.  The e-mail showed nothing even close to being a "threat" and even had conservative publications backing off the Woodward story almost immediately.

Perhaps Woodward realized his days as a journalistic superstar are long gone and wanted to cash in on Fox News, who will pay anyone remotely connected to politics, regardless of their political acumen (see also Karl Rove, Dick Morris, Sarah Palin), as long as they trash President Obama and/or Democrats.  I don't really know what he hoped to accomplish, but what he did was tarnish his reputation beyond repair.

Carl Bernstein may be a rat prick bastard, but at least his journalistic integrity is still intact.

Peace,
emaycee