Some of our more liberal friends appear to want to pick and choose when Bob Woodward is giving us the "real deal," and when he's, well, inaccurate.
In a mild example of this (extremists, be they conservative or liberal, drive me up a wall, so I limit myself to the more "moderate" liberal blogs), Kevin Drum appears to disbelieve Woodward's recitation of preparations for making the case for WMD to the American public. After a CIA briefing on their evidence of WMD, the President was underwhelmed, and told CIA Director Tenet and his staff to go back and make a stronger case. His final admonition, and Kevin's reaction:
The president told Tenet several times, "Make sure no one stretches to make our case."
Right. No stretching. That sounds like the Bush we know, doesn't it?
I get the impression that Kevin felt his snark fell short of the needed emphasis, so he had to add another one which comes off more as a whine:
Of course, considering that this presentation was made in late December 2002, it was a little late for that warning, wasn't it?
Contrast that with Kevin's initial post on Woodward's book (actually, the 60 Minutes coverage of the book), where his acceptance of Woodward's assertion that the Saudi's have agreed to drop oil prices to help the President's reelection campaign is automatic and unquestioning.
...it's April already and they haven't done it yet. What are they waiting for? Or were they just yanking Bush's chain all along?
Kevin apparently didn't even consider the possibility that Woodward could have been wrong, just that the Saudis hadn't fulfilled their promise.
