Reporter Bob Woodward today penned a piece in the Washington Post confirming his previous reporting that despite misleading statements from President Obama and former White House Chief of Staff – and Treasury nominee – Jack Lew, the White House is indeed responsible for the stimulus.
The president and Lew had this wrong. My extensive reporting for my book “The Price of Politics” shows that the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors — probably the foremost experts on budget issues in the senior ranks of the federal government.
Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved.
White House press secretary Jay Carney admitted as much this week.
“The sequester was something that was discussed,” Carney said. Walking back the earlier statements, he added carefully, “and as has been reported, it was an idea that the White House put forward.”
Maybe someone in the White House finally got tired of denying the undeniable or Carney, a former journalist, couldn’t bear going to the mikes and contradicting the nation’s greatest living reporter, and he told somebody upstairs to take a hike.
But Obama himself continues to bemoan the sequester and accuse Republicans of responsibility for the cuts its “meat cleaver” – as he puts it – will inflict.
One day, Obamacare will go really, really bad. Fortunately, it’s named for the president, or he would be blaming the GOP for that too.
Actually, why should that stop him?
49 thoughts on “Woodward: White House Invented the Sequester”
“….is indeed responsible for the stimulus.” Stimulus. or sequester?
Both I think.
That was my question. I think it was intended to be “sequester”. But, I’m just assuming that.
Those of us who pay attention or have read MrWoodward’s book knew this to be true.
All of the players in the political arena of the MSM knew it, too.
Every cabinet member who played a part in the Doom and Gloom project knew it too.
It didn’t prevent any of them from pretending that if it sequestration happens, it would be totally on the Repub’s shoulders.
The President lied, and continues to lie. The MSM says nothing,
OT: After I read MrWoodward’s piece at Politico, I went to the comment sections. Holy moly,…… He’s a liar! He works for Fox News! It’s GWBush’s fault! You’re stupid! You’re a racist!
They don’t believe MrWoodward’s account, at all.
A portion of the definition for George Orwell’s “Doublethink” (h/t Wikipedia) “The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them… To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just as long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies – all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth”
Sounds about right to me.
RickW, thank you for sharing. Interesting…
Rick – You are correct in your examination of doublespeak. The problem with doublespeak is that it creates in the person what Festinger called cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is where two opposing ideas are held simultaneously, thus causing the dissonance. About.com has perhaps the simplest explanation on what the person has to do to resolve the dissonance:
“How to Reduce Cognitive Dissonance
There are three key strategies to reduce or minimize cognitive dissonance:
Focus on more supportive beliefs that outweigh the dissonant belief or behavior.
Reduce the importance of the conflicting belief.
Change the conflicting belief so that it is consistent with other beliefs or behaviors.”
The more this administration uses the Orwellian perspective, the more people are going to have to deal with this dissonance, and the more the uninformed are going to shift their belief paradigms so as to not be in conflict with the current doublespeak coming from the administration. The country is truly getting turned on its head, and we are taking steps backwards to what existed in the ’60 and ’70s when it comes to things such as welfare, food stamps, etc. A new video is out featuring a rapper named Chapter that espouses this step back. I will warn you that it is graphic in language and visual content. http://newsone.com/1485585/ebt-video-ghetto-black-community/
unfortunately most of those posters never lived through the 70’s
Mr. Woodward’s article, along with this one from The Heritage Foundation (for the low info voters who can only comprehend things visually. . .check out the graph. . .it says it all)–http://blog.heritage.org/2013/02/24/chart-of-the-week-sequestration-cuts-2-4-percent-out-of-total-spending/
. . .needs to be spread far and wide. . .if you are like me, I’m getting really tired of these constant chicken little scenarios. . .the sky is falling, the sky is falling–BS to BHO!!
Hi Keith, Liked your Woodward post, but in end of first paragraph did you mean to say stimulus or sequester?
They are so clever at The Big Lie, Keith, that even if Obamacare comes apart in the next few years, they will convince the 47% that it was the Republicans’ fault, quite possibly GWB’s.
Oh yeah–it will be the states that didn’t set up plans, or those rich doctors who wouldn’t play ball, or all the people who didn’t diet when told to…you know the drill.
To err is human.
To really foul things up requires Democrats running Congress.
To get away with it requires a citizenry that isn’t paying attention.
Well said.
Best statement so far.
Have to admire Bob Woodward for having the courage to point out the emperor has no clothes. Not sure if this article cost him invites on the D.C. cocktail circuit but, if the comments are any indication, it sure did rile up the useful idiots. Not sure what it’s gonna take for these people to open their eyes and see the truth. Guess denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.
Didn’t buy Bob Woodward’s book when it first came out because I don’t read books written by liberals. After he confronted Karl “Politburo” Rove mano-a-mano last week and now this article, it will be my next book purchase. Well done, Mr. Woodward.
It’s a good book. Well-written. It basically reaffirmed what I thought: Our country is being run by idiots — from both parties.
Ditto. Might go get his book too. Regardless of the book and his politics, Bob does walk the talk. I wonder how the left will try to trash him. Mr. Woodward doesn’t seem to be one to bend the facts under pressure. We should know by Tuesday…
My disappointment with Woodward is that he took Nixon down and I really think Obama is worse than him. So many questions unanswered in every part of BO’s life….before and during his Presidency….a good journalist would pursue the answers.
At least Nixon put the good of country first, rather than have a protracted trial and fight in the Senate, Nixon stepped down.
Perhaps Nixon could have avoided being removed from office, but rather than subject the country to the turmoil a Senate trial would have caused he left to go into relative obscurity for a number of years. It was only when he was “rehabilitated” by the media and others that he was able to reemerge as the “elder statesman” with a keen eye on foreign affairs.
Yes, Where is Woodward on Fast and Furious and Benghazi-gate?
Obama’s scandals are far worse than Watergate.
Keith, a puppet (His Most Arrogant Obama) only mouths the words of his puppeteer. The strings must be cut to silence the puppet.
Correction : his should have been its. Stet.
Pilgrim……
And yet the MSM still stays silent on the lies…
or Carney, a former journalist, couldn’t bear going to the mikes and contradicting the nation’s greatest living reporter, and he told somebody upstairs to take a hike.
Keith,all due respect, but in your dreams about Carney telling somebody upstairs to take a hike. Carney sold out any shred of integrity he might have had long ago.
Yea, he’s told so many whoppers. He says what they tell him to say. I hope it haunts him at night.
You know what they say about Karma.
Michelle Malkin’s put up a parody video response to the Jimmy/Michelle dance tape. I’m putting it here because it fits better with the topic ! Enjoy….
http://youtu.be/T1iRdUwnFWo
What a hoot! Thanks for the link!
That’s the fourth parody of the worst PR move by any FL I’ve seen, and I wasn’t looking for them.
The jokes, oh my, the terrible jokes about Michelle and the Transvestite and worse.
Thank you for the link, Denise. Michelle Malkin’s parody was fantastic, right down to the wighat! The “Lapdog Media Swoon” and “Sequester Shake” are my favs.
I’ve noticed that Bob Woodward has been unusually active on the cable show circuit since before the election. He has had virtually nothing good to say about Obama for the last year or two. His book is scathing when it comes to Obama’s handling of the economy. It should also be noted that in his previous book written in 2010, he called Afghanistan “Obama’s War’; Obama’s strategy. He noted that if it ends well – Obama gets the credit; if not, he gets the blame.
Woodward has more integrity/credibility in his little finger than Obama has in his entire 150 pound body. The fact that Woodward has evolved from one of Obama’s greatest supporters to possibly his greatest critic/ disbeliever should worry him – a lot. Hopefully, the rest of the Fourth Estate will follow in Woodward’s footsteps – all of them know Obama was simply one big mistake. They need to redeem themselves before it really is too late!
He, of all the jounalists coverning Washington, must have sources within sources. We know from his public writings that he is a careful reporter who verifies everything before he brings it to light.
He knows something.
He doesn’t accuse the President of lying without backup proof.
I think he knows something too, srdem. Let’s hope he gets it all together soon – we need to impeach Obama and get him out of here ASAP. The distant drumbeat is coming closer – POLITICO’s article the other day, ‘Obama the Puppet Master’, was scorching.
“impeach Obama”… the only phrase about Obama that brings a smile to my lips.
If I were an adminstration insider with credible, but damaging, information, who would I trust more to keep my identity secret? I would call Woodward of course. “Deep Throat” was kept secret til he was near death several decades later.
Nixon wasn’t taken down by the break-in, but the cover-up. I’m sure Obama is fully aware of what went down in FastnFurious and Benghazi and may those poor souls one day find justice.
The neverending campaign continues … is this even legal ?
https://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/dayofaction/gskwqb
Lobbying ?
Yesterday there was a front page article (top of the fold) in the NYT that said Obama’s OFA was looking for donors. A free ad, but it could mean that he’s not raking in what he thought he would. Probably gets to keep that money when he’s out.
Legal schmegal, don’t you know the cult of personality is above the law. Free bus ride, free breakfast, free lunch. Just a continuation of the Barackoclaus free-rider express. Just know it can’t last forever. Like Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money”.
Good to see some groups are trying to get the facts out about the leftists fight for gun control.
http://watchdogwire.com/florida/video/direct-correlation-between-gun-control-and-black-people-control/
My first thoughts exactly, Susan. Free, free, free everything to stand in the cold in support of a bill already enacted. Strange to say the
least.
One thing that makes me proud to be associated with the Tea Party is that we pay our own way. Preezy Revenge has to buy his supporters.
Margaret Thatcher was dead right.
Did past presidents do this, try to influence people to participate in a protest through free rides and free meals? Did past presidents take it into their own hands to circumvent the will of the public? I’m just stunned that this man gets away with so much and goes unchallenged or unquestioned.
Happy Purim Day Keith and Shofar!!
Happy Purim to both. I took a series of classes with a local rabbi last year, and he said that although Jews usually are conservative about drinking, Purim is the one holiday they really let go. He invited us to the celebrations, and it was huge fun. Speaking of cross-dressing from the thread below reminded me that he wore a get-up like a Rumanian gypsy woman to that particular class.
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We only listen to bad things about Republicans! What was this guy thinking!
Or, to alter a well-known Timothy Leary statement (that guided the “Me” generation for so long) slightly, “Question Authority (but only when the Authorites are not Democrats).”
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