Bob Woodward On Colbert Report: Loser Of Bush Infighting Is American People

Bob Woodward appeared on "The Colbert Report" Wednesday night to discuss his latest book, The War Within.

Woodward — who cited Doonesbury and talked often of his time interviewing President Bush — was introduced as "the best reporter in the world," a title Colbert compared to the Bubonic Plague, and he said that the loser of the Bush administration's infighting has been the American people.

Woodward and Colbert also discussed Bush's management strategy — delegating his way into doing nothing, as Colbert put it — and Woodward's interviewing strategy for his time with Bush.

"What you have to do as a reporter is take them as seriously as they take themselves," he said.

Watch:

Comments

[EileneLepht]

The reason the Republicans are dying is because they are literally dying. They are a bunch of angry old white men stuck in the past. Their supporters are those that wish for happier times (aka the 50's). They have got to recruit youth into their party and embrace science and technology if they are to survive. Also they should tell their Christian base to leave religion to their church, that from now on there will be a true seperation of church and state. The codependency between the Christian base and the party has paralyzed the party, at the very least painted them into a corner on many issues.

[Giada]

I agree ... the good old boys just don't get it. I wonder if they are capable of learning from youth. I see them with a deer in headlights look ...without an ability to self-refer, self-examine, or believe they've erred.

Along with religion as a selling point for their party they need to give up the, "moralizing, familial superiority, traditional values ....we are better than, script.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Movement conservatism is an ideological loser, period. Christian conservatism is misplaced, and neo-conservatism is dangerous. Mix them all together and the result is toxic, I'm sure Republican Governors are having the exact same conversation in FL right now.

[Durango]

Americans have never been an ideological people. We have always been pragmatic.

We support what works.

Which is one (of the many) reasons Bush/Cheney/Roves style of "leadership" was bound to fail.

Americans don't give a rats behind about your position on Roe v Wade. They just want you to get after and get that Iraqi reconstruction finished.

P.S. which is one of the things the rest of the world has always admired about the USA

PPS. And is one of the major components of the Iraqi Insurgency. They thought we were competent. When they found out otherwise . . .

[tlgeiger62]

"What you have to do as a reporter is take them as seriously as they take themselves,"

That is a PROFOUNDLY scarey statement.

[Keith52]

Republicans make Americans lose, period. They make Americans lose with their policy, with their "win at all cost" scorched earth policy, their "politics is a team sport" policy... Republican ideology is the problem. They need to shut up, go into a corner and think about how they can help dig us out of this mess. Otherwise it is over for them.

[majorteddy]

Why didn't you come out with this stuff when it would have done us some good, Bob? Oh, you had to get your book published first.? I see. Thanks a lot Bob.

[maggieblue]

Because "that stuff" was already done??? His writings are RETROSPECTIVE, and that vision is always 20/20.

[tlgeiger62]

Whle you have a point about it being 'retrospective', Woodward has also said that there are things he knows that he can never report or even discuss. THAT is what bothered me about Woodwards books and others like Scott McClellan's "What Happened".

[whsmith]

I saw Bob Woodward on Bill Maher - he said something about secret strategies in Iraq that had nothing to do with the surge that were the real cause behind the reduction in violence... he said that story would not be told for at least another decade at least.... scary stuff IMO

[liz]

And the reason it won't come out for another decade is . . . ?

[leftbehind2000]

Hard to believe this is the same guy who once had the balls to out the Watergate cover up, isn't it?

While I very much appreciate the quality of Woodward's writing, his intelligence and insight, he chose to go the way of historian years ago, leaving "reporting" to the Seymour Hersh's of this world.

[AnnoyedCanuck]

I saw that too. Without describing the particulars, Woodward referred to top-secret weapons/surveillance technology, a quantum leap ahead of what was used before. I was surprised it didn't get more coverage elsewhere in the media. Yet another example of self-censorship in deference to the Military Industrial Complex.

[NotMcCain]

So...not winning from our escalation of troops but because of our own kind of "terrorism"?

Nice.

[stevemarvin]

Colbert asking Woodward, "What did you do? Say, don't worry I won't say anything until it's too late?", was priceless. Woodward and the corporate media is a nutshell.

[RobChattaTN]

exactly!

too late for too many!

[SouthernBlueBelle]

PERFECT! Exactly what ALL the media did. Rah, rah GOP! He's not messing with the interns, he hasn't (so far as we know) killed off any friends, or invested unwisely in land deals. Just invested our money in the corporations that fund them. But that is not as important as the intern thingy.

[radnip]

The real media today are the online bloggers and citizen reporters.

Now if only we all spoke the same language. Trying to search in Arabic, Japanese or Chinese when you don't speak those languages gets quite interesting :)

[darthdarcy]

Not "loser" Bob, we the America people are the victims of Bush's incompetence and sociopath megalomania...

[longislandlol]

Bernstein writes better--Woodward talks better--

[bascombe]

woodward is pathetic as usual. no nads and he's even more pathetic when called on it.

[hollybork]

I read and enjoyed several of Woodward's books on the current administration, and found "State of Denial" excellent historical writing. I recommend Glen Greenwald's "Tragic Legacy: How Good Versus Evil Destroyed the Bush Whitehouse." Another good one is Richard Clarks "Your Government Failed You." Of the half dozen serious biographies on W Bush or covering the machinations of his administration, Woodward's "War Within" is the hardest read. It just bored me to tears. It sits like a little tombstone on my bedside table.

Can anyone enligten me about what in "War Within" explains the source of chronic failure and poor execution by the current administration? Does Woodward find any great design, or figure out whether George W is a subconscious human being without the ability to literally absorb reality, surrounding himself with self dealing sycophants who could care less about the consequences of what his Presidency has done? W and his crowd of neo con nitwits had no overarching public goals that I can see. Governing was seen as a perpetual motion machine for inflated egoes. Which one of the Administration policy makers thought about the good of the American people or how to protect the environment, let alone honor the Constitution? I cannot see one. Into this vacuum came Dick Cheney and his demonic minions with their Big Oil Agenda.

...Ah shucks....... I think I will just bag it and re-read a really great book, "Team of Rivals," by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

[RobChattaTN]

"W and his crowd of neo con nitwits had no overarching public goals that I can see."

RIGHT! no PUBLIC goals, b/c they were focusing completely on their PRIVATE goals of robbing us blind. The Big Oil guys and others of the Military Industrial Complex have made themselves enormously wealthy at the expense of all of us! And have now ruined this country.

They go off blissfully to their resorts, mansions and countryclubs while we are left cleaning up their horrific mess!

[oncethere]

"Source of chronic failure." My opinion---Bush's inability to engage in mutual give and take in the decision-making process. Doesn't listen, little capacity for empathy, zero intellectual curiosity.

[ReallyMe]

"State of Denial" was an excellent book. I found myself, just shaking my head as I read it. It did unfortunately come out just a little too late- after the 2004 election...

[tlgeiger62]

All of these books come out 'just a little too late' ... it's timed that way so that no one can be hald accountable when it would be prudent to do so. And they make millions on these books.

[MossyOak]

I read The War Within and posted my comments a couple dozen clicks down... but to sum up, Woodward reported verbatim discussions between Bush and his advisers when he could, and then paraphrasing when exact quotes were not possible. It is left to the reader to decide if Bush had an agenda based on the dialogue. In two words: he didn't. He was obsessed with body counts despite being told numerous times that body count was irrelevant to progress. It was totally clear they never had an exit strategy and once it became clear they might have formulate one, they spent months talking about it and never managed to cobble one together. That is why we are still there.

This was not in the book, but the only explanation that makes any sense I heard many years ago and I cannot cite the source, but it was said that Bush told his rich campaign backers (Texas oil barons and other Halliburton type corporations) that if they supported him in 1999 he would get them into a war we could not get out of. If that is true, it explains everything that doesn't make sense otherwise.

[Durango]

Does the White House have a taping system?

how could he get those quotes/

[Ogiv]

I can't really fault Woodward for not coming out with some of this info sooner. Let's face it, the first bad thing he reported would have been the last thing he reported. And it was bad from the beginning, so he would have been shut out of getting any of this. I'm sure he probably made a calculation early on to maintain silence and thereby his access and get as much as he could, over just being a turnstile of info and in all probability losing his access.

[whiteboyblues]

I would rather read Noam Chomsky

[Okieborn]

Bob Woodward should have a could have reported a lot of the devious workings of Bush and his cronies.
He was supposedly a good friend of GW Bush !!!

[Bitsko]

His last few books have been critical of Bush. Looks like he's trying to atone for that one about the response to September 11th that made Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld appear to be godlike figures who could do no wrong. In other words, the man is a hack. And his books are seldom more than a mish-mash of notes and interviews thrown together in a somewhat chronological order.

[MurrayAbraham]

As Stephen indirectly pointed out, the main difference between the 1970s Woodward and the 2000s Woodward, is that at the time he was a reporter with minimal access who reported when it mattered whereas today he is a reporter with a lot of access who reports when it doesn't matter anymore.

[redsongia]

Colbert is the best journalist in the world.

[CeciliaBertrand]

True!

[omac112211]

100% correct