And the WH hatchet man was …

… Gene Sperling, at least according to BuzzFeed’s source with access to the e-mail conversation between Bob Woodward and whoever “threatened” him. As hatchet men go, a director of the White House Economic Council odd choice. Isn’t this the kind of thing Rahm Emanuel used to handle?

(snip) "Woodward, Politico reported, called the top official — identified to BuzzFeed as Sperling — to tell him that he would question Obama’s account of negotiations leading to the “sequester” — automatic cuts set to take effect next month."

"The aide “yelled at me for about a half hour,” Woodward said, and then sent a follow-up email that read, in part: “You’re focusing on a few specific trees that give a very wrong impression of the forest. But perhaps we will just not see eye to eye here. … I think you will regret staking out that claim.”

"Sperling, a former aide to Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin who held the same position in Clinton’s second term, is a veteran Democratic budget wonk and party insider. Remarked one friend Wednesday, he is “not exactly cut from the classic, no-drama Obama cloth.”

What cloth would that be? The Rahm Emanuel-David Axelrod-Joe Biden-”War on Wimmenses” cloth? Sounds to me like Sperling fits right in at the club.

I’m not sure I buy that conversation as a “threat,” but Woodward’s later point is well taken. A less-heralded reporter certainly would have cause to worry, which the Obamasphere made clear when they began throwing the Hero of Watergate under the bus for daring to criticize The One. Woodward will come out unscathed; I’m not so sure his critics will have the same outcome.

Because of Hollywood movies, many Europeans imagine Americans are either “cowboys” or “gangsters”.

Oddly enough, there is some truth in that, because Republicans power base is middle America, with strong values of independence and work ethic success; whereas Democrats to a great extent are the party of the big city machines (including Arkansas, which is the last big entire state machine.)

For example, look at the Democrat power bases, New York, Boston, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and certainly Chicago and others. All big city machines with their own organized crime syndicates.

Now this being said, both the big city machines and organized crime syndicates have a way of doing business that is Democrat party right down the line.

First of all, everything is for “the big boss”, the “Capo di tutti capi” or Godfather, who is the dominant player and community organizer among the heads of the various crime families. However, these mobs have learned to rotate who the Godfather is among their number.

Think of it as “gangster federalism”.

Now granted, the heads of each family also profit from their organizations, so most of what the Godfather gets is “political” support. He is the “chairman” of their syndicate, but he is just currently the most powerful among equals.

Perhaps the number one purpose of such criminal mobs is to “reward their friends and punish their enemies”, and to continually expand their influence and control over society.

Actually governing or ruling is unimportant to them, unless it is to get what they want, or rewarding friends and punishing enemies.

Years ago, a senior mobster was arrested, and was actually grateful because of the stress of the job. “Every morning I would wake up and have to think up some new crime scheme. It couldn’t be anything legal, even if it made more money. The stress was killing me.”

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