Scarborough: Bush White House Threatened Me

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

The Morning Joe panel was tough today on the Obama White House for threatening Bob Woodward by telling him he would "regret" his reporting that it was the Obama administration that had devised the sequester, In the course of the opening segment, various panel members described the Obama White House response as "mickey mouse," "pathetic" and "childish."

But at the same time, a theme emerged that there was nothing unusual about a White House trying to intimidate reporters. Mark Halperin said "the Bush White House regularly would engage in the same kind of tactics." And Joe Scarborough and Andrea Mitchell shared stories of having been threatened by the Bush and Reagan White Houses, respectively. Andrea named names. Scarborough did not. H/t readers Ray R. and cobokat.

View the video here.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Scarborough and Andrea Mitchell tell stories of having been threatened by Bush and Reagan White Houses. Ping to Today show list.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Scarborough and Andrea Mitchell tell stories of having been threatened by Bush and Reagan White Houses. Ping to Today show list.

[wideawake]

Oh.

So that's why the media almost never criticized the Bush administration.

I always wondered why President Bush appeared to be the darling of the Washington press corps.

[Mouton]

I see, blame Bush is still alive and well with this administration.

[Cowgirl of Justice]

I don’t believe Turncoat or Scarface Baba Wawa.

As much as they hate Republicans, they would have had this printed on t-shirts to hand out every possible opportunity.

[liberalh8ter]

Mitchell named a dead guy......big surprise. I suspect the Obama media talking heads will now line up to report various other long dead, ex-Republican officials who threatened them over the years. Circle the wagon, jerks.

[cripplecreek]

I was threatened by Bill Clinton.

[Sir Napsalot]

And we are supposed to take this as Scarborough Speak.Truth.To.Power

Now?

Years later, and after another 'brave soul' came out first? Pfffffttt.

[Helotes]

With Michelle looking so out of place at the Oscars and this repudiation by Bob Woodward the Obamanator and his crew may have jumped the shark

[Venturer]

LMAO as Scarborough and Mitchell rush to get to the head of the Obama rim job line by accusing Bush of using threats.

These people are frickin pathetic.

[Doogle]

yeah yeah yeah, and Rather still sees his lies as truth and accurate.....

[Third Person]

“Hey, it’s no big deal... it happens all the time! Don’t be such a baby, Bob.”

[jersey117]

Pathetic Obama a$$ kissers. Always putting their black empty suit before the best interests of the country.

[kevkrom]

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. There are enough jackasses in politics that it's almost a statistical certainty that someone in any given administration is going to be a bully and try to use his/her influence to intimidate people he/she is annoyed with.

The difference in this case, in my opinion, is how the rest of the media is rallying around the White House, not their fellow "guild member" (as Ace of Spades likes to call them) -- even one as universally respected, up until a couple of days ago, it seems, as Woodward.

[Liberty Valance]

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Wow! Thanks for posting. Now if someone will post that photo of Mitchell confronting Palin with a magazine cover.

[bert]

Memo
To: Joe and Andrea

Subject: The List

Beware......... your names are on the list

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I guess to be accurate one would have to really get to the meaning of what “threaten” is actually conveying.

If I were a reporter and I got a call that said “if you run with this story no more leaks, no more interviews and no more rides on AF1” or words to that effect then I would tend to agree that this sort of thing has been going on for a very long time. Trading access for favorable coverage (or threatening loss of access for unfavorable coverage) is probably the rules of the game for Washington.

But where it gets tricky is what do words like “threaten” or “regret” really convey? Do they mean you don’t get an interview or do they mean we’re going through your IRS records, your FBI files, or you’re never going to see your dog or cat again? Or worse?

That’s really the question, isn’t it?

[soycd]

If there was ever any doubt that Scumburrow is anything other than a pmsnbc covert leftist moron, put it to rest.

[Amberdawn]

Bingo! IF this had happened, why haven’t we heard about it ‘til now?

[yldstrk]

liars

[SeminoleCounty]

I must confess

I was once harassed by the William Henry Harrison administration....I suggested that “Tippecanoe and Tyler too” was not as catchy as “Redskins are deadskins”. /sarc

[silverleaf]

LOL!!!!

[COBOL2Java]

So the White House calls in a favor to “Morning Schmoe” to help quash this firestorm about Woodward being threatened, and Scarborough puts together a “hey, everybody does this” segment, and manages a “tsk tsk” to whoever did this to Bob.

I avoid the show - how many grunts and “I gotta pee” squirms did Mika manage during the segment?

[Ann Archy]

Who did pock Marked Mitchell say it was??

[Lockbox]

Gee I remember when Andrea Mitchell said FDR’s White House intimidate her...............in fact I believe it was Mrs Roosevelt one night...........

[Biggirl]

What list? There is no list!

[OpusatFR]

Seriously. What a stupid attempt to deflect.

Not one of them on MSNBC or on any of the other networks has the stature of Woodward.

A threat aimed at a man of his caliber and importance in journalism is truly frightening and Stalinist.

[liberalh8ter]

Don Regan, COS to the Reagan administration - 10 years after he could answer her allegations.

[RetSignman]

Interpretation: “I’m also am an important, relevant and powerful force in the country and the President of the United States, out of fear, has attacked me”

It’s just Attention Whore Joe being Attention Whore Joe.

[Liberty Valance]

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Don Regan.

[Toespi]

The “everyone does” it defense to neutralize.

[Luke21]

“Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. There are enough jackasses in politics that it's almost a statistical certainty that someone in any given administration is going to be a bully and try to use his/her influence to intimidate people he/she is annoyed with.”

This is a lie and a deflection. If a Reagan or Bush official threatened someone, they never would have remained silent about it. The name would have been shouted from the rooftops and spammed 24/7 throughout every media form. The threatener would be castigated, removed, and infamous throughout history, like Nixon and Joe McCarthy.

These are lies designed to protect the administration, who is so arrogant, they did this in writing.

[Ann Archy]

geesh.....why didn’t she say something 20 years ago??

[Liberty Valance]

[Savage Beast]

"there was nothing unusual about a White House trying to intimidate reporters"

This comes as a surprise only to the dimwitted.

Power corrupts. Washington is a power magnet of staggering magnitude. Not only are the politicians corrupted, but those who "report the news" are also.

The real fools are those who thing these highly corruptible and corrupted people are their "friends" who actually "care" about their interestests and "want to give back". The biggest fools are those too dimwitted to understand that Big Government means Big Corruption and Big Power for corrupt politicians and corrupt "news reporters."

[pieceofthepuzzle]

“LMAO as Scarborough and Mitchell rush to get to the head of the Obama rim job line by accusing Bush of using threats.

These people are frickin pathetic.”

Yes, they are.

[ReagansShinyHair]

They’re like 8 year olds...

“Bush did it first! That means I can do it, too!”

[Liz]

It's deja vu all over again

WH THREATENS WOODWARD: 'YOU WILL REGRET DOING THIS'

[liberalh8ter]

Because that would have given Regan 10 years to call her a liar?

[wideawake]

Scarborough is being kind.

After all, it was the Bush administration who murdered Lori Klasutis and dumped her body in Joe's office, forcing poor, innocent Joe to end his marriage and his Congressional career.

Then they forced him to sign that fat contract with MSNBC, guaranteeing that no one would ever take him seriously again.

[Rich21IE]

Scarborough is a wuss!

[Dysart]

I would ask them to strictly define the threat. It's an ambiguous term. I reckon they're playing semantic games.

[billhilly]

How were you threatened?

[fattigermaster]

Half the sentient beings in North America have threatened Joe Scarborough. He’s a POS. Pinocchio made out of fecal material and brought to life.

More people would threaten Andrea Mitchell if more people were convinced she was actually alive. What’s the remedy for voodoo zombies? Oh, yeah, you fill their mouths with salt and sew them shut.

[kevkrom]

Meh. You're missing the point. The real point is not whether or not this type of "threat" is unusual, it's that the media as a whole is rallying around the White House, and not fellow guild member Woodward, who would have been consider a journalistic icon less than a week ago by the same people stampeding to trash him now.

[Lazamataz]

How were you threatened?

Probably, Scarborough was threatened with leaks about the intern he killed.

[MamaTexan]

they would have had this printed on t-shirts to hand out every possible opportunity.

LOL! Exactly!

We would have been constantly bombarded with cries of 'Censorship!" and 'Macarthyism!' whilst the progs endlessly bemoaned the BULLY in the White House.