Outside the Beltway

Scowcroft Claims Woodward Made Up Quotes

Steve Verdon · Wednesday, October 4, 2006 · 3 comments

According to Real Clear Politics, Brent Scowcroft is claiming that there are quotes attributed to him in Woodward’s latest book State of Denial that he never made and that he did not agree to an interview with Woodward.

The statement Scowcroft released today,

“I have spoken to Bob Woodward a number of times about a variety of subjects over the years, but I did not agree to be interviewed for his latest book. Further, there are statements in the book, directly or implicitly attributed to me, that did not and never could have come from me. I never discuss any personal conversations that I may have with President George H.W. Bush, and he never discusses with me any conversations that he has with President George W. Bush.”

FILED UNDER: Media, US Politics, Bob Woodward, Brent Scowcroft, George W. Bush

About Steve Verdon

Steve has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and attended graduate school at The George Washington University, leaving school shortly before staring work on his dissertation when his first child was born. He works in the energy industry and prior to that worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Division of Price Index and Number Research. He joined the staff at OTB in November 2004.

Comments

Anderson says:

Thursday, 5 October 2006 at 10:11

Let’s see a lawsuit, which would force Woodward to shine a light on his sourcing.

I suspect he relies sometimes on 3d/4th-hand hearsay … compare the “telephone” game where kids relay a message to each other, & it’s hopelessly garbled after a few steps.
legion says:

Thursday, 5 October 2006 at 10:37

Wasn’t there an earlier thread where someone suggested using the phrase “According to Woodward..,” to mean “Here’s something I pulled out of my ass…”
yetanotherjohn says:

Thursday, 5 October 2006 at 17:17

I predict the “fake but accurate” defense coming up.