By: E&P Staff As we reported weeks ago, the new (and fourth) Bob Woodward book on President Bush would be published a week after Labor Day, under strict secrecy with his Washington Post promised first dibs. Late today, however, Fox News said it had obtained an advance copy, and quickly spilled some of the beans, characterizing it as a mixed look at the President.
Bill Sammon, writing at FoxNews.com, reveals that "The War Within" opus "renders a mixed verdict on Bush, lauding the president?s surge of troops into Iraq, but saying 'too often he failed to lead.'"
One colorful extract: Woodward quotes John McCain expressing frustration with the Bush White House, clenching his fists in the West Wing and exclaiming to the author: ?Everything is f---ing spin.?
Here are some excerpts from the Sammon piece.
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The new book is less critical than Woodward?s last tome, "State of Denial," which savaged Bush for his execution of the war in Iraq. "Denial" ended with the line: "With all Bush?s upbeat talk and optimism, he had not told the American public the truth about what Iraq had become."
Woodward repeats the line in his new book, adding: "My reporting for this book showed that to be even more the case than I could have imagined....
"President Bush has rarely leveled with the public to explain what he was doing and what should be expected," wrote Woodward, an assistant managing editor at the Washington Post, in "War Within." "He did not seek sacrifice from most of the country when he had the chance. He did not even mobilize his own party. Republicans often voiced as much suspicion and distrust as Democrats. The president was rarely the voice of realism on the Iraq war."
On the other hand, Woodward acknowledged the success of Bush?s surge of additional troops into Iraq in 2007...
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