Woodward pushes back: W.H. confusing, distorting facts on sequester

February 25, 2013

POLITICO

DONOVAN SLACK |

The Washington Post's Bob Woodward tells POLITICO Playbook that the White House is muddling the facts on the sequester - "a classic case of distortion and confusion."

White House press secretary Jay Carney had bashed Woodward as "willfully wrong" in a column he wrote arguing that the initial sequester agreement did not include revenues and so asking for them now is "moving the goal posts."

"The White House pushback is a classic case of distortion and confusion," Woodward said in an email to Playbook. "We unfortunately have seen this too often in recent presidential history... I do not think it is willful. They are just mixed up, surprisingly so."

A White House official put together a two-page memo outlining its case that the goal posts remain where they were all along -- a grand bargain including revenue and cuts to replace the sequester. Read the full back and forth in Playbook.

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