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Barton Gellman responds to Woodward’s silly insults

Barton Gellman responds

by digby

to Woodward’s silly insults:

Barton Gellman fired back Thursday at Washington Post colleague Bob Woodward over Woodward’s remarks that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden should have come to him first with documents “instead of others, particularly The Guardian.” Woodward also said he doesn’t consider Snowden a hero.

Gellman has led The Washington Post’s recent coverage of the National Security Agency, with Snowden as his source.

“I can’t explain why Bob would insult the source who brought us this extraordinary story or the exemplary work of his colleagues in pursuing it,” Gellman said in an email to HuffPost Thursday.

“The ‘others’ he dismissed include [The Washington Post’s] Greg Miller, Julie Tate, Carol Leonnig, Ellen Nakashima, Craig Whitlock, Craig Timberg, Steven Rich and Ashkan Soltani — all of whom are building on the Snowden archive with me to land scoop after scoop,” Gellman continued. “I won’t get into why Snowden came to me or didn’t come to Bob. But the idea of keeping Snowden anonymous, or of waiting for one ‘coherent’ story, suggests that Bob does not understand my source or the world he lived in.”

Of course he doesn’t. Woodward understands his powerful friends and the world he and his powerful friends live in. If you want a story that “exposes” what Villagers are thinking and saying, you go to Woodward. If your idea of a “coherent story” is the one told by high government officials then Woodward is your man. Anything else, not so much.

I wrote about Woodward’s original comments here .
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