come on. >> david plouffe is a pro. why in god's name would he take on an icon. one of the great reporters of our age and still doing. >> bill: he did it it i don't know why did he it. you dodged my question very neatly, lanny. you know you can't slip it by me. the bill and hillary clinton if they criticize them they do did the same thing. >> so bill and hillary clinton as far as i know never threatened a reporter. they were unhappy with critical reporting. every white house is. reagan, carter, clinton, bush, there isn't a single white house that loves the white house reporters. i never was aware of anybody being threatened. and i accept gene sperling's explanation he didn't intend that i don't believe he intended anything like that. >> bill: do you believe based on your personal experience that the poo obama administration is more sensitive than the other people and overreacts to media criticism? do you believe that? >> no. they are no different than any other white house which is sensitive to criticism and sometimes has individuals acting stupidly. this one ind

the david plouffe tweet. the reporter asking president bam a question using the sock puppet.s lapdog. they are so happy to be in the room. when they are ushered out of the room the other day, okay, we'll leave. do your thing. >> kimberly: they know bad things will happen if they don't step in line. >> bob: huge story, republican or not, democrat or not, if they threat on the drop a column or would haven't a white house press pass, that is absolutely -- >> greg: you are saying that davis is lying? >> bob: no. >> kimberly: this is coming from democrats, bob. >> bob: this is coming from his editor at theway. , right wing newspaper. >> dana: he was a reporter for the "washington post" and a.p. was he a right winger in those times? >> --then he went to work -- >> bob: i have no idea what he was at the a.p. hi asserts that the white house said you have to drop a column, huge allegation. huge. >> dana: what tells you it's not true? because it's a huge allegation, why do you think it's not true? >> kimberly: this is people who are ordinarily from president obama and the press that lo

and she peels off the mask and reveals authority be a political hack like david plouffe.not be doing that. it demeans her tenure retroactively as epa director. >> bret: does this hurt diems at all in the whole narrative of -- hurt democrats at all in the narrative of this week. brit hume hates that word "narrative." but is it a narrative that the president is trying to reach out to republicans. at the same time, hosting the high donors at the white house. >> i don't think it as a problem. basically, he has to make sure he is in touch with the base. the base itself for a long time that republicans had been obstructing, defying, saying they don't want it re-elected. they don't like this guy. working with him compromising with him does not play well with their base. so they won't to make sure, that is what organizing for america is all about. is that there is a constant campaign to put pressure on republicans. and push the president's agenda forward. so jay carney, i think is a little bit pollyannaish shall we say about ofa's intent. the key point here is right now this week

and i've never seen a -- this is early, but at this everliy stage in the process, and i think david plouffee same thing yesterday about what a formidable front-runner she would be, you know, but not very often do we get a candidate that the party can unite behind and enhance the real qualifications that mrs. clinton does. look action i'm unabashedly hoping she runs president she's a strong woman. she's going to make up her own mind. i guarantee you that. >>> who does the republicans have that you can't see that could give her a race if she in fact runs and becomes a nominee? who would be the one that you would be concerned about if you were helping with her campaign if there were to be one? >> i don't think -- i think the republicans have a problem, if you look in the last six elections, democrats have carried states carrying 242 electoral votes. if all we need to do is carry those plus florida, i think the republicans are going to be hard-pressed not to pick a candidate from florida. that would either be former governor jeb bush, if he decides to run. that's somewhat of a question mark, yo

and david plouffe tweeted, quote, watching woodward the last two days is like imagining my idol, mike schmidt facing live pitching again, perfection gained once is not repeated. and woodward exposed the watergate scandal in the the 1970's that ultimately led to president nixon's resignation and this is the journalist that the white house is now trying to discredit. ultimately in the end the obama administration are going to be the ones regret picking this fight. and joining me is the author of the price of politics" one and only bob woodward. bob as always, welcome back to the program. >> thank you, thank you. >> sean: let's start at the beginning. tell us about the conversation. >> with gene sperling? >> yes. >> yeah, i mean, it was the half hour in which he was shouting at me. now, i've known him for 20 years and he e-mailed back don't i don't worry about shouts, but he was really worked up and, and then he sent me that e-mail apologizing and you know, saying i'm going to regret taking this stand. now, what we're talking about here is not a fact. he's not arguing with a fact because

former white house adviser david plouffe weighed in on the presidential election at the 92nd street y >> i'm not going to speak to what secretary of state clinton will or will not do. she is in both parties now. by far i think the most interesting candidate. probably the strongest candidate. >> there you go. his fellow delawarean probably doesn't like to hear that. but he probably knows that that's true. >>> finally, the inability to jump start the middle east peace process has been one of the president's bigger failures on foreign policy of the first term in office. though it's a failure that he didn't necessarily have a lot of control over. at the beginning of his first term, the president declared with great fanfare he wouldn't follow the lead of his predecessors presidents clinton and bush and wait until a second term to push for middle east peace. >> we're not going to wait until the end of my administration to deal with palestinian and israeli peace. we're going to start now. >> instead, not only did the peace process go nowhere, it's actually taken a step back. when the preside

so david plouffe used the new media and -- in a new and very characteristic way. first, recruiting the voter. over two million grass roots voters were recruited, it was led by a man whom i have pleasure to know. fundraising, $700 u.s. dollars basically from small -- so that's a second big function of the new media in this campaign. use of the, use of the social networks, late 2008 right before the elections obama was leading madonna 7 million to 1.3 million likes on the facebook to compare it with a show business thing. but even more important, in the campaign was interactive in a very, very interesting way. it has two very important aspects. first, you recruit people in the virtual world, and then they put them together in the real world. so if you're a group of campaigners from brooklyn and you know somebody in the campaign matches your age and interest, they will put you together with the people to organize a garden party, they will give you bumper stickers, of course, they need your free labor, but it moves it from the virtual do the real world. fantastic way

david plouffe. jim messina. they will all be speaking to this group. as you mentioned democrats in the house you are conservative districts, a little worried about this agenda with immigration reform, gun control, president's statements about gay marriage. if democrats are going to take back the house, they are going to need to flip a number of districts where mitt romney won and that is hard with this agenda. so democrats taking the bright side are saying, well, this has to distance ourselves from the president and some of these districts, that could actually be helpful. >> these are swing districts. you quote jim graves who almost beat michelle backman. another guys in the news the last week or so, jeb bush on set with us on "morning joe" last week and making the rounds on the sunday talk shows to promote his book. he claimed one thing many see as the biggest obstacle running for president his brother's legacy is not an obstacle at all. listen. >> i don't think there is any bush baggage at all. i love my brother. i'm proud of his accomplishments. i l

. >> brian: what about david plouffe coming forward and saying he's washed up.t. now there is backlash from the senior organization that says no one is helping contribute -- they called david fluff an as -- must have an ass. >> steve: they calculated that they would win this fight, by doing these press opportunities with first responders behind them. i'm surprised they didn't bring in hungry children or head start kids. they really tried their best to mount this enormous pressure because woodward is right, there was the august 2011 deal did not include new taxes. i believe there should be closing tax loopholes and tax revenue, but it shouldn't be part of this crisis. this crisis should have been dealt with in a more sane way, that was more businesslike where you could use a scalpel instead of the blunt ax. it's painful, yes. >> gretchen: it was a game changer with woodward because i believe the administration never thought he would come forward with that e-mail and talk about it publicly. it's now the tip of the iceberg. >> now in the way he has. >> gretchen: be