Minister of education and that prompted a backlash. Video after video after video of tunesians proudly doing the harlem shake in defiance. And then theres egypt, where the authorities went further and the backlash was worse. Four pharmaceutical students were arrested for doing this harlem shake in front of the pyramids and that set off a big reaction. Late in the week in cairo, there was a mass shake in front of the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters to protest. Now, who says americas Popular Culture exports have no value . The answer to our question of the week was, arnlsh a. According to the vatican city, it has about 450 official citizens, many of whom actually live else where. According to the cia fact book the total population, including citizens of other nations who live there is around 800. Thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. I will see you next week. Stay tuned for reliable sources. Bob woodward is best known for vacuuming upinformation from one white house to another. This week he went to war with this white house. After criticizing president obamas handling of the budget battle, upped the ante by saying the administration was pushing back hard at him. It was said to me in an email by a top what was it. It was said very clearly, you will regret doing this. I mean, it makes me very uncomfortable to have the white house telling reporters, youre going to regret doing something that you believe in even though we dont look at it that way, you do look at it that way. But it turns out the white house email gene spurling said he was offering that advice as a friend. So did woodward falsely suggest this was an attempt at intimidation . Are the media swallowing the obama line on the deep budget cuts that just took effect . Michelle obama on another tv blitz with some critics giving one appearance a big thumbs down. Now for the moment we have all been waiting for. And the oscar goes to argo. Congratulations. Are the media surrendering the airwaves to the first lady . Plus, how did yahoo melissa mayor go from Silicon Valley icon doesnt matter which way you cut it. This woman is seen as a rock star and superstar in the ceo streets of the world. To media ridicule for asking workers to show up at the office. Im howard kurtz and this is reliable sources. Bob woodward has been embroiled in controversy since he and Carl Bernstein were unearthic the watergate scandal, but this one is different. President obama was wrong in insisting that the white house didnt suggest the automatic budget cuts before the republicans agreed to them. Then woodward accused the president of changing his stance on whether the current round of budget cuts would include tax increases, as well as spending cuts. You talk about the president moving the goal posts. What do you add . He was absolutely desperate to get something. So, he got his benefit and now he wants to come back and say, wait a minute, lets put some taxes in here which he agreed in the sequester not to do. The evidence on that point is mixed. But woodward doubled down by disclosing that a Top White House official had yelled at him in a lengthy phone call and then emailed that woodward would regret taking this position. When politico obtained the actual email the tone was, well, less than threatening and that became a story in itself. I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today. But i do truly believe you should rethink your comment about saying that the president asking for revenues is moving the goal post. I know you might not believe this, but as a friend, i think you will regret stacking out that claim. Jackie kucinich and tim carney political Senior Reporter for washington examiner. Doesnt it kind of look like bob woodward exaggerated this apparent push back from the white house . Look, i love it when anyone challenges the government whether its republicans or democrats. He stepped in it. He went too far and he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Not just jean sterlings email but his email back to him. Oh, my friend, you never have to apologize to me. Woodward responding to sperling. You get wound up because you were making your points and you believe them. I welcome a little heat. More given the importance. I also welcome your personal advice. So, woodward make a mountain out of a relative email mole hill . When jack lew and president obama said, we didnt want the sequester that jack lew and president obama were being misleading. They may have been dishonest. If woodward stopped there, it would have been great. Making it sound like he was threatened and even the goal post saying he went too far. He should have stopped after he did his part of reporting. He didnt say he was threatened. I think it was the clear implication but bob woodward reporting on administrations for four decades be intimidated by one angry phone call and an email . It sounds like he blew this out of proportion. One particular publication that reported this happened and then debunked it like three days later. And by really saying, it rhymes with molitico and there was a little bit of that going on and other publications, of course, were jumping into it. I think he had help blowing this out of proportion. The right wing also jumped in. The right wing media saying look what the Obama Administration is doing. They back pedaled. Oh, bob, what did you do . I did snarky tweets until the full email came out and then you realize the white house involved in the position where youre getting those emails. Every single one of us have. Thats part of the exchange with some of these officials in all ranks of government. I want to pick up your point about the conservative media, but i dont want to let this slide. The number of journalists have been saying that the Obama White House, in particular, is very aggressive in pushing back against stories that it does not like, that officials can raise their voices and use words we cant repeat on television. You had that experience yourself . I have had colleagues. I covered congress and the Romney Campaign and i dont cover the white house. I heard about, you hear that, i dont think thats unique to this administration. And im not saying this is a contact sport, but a lot of people say the Obama White House, you would think because as a Democratic White House would get along better with journalists but, in fact, rougher on journalists than some of its predecessors. I think everybody is doing their job, if it is. Let me play more sound for you. Bob woodward the other day talking about this very question. Did he mischaracterize or overdramatize, shall we say, the email from sperling. Lets go with that first. Do you think you overstepped the way you described this scenario . No, the emails speak for themselves. Its often a technique employed by white houses unintentionally or intentionally to say, oh, lets make the conduct of the press the issue rather than what they did. And sperling, the white house economic czar was out on several shows this morning. Lets see what he said about this contra talk with woodward. Bob and i have known each other for 20 years and always had a friendly and respectful relationship. Anybody that looks at the emails that went from me and came back from him can see that theres respect and friendliness. Does the president think that is a good idea to say to reporters that youre going to regret staking out that claim . David, i had a 20year relationship with bob woodward. Those emails are very substantive. Theyre cordial. Are you threatening him in any way . Of course not. David gregory on meet the press. Gene sterling is saying no big deal. He wants to put this aside and talk about the administration. Now, theres a lot i disagree with the administration on. Gene is basically 100 right. When he told bob woodward, hey, you might regret this. Turns out he was exactly right. Bob woodward totally regrets it. At this point everybody is talking about how woodward screwed up. Instead of talking about the fact that obama and jack lew were misleading when they said they didnt want the sequester. The president and the secretary of the treasury are very comfortable revising history in a false way, just to make them severals look better. Not talking about his reporting, but talking about him. No reporter wants to be the story. Unless you like having your name in lights which woodward doesnt need, of course. A clear idealistic, some defending woodward liberal commentators who, who feel that obama is being attacked unfairly, but i cant help but notice because woodward went on Sean Hannity Fox new show that people on your side of the political spectrum who never had much use for bob woodward and now hailing him as a truth teller because hes taking it to the white house. Little bit of ideological convenience there. Its red shirt, red jersey, blue jersey is what i describe people get on a team and root for whoever is attacking the other team without paying very much attention to the detail of the matter and i think conservatives are doing that now. The funny thing is, everybody confused to why woodward is so aggressive against obama. Three books that were incredibly soft on bush and hard on obama. Woodward is a republican. Its not that big he would not identify himself with either party. Youre characterizing i would be really surprised if woodward wasnt voting republican. You describe his books as soft on bush. The last book was very critical of bushs but he had cooperation from the Obama White House and writing the behind the scenes narrative. Maybe next time, not so much, buddy. Thats a really important point and one that is the most important out of all of this. Its about access. If you dont play ball, your access gets taken away. Thats the most dangerous thing in the media. Media has to rally left wing, right wing, center. Were not going to let you get away with that any more. Youll have to report it as it is. Individually, every reporter has to be ready to lose access. If youre not going to be telling the truth. If youre constantly guarding your access to power. I have to ask you this because im sure some people out there watching today are thinking, were having 85 billion in automatic budget cuts, the socalled sequester taking effect. Impact on peoples lunch. You in the media are talking about bob woodward versus Gene Sperling and this must seem like inside the beltway ball to a lot of folks. It is inside the beltway ball. There was this great question by paul that was about how this is like the weirdest washington inside the beltway naval gazing story ever because it really, really is. This is washington crystalized. Because it involves a couple wellknown personalities in this feud, but in your view, perhaps overplaying it a tad . Yes, absolutely. At the same time, the access issue is important. The larger issue and, you know, frankly sharing private emails is a little bit, as a reporter, is a little bit unsavory. Who actually put out the emails . Thats the thing . Im going to go on a limb and say probably it was the white house. But i am saying that as a reporter you think about the private emails youre sending back and forth to sources, no, the larger issue, of course, were talking about access. Were talking about bob woodward, i think its a little over let me get to the substance in the remaining time. How television is covering and has been covering up until they took effect friday at midnight the socalled sequester budget cuts. The white house stepped up its campaign to pressure republicans. And listing the secretary of Homeland Security to suggest that the layoffs could make it more difficult to prevent terrorist attacks. 10,000 teachers could lose their jobs. Airport security could be cut by 323 million, 70,000 kids would be kicked off head start. Planes wont fly, trains are going to suffer. Troops are going to feel the belt tightening in all branches of the service. Suquesteration isnt going to mean armageddon for america, but the press and political class, mostly on the left, are trying to tell you otherwise. Youre nodding your head, tim carney. That the sky is going to fall and cats and dogs are going to be sleeping and all that stuff. Use the word massive when theyre talking about sequesteration. Less than 3 of a cut. So, yes, i think theyre way overplaying it. I agree with tim, again, on this issue. I love ed, but, come on. Everybody is getting fired. The world is on fire. I dont believe the government, i think that theyre hyping it up. I think its politics. I think there is room for a lot more skeptical reporting. Washington post had a great frontpage story the other day, arne duncan who said, there are literally now teachers who reting gore are getting pink slips. Little investigation that is not the case. If the press had put in, say, 10 of the effort that was investigating beyonces lip syncing to the actual effect of these budget cuts. When we come back, mitt and ann romneys first interview. Well look at the Chris Wallace sit down in just a moment. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. Its not what you think. 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[ flo speaking japanese ] [ shouting in japanese ] we work wherever you work. Now, thats progressive. Call or click today. I use bounce outdoor fresh sheets because theyre just that much fresher and they help keep static off in the cold so my clothes will never embarrass me. Mommy, i dressed the snowman how do you get your bounce . Less static yearround. Mitt romney with his wife, ann, breaking their postelection silence with an interview on Fox News Sunday and host Chris Wallace asked him among other things about that postelection conference call, which leaked, of course. In which romney talked about how president obama won the election by giving gifts to various constituencies. Lets take a look. Fairly or not, you know a lot of Republican Leaders roasted you for those remarks. Did that hurt . Did in a sense did you feel you were being pushed out of the party . Im not going to second guess what people had to say. I dont look back, i look forward. You never like it. And im like a shelion when it comes to defending mitt. From what you saw wallace asked the questions on why romney lost the elections and a lot of people think fox is soft. I thought the first part of the interview was definitely too soft and might have been, really, because the shelion was sitting there. The second half of the interview ann wasnt there. It was oneonone and wallace was more cutting in his questions. Even in the last question he asked, which was critical, he softened it. The first half, i thought, was too soft. Chris usually does a much better job that the average fox host to be fair. Hes not sean hannity and representing the republican party, so, i dont take issue with chris questioning. It was pretty good overall. Do they feel better about it and you got the sense ann romney definitely feels bitter and mitt romney is trying to get beyond it, et cetera. He got to the essence of why he thought they lost, which theyre still wrong about. Obamacare was a gift and latinos wanted obamacare and thats why they voted for obama. Thats not true. That just makes himself feel better. Thats not the case at all. To romneys yecredit, he sai he made mistakes in the campaign. I dont think anyone expected him to come out and be a different person. So somebody who had tried to cover that campaign and had little access to romney and his inner circle, what did you make of the interview . I think its newsworthy because the better part of last two years covering him. The fact what hes doing now is absolutely newsworthy, but i think, you know, he rightly said that he accepted responsibility. That the campaign accepted responsibility for what they did wrong and they didnt reach out to minorities. He didnt say how they could have done that better. But, yeah, i think that it was, it was interesting. But, also, on the second part of the interview, i didnt hear anything new. I heard, pull the string mitt romney talking points that i listened to all last year. Let me play a second bite from the fox news interview and here, ann romney was asked about whether or not the country got a good picture of her husband or a picture of him as being rich and out of touch. The descriptions we heard so often during the 2012 campaign. It was partly true, but it was not just the campaigns fault, i believe it was the medias fault, as well. Is that he was not giving, being given a fair shake that people werent allowed to see him for who he was. Medias fault, as well . I think a republican blaming the media for being unfair to it is like a Football Player saying, oh, we lost because it so cold in this playoff game in november. She is wrong where the media was at all fault. I didn