After new emails released this morning showed a rather cordial exchange between Bob Woodward and White House adviser Gene Sperling, some conservatives are starting to turn against Woodward.

In The Daily Caller, Matt Lewis writes that Woodward "trolled" America:

[T]oday, things look different. Politico has posted the exclusive email from Gene Sperling to Woodward. It begins, “I apologize for raising my voice in our conversation today.”

(Frightening, I know!)

Sperling’s email eventually does say, “I know you may not believe this, but as a friend, I think you will regret staking out that claim.” But this is clearly not a veiled threat of retaliation, but rather a warning that the reporter was about to get the story wrong.

When Woodward tells of being warned he would “regret” challenging Obama, it sounds ominous. But if Politico’s reporting today is correct, it seems much more innocuous than that.

Looks like we were played.

And RedState editor-in-chief Erick Erickson, who wrote yesterday about the conservative media's "failing to advance stories and ideas," is also skeptical:

Ok wow. Finally read the email to Woodward. I must now move to the "not a threat" camp. — Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) February 28, 2013

And Fox News host Brit Hume tweeted that he found it "hard to imagine" Woodward felt threatened by Sperling:

On one hand, only Woodward can say if he felt threatened by WH email. On the other, hard to imagine feeling threatened by Gene Sperling. — Brit Hume (@brithume) February 28, 2013

Woodward said last night that he felt "uncomfortable" by the White House's response to a critical piece he published last Friday on the sequester.

"It makes me very uncomfortable to have the White House telling reporters, 'You're going to regret doing something that you believe in,'" he said last night on CNN.

Now Watch: The Most Brutal Budget Cuts Of The Sequestration



