What's up with Woodward?

Bob Woodward has been strangely cagey since last Sunday's 60 Minutes broadcast. On that show, Woodward said quite definitively that Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar promised Bush that the Saudis would lower oil prices right before the 2004 presidential election in order to influence the election. Since that time, Woodward has been backing off from that assertion, until today on Meet the Press, when I think he coyly suggested the conspiracy is real.

Woodward first appears to again diminish his earlier statement by saying that Bandar had publicly stated that the Saudis would like to see oil prices below the $30 range (i.e., he's suggesting that what Bandar may or may not have told the president in private was the same thing Bandar subsequently said publicly). Then Woodward says that it's "interesting" that the Saudis haven't delivered on the promise by actually lowering prices. And finally, Woodward said that it would be "most interesting" if oil prices suddenly dropped in the months before the election - i.e., again hinting that perhaps there's a deal!

I think what's going on here is that Woodward misspoke on 60 Minutes, but not the way people think. Woodward is too much of a pro to have gotten the story wrong on 60 Minutes. Rather, Woodward may have gotten the story right, but accidentally mentioned something that was told to him off-the-record. That would explain why he's a bit more cagey about this issue in his book (he had time to edit the book and ensure that no off-the-record accounts were included), and interviews following his 60 Minutes appearance, and it would explain his comments today on Meet the Press.

It seems to me that Woodward is now trying to stealthily prove the conspiracy using public, rather than off-the-record, evidence. By noting that oil prices have still not gone down even after Bandar's public promise to do just that, Woodward intentionally begs the question, why haven't they? Perhaps because there is in fact a deal to not lower the prices until the election comes closer, Woodward clearly implies. Hell, Woodward even told Russert that Bandar's public comments about wanting to lower oil prices seemed an attempt to "in a sense hide in plain sight, if you will." I.e., publicly mention your sneaky scheme so as to make it seem benign and thus escape notice.

We'll know for sure if the prices suddenly drop this summmer or this fall, which again Woodward admitted today would be a "most interesting" occurence. Interesting indeed.