Who Cares Whose Stupid Idea This Was?': Megyn Kelly Panel Clashes Over Woodward Vs. White House Sequester Controversy

(Photo: Fox News)

Bob Woodward, one of the most lauded journalists alive today, created a firestorm in the media after eviscerating President Obama's handling of the sequester both in his new book and in a Washington Post article.

Specifically, Woodward targets the administration's repeated claims that the sequester is happening because of the Republicans when in fact, he writes, "the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of [former White House chief of staff Jack Lew] and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors...Obama personally approved of the plan..."

But the administration has continued issuing dire warnings of what will happen if the sequestration goes through, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has called Woodward "willfully wrong" in his reporting.

A Fox News panel on Megyn Kelly's show "America Live" discussed the controversy Monday, seeming to conclude that such insider squabbles turn average Americans away from politics, though it is of the utmost importance to determine whether the president is intentionally misleading the country.

After Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky said the whole mess makes her happy she no longer lives in D.C., she stated: "My point is actually the larger point, which is, who cares whose stupid idea this was? ...I don't even care if it is the president's fault."

But Breitbart editor-at-large Ben Shapiro noted that "the White House does this on a regular basis" and doesn't have the right to portray the sequester as a Republican-contrived "end of 2012 the movie" scenario if it was in fact their idea.

"We're at the point now where we don't really expect Washington to tell us the truth," Kelly concluded with only mild surprise.  "It's not that big a shock."

Shapiro concluded with a note on how the issue is representative of the larger relationship between the administration and the media: "This is the White House that is vindictive.  They treat the media as though they are the abusive father, and the children who are being abused are the media.  If they're good, abusive father treats them well today.  If they're bad, out to the outhouse they go."

Watch the entire clip via Mediaite, below:

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Related:

• White House Releases Dire State-by-State List of Sequestration Ramifications