Bob Woodward: A Tea Party Speaker of the House Would ‘Lay Down and Let the Country Burn'

The Washington Post's Bob Woodward took a ridiculous swipe at the Tea Party Sunday.

Appearing on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show, Woodward said, "We'll see if the White House is going to realize it's much better to have a Speaker Boehner with that mindset than somebody from the Tea Party or the more extreme right which would just lay down and, you know, let the country burn" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

ANDREA MITCHELL, SUBSTITUTE HOST: Speaking of that, let me read you a quote from your own book, the book on the debt negotiations of 2011. Remember those? “Many in the White House,” you wrote, “thought it was hard to get a deal because Boehner had to prove to his members that he had humiliated the president. Obama needed to be destroyed. Crushed. But John Boehner said, ‘No, it's all about cutting spending. I don't have an evil bone in my body.’”

Bob, is humiliation still the goal of the Republicans, or do they want to get something done?

BOB WOODWARD: Well, it is for some. But I don't think it ever was for Boehner. I think he's more of a pragmatic moderate. And we'll see if the White House is going to realize it's much better to have a Speaker Boehner with that mindset than somebody from the Tea Party or the more extreme right which would just lay down and, you know, let the country burn.

Really? A Tea Party Speaker would just lay down and let the country burn?

After almost four years, it's amazing how little the media understand about this movement.