What do former Washington Post reporter Thomas Edsall, former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and former NSA Director Brent Scowcroft have in common? All three went on record this week questioning some of the assertions made by Bob Woodward in his new book, State of Denial.

In an interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday, Mr. Edsall said he had "real problems" with one of the scenes described in the book. When pressed about the authenticity of Mr. Woodward's recollection and the larger question of his credibility, Mr. Edsall said he's "not sure Woodward makes things up." Rather, he continued: "There are significant problems in Bob's reporting techniques, and the product that he produces, that every reader of his work should be aware of."

Also on Tuesday Mr. Card said in a nationally televised interview that he was "concerned that the perception that he [Woodward] was creating may be a perception to reflect his bias, than the reality that I lived in." Mr. Card disputed Mr. Woodward's charge that he and First Lady Laura Bush pushed to oust Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, saying, "Laura Bush never said to me that she wanted to have Secretary Rumsfeld removed. Never."

On Wednesday, Mr. Scowcroft released a brief statement to the press on State of Denial which read, in part: "There are statements in the book, directly or implicitly attributed to me, that did not and never could have come from me."

Mr. Woodward's work has come under criticism before, but this time those questioning his methods and accuracy are a surprising set of strange bedfellows: a left-leaning former Washington Post colleague, a White House insider, and a Republican who has been fiercely critical of the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq. That's quite an achievement for Mr. Woodward.