“There are people who take rumors and embellish them in a way that can be devastating. And this pollution has to be eradicated by people in our business as best we can.”

Many people have their reputations as reporters and analysts because they are on television, batting around conventional wisdom. A lot of these people have never reported a story.

Some newspapers have a hands-off policy on favored politicians. But it’s generally very small newspapers or local TV stations.

I believe Watergate shows that the system did work. Particularly the Judiciary and the Congress, and ultimately an independent prosecutor working in the Executive Branch.

If information is true, if it can be verified, and if it’s really important, the newspaper needs to be willing to take the risk associated with using unidentified sources.

…Obama said, ‘I welcome debate among my team, but I won’t tolerate division’.

When you practice reporting for as long as I have, you keep yourself at a distance from True Believers. Either conservatives or liberals or Democrats or Republicans.

Nixon’s grand mistake was his failure to understand that Americans are forgiving, and if he had admitted error early and apologized to the country, he would have escaped.

I never really read comics. I bought them, and I would draw them.

Lawyers didn’t seriously get involved in the Watergate stories until quite late, when we realized we were on to something.

I don’t think voters give a hoot about the character of their political advisors, except to the extent that character reflects on the candidates.

The biggest rap on me is that I don’t find a Watergate every couple of years. Well, Watergate was unique. It’s not something Carl Bernstein, I, or the Washington Post caused.

I gave my word that this source would not be identified unless he changed his mind. He has not…

The Washington Times wrote a story questioning the authenticity of some of the suggestions made about me in Silent Coup. But as a believer in the First Amendment, I believe they have more than a right to air their views.

I recently did the David Letterman Show about my book. He was very serious and made no jokes and it caught me off guard a little bit. He was much more serious than some of the joke shows that journalists get on.

There is a garbage culture out there, where we pour garbage on people. Then the pollsters run around and take a poll and say, do you smell anything?

I’m not going to name some of my colleagues who are very well-known for their television presentation, but they wouldn’t know new information or how to report a story if it came up and bit them.

The fact is most of the things that people know about me are made up. My own life is backstage. So what you “know” about me is only what I allowed you to know about me.

I am alive and well and unconcerned about the rumors of my death. But if I were dead, I would be the last to know.

But it feels good to love a thing and not expect anything back. It feels good to not get an argument or any pushiness or any rumors or any bullshit. It’s love without strings. It’s ideal.

It is more reverent to believe in the works of the Deity than to comprehend them.

Rumor is not always wrong

Rumor does not always err; it sometimes even elects a man.

Greater things are believed of those who are absent.

Posterity gives to every man his true honor. [Lat., Suum cuique decus posteritas rependet.]