“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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Everyone just wants to hear the exact jokes that apply to them and want to – everyone wants a perfectly crafted joke for them.

I always thought of Levittown as a joke.

Cartooning is about deconstruction: you gotta tear something down to make a joke.

My favourite things are jokes, friendliness and feeling comfortable.

I don’t think I’ve ever died on stage. I’ve had jokes that died on stage. I’ve told a joke and absolutely nothing. They didn’t know it was the end of the joke.

We joke around a lot with our ballclub.

If you ever forget you are a Jew a goy will remind you.

You never know when you’ll have a bad idea for a worse joke.