Bob Woodward

[Dioklecian]

[Dioklecian]

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[Dioklecian]

A reporter's ability to keep the bond of confidentiality often enables him to learn the hidden or secret aspects of government.
Bob Woodward

After Nixon resigned in 1974, he engaged in a very aggressive war with history, attempting to wipe out the Watergate stain and memory. Happily, history won, largely because of Nixon's tapes.
Bob Woodward

Any suggestion that I'm writing about political operatives because I'm interested in political operatives misses the entire point.
Bob Woodward

Because of Watergate in part, I am kind of a magnet for calls and information and suggestions.
Bob Woodward

Carl and I had some of the most intense fights about the substance of the story and where it was going. There were no fistfights, but there was lots of emotion and distress.
Bob Woodward

Certain political figures think when you call them and ask them for a comment; that you are somehow doing something that you shouldn't be doing.
Bob Woodward

Clinton feels a profound alienation from the Washington culture here, and I happen to agree with him.
Bob Woodward

Clinton... believes that the Washington Press Corps is so out of touch that it is absolutely inconceivable that reporters would understand the issues that people are really dealing with in their lives.
Bob Woodward

Deep Throat did serve the public interest by providing the guidance and information to us.
Bob Woodward

Deep Throat was a very unfortunate name given to the source by the managing editor of The Washington Post.
Bob Woodward

Deep Throat's information, and in my view, courage, allowed the newspaper to use what he knew and suspected.
Bob Woodward

Dole has great difficulty talking about values. He has to be pushed. He's been pushed by his wife, by his speechwriter, by the people in the campaign.
Bob Woodward

Dole is a decent man. But he's not a great communicator.
Bob Woodward

Even now there is no evidence that anyone involved in the Nixon operation was going to threaten us.
Bob Woodward

For somebody to suggest that I'm not working in the trenches just doesn't understand what my life is.
Bob Woodward

I believe there's too little patience and context to many of the investigations I read or see on television.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

I deal with first-hand sources. And give the people, even John Sununu, the opportunity to respond to what I've been told by first-hand sources.
Bob Woodward

I don't go to press conferences.
Bob Woodward

I don't think it's useful for somebody to argue with reviews.
Bob Woodward

I don't think there will ever be a permanent truce, but I believe the media needs to be more careful and be willing to count to 10 before rushing on the air or into print.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

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

I give lectures for money, but all the money goes to charity. So, I make no money from it.
Bob Woodward

I have found people don't want to be told. That they can figure it out.
Bob Woodward

I have gone on the air and announced my telephone number at the Washington Post. I go into the night, talking to people, looking for things. The great dreaded thing every reporter lives with is what you don't know. The source you didn't go to. The phone call you didn't return.
Bob Woodward

I have written things that Republicans and Democrats and all kinds of figures have either hated or felt very uncomfortable about. Because in doing these long projects and books, you get close to the bone. And they're not calling me up and asking me for dinner.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

I recently read some of the transcripts of Nixon's Watergate tapes, and they spent hours trying to figure out who was leaking and providing information to Carl and myself.
Bob Woodward

I suspect there have been a number of conspiracies that never were described or leaked out. But I suspect none of the magnitude and sweep of Watergate.
Bob Woodward

I think Dole is gaining a sense of mass communications. But his instincts are Kansas. Go around, talk to everyone in the room.
Bob Woodward

I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us.
Bob Woodward

I think people are smart enough to sort it out. They know when they're watching one of these food fight shows where journalists sit around and yell and scream at each other, versus serious issue reporting.
Bob Woodward

I think that everyone is kind of confused about the information they get from the media and rightly so. I'm confused about the information I get from the media.
Bob Woodward

I wish people could see my life. Because it's in the trenches.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

I've done this for almost 25 years. You know your audience. They write and they call and they react, and people still want information.
Bob Woodward

I've looked at the Whitewater allegations against Clinton at some length. There are lots of questions. What's interesting is that I have not yet seen.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

If you interviewed 1,000 politicians and asked about whether the media's too soft or too hard, about 999 would say too hard.
Bob Woodward

It was accountability that Nixon feared.
Bob Woodward

It would seem that the Watergate story from beginning to end could be used as a primer on the American political system.
Bob Woodward

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

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.
Bob Woodward

Newspapers that are truly independent, like The Washington Post, can still aggressively investigate anyone or anything with no holds barred.
Bob Woodward

Nixon had some large achievements in foreign affairs. They will be remembered. But a president probably gets remembered for one thing, and Watergate will head the Nixon list, I suspect.
Bob Woodward

Nixon's attempts to order subversion of various departments was bound to come out in some form.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

Not a season passes without new disclosures showing Nixon's numerous attempts at criminal use of his presidential powers and in fact the scorn he held for the rule of law.
Bob Woodward

People from Hollywood come to Washington dinners and then people go to Hollywood dinners. I don't know how much that takes you down the road in terms of describing who people really are, which is the function of journalism.
Bob Woodward

People like to pigeonhole and say, Well, I'm a Washington insider, and you know, that's quite silly. What does that even mean?
Bob Woodward

Politicians need to be more willing to engage in full disclosure, rather than the classic Watergate modified, limited hang-out route.
Bob Woodward

Press baggage is something called Vietnam and Watergate.
Bob Woodward

Secret government is a great danger and the information from secret sources is tested and confirmed and in the case of Deep Throat, we know he basically got it right.
Bob Woodward

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

Suppose Watergate had not been uncovered? I'd still be on the City Desk.
Bob Woodward

The best stories are contested. I don't mind a story that's contested, as long as you have first-hand sources.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

The central dilemma in journalism is that you don't know what you don't know.
Bob Woodward

The cloud of doubt that surrounds political figures tends to remain and never dissipate or be clarified.
Bob Woodward

The fact of the Watergate cover-up is not nearly as interesting as the step into making the cover-up. And when you understand the step, you understand that Richard Nixon lied. That he was a criminal.
Bob Woodward

The failure of the system to deal quickly was attributable to Nixon's lying, stonewalling and refusal to come clean. So it took 26 months for the final truth to be known.
Bob Woodward

The legislator learns that when you talk a lot, you get in trouble. You have to listen a lot to make deals.
Bob Woodward

The number of illegal activities were so large that one was bound to come out and lead to the uncovering of the others. Nixon was too willing to use the power of government to settle scores and get even with enemies.
Bob Woodward

The significant communication event at a Dole speech is his interaction with the audience.
Bob Woodward

The source known as Deep Throat provided a kind of road map through the scandal. His one consistent message was that the Watergate burglary was just the tip of the iceberg.
Bob Woodward

The spun version... too often comes from public spokespeople.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

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?
Bob Woodward

There may yet be another Watergate book. I have thought a book about the aftermath of Watergate and its impact could be done, perhaps by me or someone else.
Bob Woodward

There's hostility to lying, and there should be.
Bob Woodward

This is the narcissism of Washington journalism, sitting around kind of saying, Well, what did he do and what did she do? I think it's the quality of the speeches and articles, of the columns, that matter.
Bob Woodward

Ultimately I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us, but, is it good news quality information that defines who somebody is?
Bob Woodward

Using these unnamed sources, if done properly, carefully and fairly, provides more accountability in government.
Bob Woodward

Watergate is an immensely complicated scandal with a cast of characters as varied as a Tolstoy novel.
Bob Woodward

Watergate provides a model case study of the interaction and powers of each of the branches of government. It also is a morality play with a sad and dramatic ending.
Bob Woodward

Way before Watergate, senior administration officials hid behind anonymity.
Bob Woodward

We need to police ourselves in the media.
Bob Woodward

We regularly publish exclusive investigative stories involving local government. But I think we need to do more hard-hitting stories. We promise to work harder and do better.
Bob Woodward

We're not going to have another Watergate in our lifetime. I'm sure.
Bob Woodward

When you hear in the tape recordings Nixon's own voice saying, We have to stonewall, We have to lie to the Grand Jury, We have to pay burglars a million dollars, it's all too clear the horror of what went on.
Bob Woodward

When you peel the onion on the process, you learn a great deal about what weight it gives to the political ramifications.
Bob Woodward

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.
Bob Woodward

When you see how the President makes political or policy decisions, you see who he is. The essence of the Presidency is decision-making.
Bob Woodward

You can go to one of those dinners, and I've gone to them, and you feel you've learned something, that you've gained insights and, of course, you haven't.
Bob Woodward

[Expat]

According to his own account, he basically grovelled before Mark Felt (Deep Throat) when they met in a White House waiting room and begged him to be a sort of mentor, to give him guidance in his career -- that doesn't sound ENTj or ENFp.