Bob Woodward Quotes (110 Quotes)

In a telephone interview, Mr. Woodward said he had apologized to Mr. Downie for not disclosing his own part in such a long-running story long ago and said he had kept a deliberately low profile to protect his sources. The terms of engagement change when a reporter and reporters are being subpoenaed, agreeing to testify, being forced to testify, being jailed, ... That's the new element in this. And what it did, it caused me to become even more secretive about sources, and to protect them. I couldn't do my job if I couldn't protect them. And to really make sure that I don't become part of this process, but not to be less aggressive in reporting the news.

He has nothing to say at this time.

The issue is not the plan. The issue is the decision,

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.

Like former President Richard Nixon says on one of his tapes, if the president does it, it is legal. Think of that. Someone studying Constitution 101 knows that everyone is accountable under the law. For a president to think they have that power, that will do us in.

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.

If you want to cut that off, go read the newspapers in China. The news becomes part of the party.

Invoking the nickname of Deep Throat, ... who may sit among us this morning.

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

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.

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

He's ducking the question but he's also right. You don't know what the judgment of history is going to be 10, 20 or 50 years out. It may be very different than it is now.

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

That's for other people to judge.

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.

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.

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

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

If you were to ask the same group of people 25 years ago, after Nixon resigned, 'Are you better off' ... most people would raise their hand because it established the rule of law, ... But I wonder. You can't quite draw a line from (Nixon resigning) to the well-being of everyone. In the case of Greenspan, in terms of people's economic well being, it's a pretty straight line.

I was first contacted by Fitzgerald's office on November 3 after one of these (three) officials went to Fitzgerald to discuss an interview with me in mid-June 2003 during which the person told me Wilson's wife worked for the CIA on weapons of mass destruction as a WMD analyst,

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

This is the old crowd kind of re-launching the wars of Watergate, and saying let's make the conduct of the sources we used the issue, rather then their own. The record of Watergate crimes is staggering, voluminous and irrefutable

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

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

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

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.

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.

I have to go to the prosecutor. I have to tell the truth.

He's a man of conscience, and I'm sure he's been interviewed endlessly about why he did it,

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.

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.

The First Amendment is not an accident. My deeply held conviction, supported with a lot of evidence, is what might do this country in to where we cease to exist as a vital democracy, as a Constitutional democracy, is not terrorism or a weak economy but what will do us in is a secret government.

In the most frightening way, what happens on these tapes, part of the significance is what doesn't happen. To my knowledge, no one ever said what would be wrong, would be good, what would be right for the country. It's always about Nixon. It is so outside the mainstream of the American presidency.

Way before Watergate, senior administration officials hid behind anonymity.

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.

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

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

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.

There's a great tradition in the White House, if you don't like the story, you denounce the reporter.

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.

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

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.

It was accountability that Nixon feared.

Watergate was an expression of Nixon's world view, personality and value system.

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

You travel around the United States (and) the Iraq war is topic A, B and C. It is at the emotional centre of where people are, whether they're for it or against it. It's touched the lives of people in a profound way.

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.

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.

Hopefully, this isn't going to be 33 years until we find out exactly what happened,

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