There's a Washington standard of casually putting things off the record. It's really gone too far. I don't know an easy way to turn it back.

Gore speaks to America as if English is its second language; George W. speaks as if English is his second language.

Ted Kennedy's achievements as a senator have towered over his time, changing the lives of far more Americans than remember the name Mary Jo Kopechne.

Another thing that's quite different in writing a book as a practicing newspaperman is that if you look at what you've written the next morning and you think you didn't get it quite right, you can fix it.

When I came back to Washington to be The Times' chief congressional correspondent in 1991, I was looking for a book subject, and Ted Kennedy stood out for two reasons.

I thought writing about somebody current would be a little closer to what I'm used to doing.

There's a Washington standard of casually putting things off the record. It's really gone too far. I don't know an easy way to turn it back.