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.

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.

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.

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

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

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