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

It was accountability that Nixon feared.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

We need to police ourselves in the media.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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.