Word: woodwarding
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...uncertainty and darkness of that time. The excerpts of TV appearances by Nixon, Agnew, Kleindienst, and other Humpty Dumpties about to fall are simply funny; their straight-faced optimism and flat denials sound ludicrous. The power to inspire fear and loathing has gone out of these men. So Woodward and Bernstein seem to be working against paper tigers that we know don't stand a chance. This curious impression is strengthened by the fact that the "bad" characters appear only on TV news clips. All the President's Men is something of a morality play, yet the only characters portrayed...
Save for this pale ghost, Woodward (Robert Redford) and Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) have no competition in this film. Perhaps that made the director over-confident. No attempt is made to dip beneath the surface of these men or their relationship, and, perhaps, there is nothing beneath the surface. But we never really know how much these men are driven by personal ambition, how much by moral vigor, how much by pure thrill of the chase. Do they even like each other? They never discuss the wider significance of the case or their handling of it, only tactics and never strategy...
That criticism of the new Bob Woodward-Carl Bernstein Watergate book, The Final Days (Simon & Schuster; $10.95), is typical of the reaction of most Nixon associates. By and large: 1) they make no claims that the book contains any substantial factual errors; 2) they protest that the total portrayal is a distortion; 3) they offer criticism with the stipulation that the source of the complaint not be publicly named...
...behavior have been published? Kissinger authorized a statement deploring the authors' "indecent lack of compassion." Betty Ford argued that parts of the book "could have been omitted." One of Watergate's heroes, former Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, went further, saying of those who talked to Woodward and Bernstein: "They should be ashamed of themselves...
...second criticism deserves more attention. The scolding reporters and editors are right, in a sense: a reporter shouldn't put quotation marks around something he can't prove was said, seactly as he quotes it. But in this extraordinary case, Woodward and Bernstein had to choose between quoting nothing of the important drama that paralleled Nixon's disintegration, writing a version attributed to the principals in the episode (whose statements for the record were certain to be self-serving of false), or reconstructing quotes as best they could from anonymous sources, many of whom kept detailed diaries. They made...