QuoteProject
Watergate provides a model case study of the interaction and powers of each of the branches of government. It also is a morality play with a sad and dramatic ending.
Bob Woodward
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The Watergate scandal illustrates the relationships and balance of power among government branches while also serving as a cautionary tale about morality in politics.

Bob Woodward's quote reflects on the significance of the Watergate scandal as a pivotal event in American political history. It serves as a case study for understanding how the legislative, executive, and judicial branches interact and checks each other's powers. Furthermore, the quote emphasizes the moral implications of political actions, as Watergate ended in controversy and sorrow, highlighting the importance of ethics in governance.

Themes

WatergateGovernmentMoralityPoliticsScandal

In practice

Example use cases

Use this quote in a discussion about political ethics during a debate.

More from Bob Woodward

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.
Bob WoodwardRead
There's hostility to lying, and there should be.
Bob WoodwardRead
Newspapers that are truly independent, like The Washington Post, can still aggressively investigate anyone or anything with no holds barred.
Bob WoodwardRead
The legislator learns that when you talk a lot, you get in trouble. You have to listen a lot to make deals.
Bob WoodwardRead
The central dilemma in journalism is that you don't know what you don't know.
Bob WoodwardRead
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.
Bob WoodwardRead

Similar quotes

There's a lot of fuss on the Left about election irregularities, like, you know, the voting machines were tampered with, they didn't count the votes right, and so on. That's all accurate and of some importance, but of far more importance is the fact that elections just don't take place, not in any meaningful sense of the term 'election.'
Noam ChomskyRead
The President is the peoples lobbyist.
Hubert H. HumphreyRead
Democracy requires an informed citizenry able to question its government.
Richard N. HaassRead
With his mendacity and increasingly virulent attacks on immigrants, Muslims, women, the press, the judiciary, the intelligence services, the F.B.I. - any group or institution that he finds threatening or useful as a scapegoat - Mr. Trump is attempting the Orwellian trick of redefining American reality on his own terms.
Michiko KakutaniRead
Neither democracy nor effective representation is possible until each participant in the group...devotes a measurable part of his life to furthering its existence.
Lewis MumfordRead
The essence of government is control, or the attempt to control.
Benjamin TuckerRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.