"All presidents rail against the press. It goes with the turf."

"It took a lot of chutzpah on the part of a lot of newspaper women who came here in the twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties to break down the barriers against women reporters. And we couldn’t even become members of the National Press Corps until 1971 — that’s pretty late in the game. We got the vote, which we should’ve been born with, in 1920. Everything we’ve had to struggle for — it’s ridiculous."

"It's the arrogance of power. 'We're in charge. It's our White House. What the hell are you doing here?' Basically toward the Press. 'How dare you question anything we do?' They don't understand that the presidential news conference is the only forum in our society where a president can be questioned. If he's not questioned, he can rule by edict; by government order. He can be a monarch. He can be a dictator, and who is to find out? No. He should be questioned and he should always be able to willingly reply and answer to all questions because these aren't our questions. They're the people's questions."

"Every President hates the Press. Every president thinks that all information that comes to the White House is their private preserve after they all promise an open administration on the campaign trail, but some are even more secretive than others. Some want to lock down everything."

"Well it wasn't a formal hanging. It was kind of subtle. I had covered him ...his first press conference. He dropped down into the press room and started taking questions and everyone asked about the tax cut and I sort of — Ari Fleischer later told me I blindsided him because I said to him 'Mister President, why don't you respect the wall of separation between church and state?' Well, there's a video of him that is so funny. He jerked back as if he had been hit! I mean both barrels! And he said 'I do respect-' I said 'well if you did, why would you have a religious office in the White House?' (I'm exagerrating, but anyway) and 'you're a secular official.' And he said 'I am secular.' Well anyway I got a call from Ari after that. After that there was a formal news conference and I did ask him a Middle East question and it wasn't the question per se. They just don't like my boorishness."

"Well, law is a bit like a printing press -- it’s kind of neutral, you can make it do anything. I mean, what lawyers are taught in law school is chicanery: how to convert words on paper into instruments of power. And depending where the power is, the law will mean different things."

"The White House used to belong to the American people. At least that's what I learned from history books and from covering every president starting with John F. Kennedy. But now the 201-year-old Executive Mansion belongs only to a select, elitist group of people, including top government officials, members of Congress and the press corps. They and some others, all of whom are screened in advance, are welcome. But most people are not — not anymore."

"At the earlier briefing, Ari, you said that the President deplored the taking of innocent lives. Does that apply to all innocent lives in the world? And I have a follow-up... My follow-up is, why does he want to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis?"

"I don’t speechify. I know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. And that’s what I ask. But they get mad at the straight line. I just want to ask a tough question."

"We've got to break through the wall of secrecy. It's America's fate."

"I suppose that's democracy really. But everybody with a laptop thinks they're a journalist these days. That's a problem."

"I don't think a tough question is disrespectful."

"When you're in the news business, you always expect the unexpected."

"Ever notice how irons have a setting for permanent press? I don't get it."

"The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is. For to a degree, people read the press to inform themselves-and the better the teacher, the better the student body."