Session: 1234567891011121314151617         Page 676677678679680681682683684685686687688689690691692693694695696697698699700701702703704705706 of 755

If you're close to a top political leader and he tells you something is off the record and you go back to your news organization and you say, “What do you know about this subject?” without saying what you do know, but just ask about it--and I've done this on occasion--and the news people say, “Well this is what's happening,” and they had the story themselves, then what do I do?

What did you do?

I stepped away from it.

You let them make the decision?

Sure. If I'd ever been called on it I would have said exactly what I've said to you, that I discovered they already had it and I didn't try to pull it back because I didn't make any agreement to pull it back. All I agreed to was that I wasn't going to talk. There are some journalists in Washington who will not go to off the record affairs, dinner parties and things of that kind, because it really hamstrings them. But this is another subject entirely.

Along with our general subject of the kind of unique position you've had in your career, and since we're nearing the end of this process--we'll be releasing these soon to live a normal life [laughter] --I can't resist the opportunity to ask you, you've had so many varieties of opportunities other than playing the role you did at CBS. It could have been [Elmo] Roper and Stanton, it could have been a cabinet post at the White House, it could have been senator from Utah. Are there any of those opportunities or ones that you haven't even told me about