Safireism Quotes

“A President that... seemed so inordinately pure that people were waiting for a way to take the luster off. New York Times columnist William Safire lead the charge. Safire was a talented writer and clever analyst that had served Nixon as a publicist and speech writer for twenty-five years before turning to journalism. In column after column he set out to dilute the seriousness of Nixon's crimes by inflating one-day Washington flaps into 'scandals' that he artfully made smell vaguely of Watergate. Often by attaching a "-gate" suffix. Unlike many columnists who ranged widely over topics, Safire was like a dog with a bone when he ripped into a story that might damage Democrats.”
― Jonathan Alter