Woodward Defends Book, Revisits Parking Ramp

By: Joe Strupp Bob Woodward declined Tuesday to directly address some of the criticism his new book about Deep Throat source W. Mark Felt has drawn. But he admitted that Felt's advanced age and diminished mental capacity may forever hide some of the reasons why he chose to help Woodward on the Watergate story.

"Some people are going to say you can't answer it fully because his memory is going, and that is true," Woodward told E&P Tuesday, after a weekend that included a handful of harsh reviews of the book, which goes on sale Wednesday. "It is like, we will not be able to understand why Richard Nixon did all of the criminal and abusive things he ordered. We don't have what pulses through the questions about Nixon. Some of the why questions [about Felt] are going to pulse through also."

Still, Woodward contends that the book, "The Secret Man" [Simon and Schuster], "explains extensively why he talked to me," adding "It plays out in detail." But, he would not elaborate on specifics. He urged skeptics to watch the NBC special on Watergate that will air Wednesday night, hosted by Tom Brokaw, which he says is "a serious examination."

"He spent a lot of time on it, interviewed me for hours, talked to [former Washington Post executive editor Ben] Bradlee and to Carl [Bernstein], and lots of people," Woodward said of Brokaw. "This is a serious look at Watergate."

Woodward said Brokaw interviewed him for about three-and-a-half hours, including 30 minutes in the famous parking garage in nearby Rosslyn, Va., where Woodward met Felt several times during his reporting for the story. "It was interesting," he said about returning to the famed underground site, but declined to say more.

When asked to elaborate on what is in the book, Woodward would say only that "there is a certain amount of anguish and uncertainty and dilemma dealing with a source like that on such serious matters."

He said he was not upset that some copies of the book had gotten out early last week, resulting in a report on its contents by USA Today. "Things come out," he said. "I think Simon and Schuster made a diligent effort and they ship lots of books. This is not something you can control perfectly."

Woodward also declined to comment on the other major anonymous source bombshell of the year, Time Inc.'s decision last week to turn over documents in the Valerie Plame case that revealed Time reporter Matthew Cooper's confidential source. He would only say, "This is the story of the importance of confidential sourcing."