Jonathan Alter
Jonathan Alter
Jonathan Alteris an American journalist, best-selling author, and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011, and has written three New York Times best-selling books about American presidents. He is a contributing correspondent to NBC News, where since 1996 he has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. Alter was one of the first magazine or newspaper reporters to appear on MSNBC. When the shows were on the air, he could often be...
Jonathan Alter quotes about
bush claimed comment compromise desperate held imagine knew national paper press problem reveal running
The Times will not comment on the meeting, but one can only imagine the president?s desperation. The problem was not that the disclosures would compromise national security, as Bush claimed at his press conference. ...No, Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story?which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year?because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker.
jobs stones next
With his ABC News experience, perhaps Pierre Salinger's next job could be cohosting-with Oliver Stone-a 24-hour Conspiracy Network.
war hands two
They say that 'history is an argument without end.' In Thompson's skillful hands, this momentous argument between two old friends on the most critical issue of the last century is thus history at its best. Thompson's judicious and delicious depiction of Nitze and Kennan will fascinate anyone who cares about the Cold War or the ways that human beings shape the future.
ideas journalism problem
The basic problem is with the business model of journalism. That business model is premised on the idea that talk is cheap and reporting is expensive.
dream country eight
Millions of Americans would still despair in the eight long years of the Depression that lay ahead and many of their individual dreams would be dashed on the rocks of economic hardship. But collectively, the country was in a new place, with a new confidence that the federal government would actively try to solve problems rather than fiddle or cater to the rich. Hope was no longer for Pollyannas; the cynics about the American system were in retreat.
character fundraising presidential
Almost no one under 60 remembers what fundraising was like before Watergate. Until the 1970s, campaign money was collected by "bagmen," familiar characters from the world of organized crime. As fans of Boardwalk Empire know, a bagman is a political fixer who walked around with stacks of $100 and $1,000 bills. At lower levels, he used brown paper bags. In presidential campaigns, the cash was more likely to be in briefcases. Classier that way.
reality journalism compromise
Obama was willing to compromise and Republicans were not. That's not a biased statement. One of my problems with the limitations of journalism is that straightforward descriptions of reality are seen as being biased.
home europe class
By laying the groundwork for a system centered on home ownership rather than the public housing popular in Europe, the New Deal made possible the great postwar housing boom that populated the Sun Belt and boosted millions of Americans into the middle class, where, ironically, they often became Republicans.
running thinking water
I think it's a terrible system, but money in politics is like water running downhill -- it finds its way.
cancer modern-life littles
Every patient reacts a little differently, both biologically and psychologically. The only constant in cancer is inconstancy; the only certainty is a future of uncertainty, a truism for all of modern life but one made vivid by life-threatening illness.
class united-states warfare
Unless the digital divide is narrowed soon, the United States may be headed to the class warfare of a century ago, the last time the economy changed so fundamentally. It won't be pleasant.
emotion logic convince
Logic can convince but only emotion can motivate.
government easy easier
If it's easy for the government to learn about us, it should be easier for us to learn about the government, what they're doing.
writing alive today
If Franz Kafka were alive today he'd be writing about customer service.