MR. THOMPSON: Have you read this book?
MR. ARMITAGE: I'm the only honest person in Washington.
MR. THOMPSON: (Laughs.)
MR. ARMITAGE: I gave it the Washington read.
MR. THOMPSON: You looked in the index to see if your name was in it.
MR. ARMITAGE: And then what was said about me.
—James R. Thompson and Richard Armitage, "Panel IV of Day Two of the Eighth Public Hearing of the National Commission On Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States," Federal News Service, March 24, 2004
When Richard Ben Cramer published his 1992 book,
What It Takes: The Way to the White House, a blow-by-blow account of the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign, many people were surprised that, despite its 1,000-page bulk, it contained no index. In an interview with
The New York Times, Mr. Cramer explained why:
"For years I watched all these Washington jerks, all these Capitol Hill, executive-branch, agency wise guys and reporters go into, say, Trover bookstore, take a political book off the shelf, look up their names, glance at the page and put the book back. Washington reads by index, and I wanted those people to read the damn thing."
Did it work? Not exactly, at least according to James D. Pinkerton, an advisor to the 1988 Bush-Quayle campaign. The Times reported that Mr. Pinkerton "had his secretary pre-read the book, combing it for any references to him."
Thanks to Gerry Howard for passing along this phrase.
