Watergate wisdom: ‘Follow the lies’

WASHINGTON — Watching Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on stage at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night was like a Simon and Garfunkel reunion.

Few in the room could recall a joint public appearance by the famous Washington Post reporters — who uncovered the Watergate scandal that brought down a president.

Famously portrayed by Dustin Hoffman (Bernstein) and Robert Redford (Woodwood) in the 1976 movie classic “All the President’s Men,” the pair are far from best buddies and though they did not sit together on the dais, it appears some ice has thawed.

Speaking to the crowd of around 2,000 reporters at the Washington Hilton — where President Trump was not among them — they talked about what they had learned from each other during their long stint reporting together in the Seventies.

Woodward noted how Bernstein had taught him about the importance of being “very aggressive,” and recalled how Bernstein had clambered aboard a full cab with the Watergate burglars’ lawyers to get information and borrowed $20 from Woodward, which he did not return.

Woodward also got a dig in about Bernstein’s famed love of the ladies, recalling Bernstein got a list of peo- ple who worked on the Richard Nixon re-election campaign from an ex- girlfriend.

“He’s finally embarrassed,” said Woodward with a smile.

Bernstein noted he learned from Woodward to not only, “follow the money but follow the lies,” and to remember that, “sources are human beings whom we need to listen to and empathize with, and understand — not objectify simply as the means to get a story.”