The basis of effective government is public confidence, and that confidence is endangered when ethical standards falter or appear to falter.
It is like we are obliged to assume that the government is only doing what it says it is doing.
You can't believe the government - on anything. And you especially can't believe them when they're talking about important stuff.
John Chancellor said he could remember a time when arguments could be settled by government statistics. Today, nobody’s statistics can be trusted.
The sight of allegedly sophisticated politicians parroting complete tripe trivialises and demeans government and it has to be stopped. It's played a significant part in public disillusionment with politics and has led to the absurd situation where more people vote for 'Strictly Come Dancing' than voted in the general election.
I covered two presidents, LBJ and Nixon, who could no longer convince, persuade, or govern, once people had decided they had no credibility, but we seem to be more tolerant now of what I think we should not tolerate.
Erosion of faith and trust in government - that is the real problem that confronts us.
Every president has to live with the result of what Lyndon Johnson did with Vietnam, when he lost the trust of the American people in the presidency.
We're not saying, 'We're politicians, trust us.' We know you don't trust us.
This is a fundamental question, Mr. Mayor [ Rudy Giuliani ]. Is the president of the United States legitimate or not? Do you believe it? If you believe it, why doesn't your candidate state it.
The thing that has disturbed me most about the Russian hacking episode is - and the thing that surprised me most has not been the fact of Russian hacking. The cyber world is full of information gathering, you know, propaganda, et cetera. I have been concerned about the degree to which, in some circles, you've seen people suggest that Vladimir Putin has more credibility than the U.S. government. I think that's something new.
I'm concerned about truth and credibility in government.
Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock solid, and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work-you said you're going to reach out to these people-how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?
We live at a time when people do not have much trust in government.
I reiterate that the rigor and credibility brought to the world by Monti's government are for us a point of no return.
The written tone and the spoken tone change and the reporters' disbelief in the veracity of the government spreads to the readers and the viewers.
Do we really want another politician in the White House America can't trust?
I choose to make it my job to not automatically believe what the U.S. government says.
How do you trust a government whose people are proved to be untrustworthy?
If the great Government of the United States were a private corporation no bank would take its name on a piece of paper, because it has cynically repudiated the words engraved upon its bonds.
Margot [Hentoff] dislikes Bill Clinton because he's totally untrustworthy, and you really ought to have some faith in whoever's going to be your president.
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t believe you. You can’t be a cop.” “Not a cop.” “Federal agent?” “FBI.” “Even more unlikely.” “J. Edgar rolls over in his grave every day, but that’s the way it is.
The well of public opinion has been well and truly poisoned by the Iraq episode.
Actually, Brexit is an incredibly important issue, but it's not the only issue. And to be a credible party of Government you need to have plans for everything, not just for the delivery of Brexit.
Power without a nation's confidence is nothing.
