[George Freeman, the Times Co.'s assistant general counsel, met with the Washington bureau last week to address staff complaints.] There was so much rumor and untruth and speculation going around, ... I wouldn't characterize it as people being unhappy. People had a lot of questions and concerns. I hope to some degree I assuaged the concerns.

It was not meant to be a script.

Arlen went on to be a really wonderful trial lawyer, yet I never tried a case in front of a jury again. ... He was a wonderful guy then, we hit it off, and we were quite proud of each other.

He does have, underneath a sort of serious exterior, a really wonderful sense of humor, ... It rarely shows itself in the trial lawyer mode, but it certainly does in personal relationships.

I know, from what I heard second hand, that a lot of members of his [senatorial] staff are apparently terrified of him, ... But he never portrayed those kind of characteristics in law school. He always had a smile, he was always sociable with people, and those are the kinds of qualities I see now -- the same old Arlen I've always known.

The way politics worked in Pennsylvania at the time he decided to run for public office, he had no choice, ... Even if he wanted to run as a Democrat, there was just no way he could have got the nomination.

I was afraid that people would draw the wrong conclusions.

In some ways, he has the same kind of personality that [Supreme Court Justice] Hugo Black did: people perceive him as being that kind of driving personality, ... He's like a bloodhound, because once he finds the scent, he doesn't lick his nose, he just runs hard after it.