David Gergen actually said...

"It is very healthy for a president to have a good friend, someone who can look him in the eye and tell him what's going right, but also what's going wrong, to give candid advice and not be as intimida..."

"No, it would be a serious mistake to go without a chief of staff. You know, there was a time a very early time, when Democrats tend to tend not to have very strong chief of staff and Republicans like ..."

"It is not right to be dangling pardons in front of -- in a really sensitive case, unless you have something you want to cover up."

"The question is whether Dowd acted at the behest of the president, the instruction -- we don't have to debate that. It's very clear he would not act without the president's blessing."