Not just referring to the op-ed piece or Woodward's book, I think anonymous sources in general constitute poor journalism. When your source is "Someone close to...or with knowledge of the situation", then every word should be taken with a grain of salt. We see it constantly in the sports realm. Anytime there are problems, or a coaching search going on in an athletic department, you see daily pieces citing inside sources, but no names. Nothing concrete. And if you think about it, 90% of the time, they're just flat out wrong. And most times, we are left to go, "Well, this guy is right more often than not."