Reply #21: There are sources and there are sources

[quaoar]

Sources talk to reporters for a myriad of reasons.

1. Some talk so they can be seen as a player.
2. Some talk to undermine rivals or policies they hate.
3. Some talk to immunize themselves because reporters rarely burn their sources.
4. Some talk to protect themselves from those who fall under No. 2.
5. Some talk -- even to reporters they find too partisan for the other side -- because they hate seeing BS in the paper and they want to make sure the truth is at least told, even if it isn't fully listened to.

If Matsui was indeed a source of Novak's -- and he may very well have been -- I suspect he was No. 5.