“We do not grant anonymity to people who use it as a cover for personal or partisan attack.” – editorial policy, quoted in The New York Times, Feb. 8.
• Associates of Mr. (Steve) Rubin, some of whom spoke anonymously because they did not want to anger him, described the situation as one on which Mr. Rubin has steadily lost influence over the organization … – The New York Times, Feb. 7
• “His legacy, now, is gone,” one Yankee official said of (Alex) Rodriguez, speaking on condition of anonymity because the organization had no public comment. – The New York Times, Feb. 8
• A White House source would speak only on background because he was physically afraid of President Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson.
• A Senate committee source requested anonymity because he had a lunch date with a new committee intern, a former Miss Apple Butter from Wisconsin.
• A former top aide to the McCain campaign requested anonymity because he was saving his best stuff for cable.
• A White House official declined to speak on the record because he was hoping to join a dinner party with Vernon Jordan and Terry McAuliffe at Café Milano.
• A high-ranking company official spoke off the record because his boss might see the quote, even though he was with Warren Buffett in Davos.
• A senior Commerce Dept. official was not authorized to speak on the record because she is not a Republican.
• A source close to the Administration spoke off the record because he did not want Rahm Emanuel to call him a f—— s—bag.
• A person with knowledge of the situation requested anonymity because over the weekend he was going to be with a whole bunch of President Obama’s friends from Chicago, just kicking back like they used to do.
• A senior Treasury Department official requested anonymity because she had not gone to Harvard.
• A congressional opponent of the Administration’s stimulus plan would not speak on the record because he had missed that day’s Rush Limbaugh program.
• A longtime Wall Street insider requested anonymity because his nickname down at the gym is “Turbo Tax.”
• A newspaper spokeswoman would not discuss the most recent round of layoffs and the plunging company stock value because, she said, that is something newspapers insist other companies do.
• A source close to Republican stimulus negotiators on the Hill spoke off the record because her boss had not been invited to watch TV at the White House.
• A senior Obama campaign official would not speak on the record on advice of his new literary agent.
• A senior Administration official spoke on background because his wife thought he was at Camp David.
• A member of the GOP congressional leadership declined to be identified because, he said, “Arlen Specter is just so incredibly annoying.”
• A senior State Department official requested anonymity because he was hoping for a call from Tom Friedman or David Brooks.
• One GOP opponent of the President’s economic plan declined to speak on the record because he wanted to be identified as “the little Hammer.”
• A spokesperson for Olympian Michael Phelps’s marketing firm declined to speak on the record because “the kid has fourteen gold medals but no more sense than God gave a woodpecker.”
• A one-time adviser to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin requested anonymity because bow-hunting season has started in Alaska.
Steve Daley is a former reporter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune.