Newt Gingrich and his fellow conservative Republicans talked a good game but, despite the lip service they offered about poverty and race and other social issues, they didn't really mean it.

How could someone with a renowned ability to inspire, communicate complex ideas, and connect with voters find himself in this position? The President [Barack Obama], though a dedicated student of history, has seemingly failed to learn the lesson of our nation's most significant political confrontations: They've required single-minded determination, and the willingness to battle until the fight was won.

I had dinner recently with a guy who bragged that he had only gotten four hours of sleep that night. I didn't say it, but I thought to myself 'If you had gotten five, this dinner would have been a lot more interesting'

The harder you try to suppress the truth, the more inevitable it is that it will find a way to come out.

Be a go-giver, not a go-getter

We need to accept that we won't always make the right decisions, that we'll screw up royally sometimes - understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it's part of success.

I was lucky in that I had a mother that was full of this colloquial wisdom and she used to say to me 'You know, failure is not the opposite of success, it's the stepping stone to success. There is nobody who has not failed along the way.' So I think its very important for young women, especially as they are starting in life, to recognize that because otherwise, they only see people's success. So, when I speak, I speak of my failures.