How much he was shaped by being in the hospital so much as a kid. Because he was sick, he was a reader, and because he was a reader, Kennedy had heroes. Because he had heroes, he went into politics. [Kennedy liked Sir Walter Scott, King Arthur's knights, and biographies of political leaders.] If he hadn't been sick, he might have been like everybody else in the family, a jock.

I don't sense an [Barack] Obama party. I think politics is transactional for him.

I think a lot it was the theology, that the road to Jerusalem runs through Baghdad, that somehow if we broke apart the rejectionist states, like Iraq, then the whole Middle East would reconfigure itself into a more favorable environment for democracy and Israel and us.

How do we know when someone like Hasan is going to make his move and do we know he's an Islamist until he's made his move? He makes a phone call or whatever, according to Reuters right now. Apparently he tried to contact al-Qaida. Is that the point at which you say, "This guy is dangerous?" That's not a crime to call up al-Qaida, is it? Is it? I mean, where do you stop the guy?

This is a fundamental question, Mr. Mayor [ Rudy Giuliani ]. Is the president of the United States legitimate or not? Do you believe it? If you believe it, why doesn't your candidate state it.

We've always had a dual role in the region - friend of Israel, and honest broker. We've given up the honest broker role completely.

It's a fact of life that positive reasons don't always get people to vote. You need some negative reasons.