It really bugs me that someone will tell me, after I spent 20 years being educated, how I'm supposed to think.

I tend to really be partial to Ayn Rand, and to The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged.

The myths that are created about the South, about the way we grew up, about black people, are wrong.

But I know that the vote of 9 out of 10 black Americans for the Democratic Party or for leftist kinds of policies just is not reflective of their opinions.

My grandfather could barely read. My grandmother had a sixth-grade education. They were people who were industrious. They were frugal.

Today, now, it is time to move forward, a time to look for what is good in others, what is good in our country. It is time to see what we have in common, what we have to share as human beings and citizens.

I love being around people who work with their hands, who do the hard things to keep our country going. They're just my kind of people.