So there's much more to life than one's intelligence score. To be a decent human being. To have some character.

I don't think child care is ever going to be much of a federal effort. Just like education. Six or 7 percent - that's all I want from the government. Pay that piece of it for poor or developmentally disabled children.

It's also the environment that determines a considerable part of the growth and development of children.

I thought the whole idea of being a conservative was to keep the government from messing around in people's lives. And yet they say the government should be getting into people's families. That's messing pretty heavily where I come from.

We have to stop harming children in child care. I'm trying to make us stop. I wouldn't know what to do otherwise.

I study children, and they're my subjects in my studies. They're my colleagues, really, all these little kids. And I owe them.

Kids do better, frankly [when the economy is strong]. Jobs make great years for kids.