This war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything.

I was born and raised in the high desert of Nevada in a tiny town called Searchlight. My dad was a hard rock miner. My mom took in wash. I grew up around people of strong values - even if they rarely talked about them.

Now that our troops are mired in a dangerous effort to defeat the insurgency and are also trying to help rebuild the country, Americans of all political persuasions simply want the United States to succeed and our troops to be as safe as possible.

I am convinced that I do not want to give up more power to the White House, whether it's George Bush or Barack Obama. And I'm going to fight as hard as I can against President Obama on these earmarks and my Republican colleagues who hate to vote for them, but love to get them.

I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words.

Everybody else, including the rich people, are willing to pay more. They want to pay more.

People in Nevada know me from the street to the ring to the Senate chambers. I've never had to prove my manhood to anyone.