I believe that the flag of the Confederate States of America is a painful symbol and reminder of racial injustice and slavery which Abraham Lincoln denounced from here over 150 years ago.

If money is a form of speech, as the Supreme Court has regrettably found, rich donors will always be the loudest speakers.

The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite. We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion dollars bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and who refuse to condemn Hezbollah.

That's one of the things about the Tea Party people. They think corporations have too much influence in American life and they do.

The war in Iraq was unwinnable.

I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.

The path to a better future goes directly through our public schools. I have nothing against private schools, parochial schools and home schooling, and I think that parents with the means and inclination should choose whatever they believe is best for their children. But those choices cannot compete, and cannot come at the expense of what has been -- and what must always be -- the great equalizer in our society, a free and equal public education.