Prison is an important part of life. We can't have violent people running around in the streets. (3 out of 4 federal prisoners are serving time for non-violent crimes.) Most competent and qualified kindergarden teachers can tell you who the 5 kids are in his or her class likely to wind up in prison 15 - 20 years from now.

I was hoping to get a reception like this, I'd just hoped that it would be on Thursday night instead of Tuesday night.

Most Christmas carols have no obvious religious content, or at least that's noticeable to most people. I mean, it is almost by definition, a cultural phenomenon, all these songs, even though they point to this very religious holiday. They're not religious songs in effect anymore.

Every single American has a voice and ... it ought to be heard in the halls of power every day.

The capture of Saddam has not made America safer.

I talked for a long time about that, what I call the hate wing of the Republican Party.And often been criticized for saying it. But there is such a thing, and it started in 1968 with the southern strategy developed by Richard Nixon to bring southern racists out of the Democratic Party and into the Republican Party, which they succeeded in doing.

I think the recovery hasn't been stronger because the hole that was dug for President Obama by the Bush administration was far worse than anybody could imagine, first of all.