In 2008, as a matter of fact, I had people accusing me of being a Senator Obama supporter because I wouldn't slam him. I said, 'Well, consider the fact that I voted for impeachment for President Clinton, but it wasn't a personal vote. I voted based on the facts and the law and the Constitution and what we were dealing with.'

You saw the exodus of many people on the business council, who resigned, who said those are not my personal values, those are not our corporate values, and those - we don't believe - are the values of our country.

There is a direct correlation between education, stable families and incarceration and crime.

I never got into politics for it to be a career.

Everything I am I owe to my faith and secondly to parents who were old school.

Most of all, however, critics of black conservatives say we've forgotten where we came from. I may forget a federal budget number or, God forbid, to set the alarm clock for my weekly 6 a.m. flight to Washington, but I know exactly where I came from.

My views on everything from welfare to a balanced budget to affirmative action can be traced to what Buddy and Helen Watts taught me as a young boy growing up poor but proud in Eufaula.