Good policy makes good politics and what I've done has been good politics.

For longer than I've been involved in the political process, the Republican establishment has claimed to want to provide an alternative for the black community, yet party elite refuse to show up for the game.

In my wildest imagination, I never thought that the fifth of six children born to Helen and Buddy Watts - in a poor black neighborhood, in the poor rural community of Eufaula, Oklahoma - would someday be called Congressman.

I think in politics, in Congress, you often do things that are Republican, or you do things because you're a Democrat. Sometimes that's good, obviously, and sometimes that's obviously bad. But in the news business, there's no such thing as Republican or Democratic news. News is news.

There's a whole lot more to the African-American community than entertainment and sports.

When it comes to the American dream, no one has a corner on the market. All of us have an equal chance to share in that dream.

It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go.