Back in George W. Bush's second term, when diplomatic realism began to overtake foolish bellicosity, the president developed one of his patented nicknames for the two most powerful neoconservative journalists, William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer: he called them 'the Bomber Boys.'

I got into journalism because I came of age in the '60s. It just seemed one way for me to get things done.

What do you do in a novel? You take recognizable characters from your own life, and you fantasize about what they're really like.

Dictating to dictators doesn't work; they are congenitally delusional about their own indispensability.

I believe, I believe that the people who voted in those primaries for Donald Trump were at least helping him along with his message of hate toward immigrants, toward Muslims.

I believe that poverty is often the result of inappropriate behavior - out-of-wedlock births, dropping out of school, crime and drugs - which should not be rewarded. But often it isn't, and common decency requires that we take care of the least of these.

You know, larger than life is always better than smaller than life in politicians. And, you know, God save us from mediocrities.