Diversity has been written into the DNA of American life; any institution that lacks a rainbow array has come to seem diminished, if not diseased.

For me, a really radical position for journalism to take is to stop being cynical. Cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre.

Bush the Elder's stature as president grows with every passing year. He was the finest foreign policy president I've ever covered and a man who defied his party on tax increases while imposing budget restrictions on the Democrats.

You can't get all of your news from Jon Stewart, especially since it's a comedy show.

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

In point of fact, 'Simpson-Bowles' has become a symbol, or SimBowl, rather than an actual plan, political shorthand for the process of long-term deficit reduction.

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