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

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

Affirmative action was always racial justice on the cheap.

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

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.

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.

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