In Washington, I found myself as a 31-year-old in a room with the president, vice president, and secretaries of state and defense, and I was unfazed by it. But get me around a rock star I grew up with and I have trouble completing sentences.

I'm serious about this. The Republican Party needs to reform or die. President Bush did three things. He destroyed the Republican majority, he crippled the American conservative movement and he weakened the country. That's a hell of a trifecta.

I got to do something I never do, which is go to Starbucks and read 'The New York Times' until 7 a.m. I took my daughter to school on the East Side, which was a lot of fun. And I admit I played Call of Duty, one of those war video games.

Good rule to follow: never reward someone's incivility by giving them the headline they seek.

We're going to look awfully stupid if we give income tax relief to people who do not pay income taxes.

For eight years Republicans worked around the clock to delegitimize Bill Clinton. For the next eight years, Democrats tried to delegitimize Bush. Now Barack Obama is enduring the rage of his conservative opposition.

You gotta choose what battles you can win.