I say that the United States of America is a unique experiment in history. I believe in American exceptionalism. I wasn't for sending ground forces into Libya. It would have been counterproductive, but we are an inspiration to these people. I know because I've looked them in the eyes, and they looked at me. They look to America for inspiration and leadership.

As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it - along the lines that President Bush proposed.

After all this time and all this, quote, "experience," how is she [Hillary Clinton] not better at this [military]?

There's going to be other wars. I'm sorry to tell you, there's going to be other wars. We will never surrender, but there will be other wars.

I spent several years in a north Vietnamese prison camp in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the United States?

I am a Republican. I'm loyal to the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. And I believe that my party, in some ways, has strayed from those principles, particularly on the issue of fiscal discipline.

As part of my misspent youth, I spent too much time in the sun, and every few months, I have to go and have some basal cell removed from my old craggy features.