Barbara Boxer is the most bitterly partisan, most anti-defense senator in the United States Senate today. I know that because I've had the unpleasant experience of having to serve with her.

We are taught to understand, correctly, that courage is not the absence of fear, but the capacity for action despite our fears.

I believe strongly that we should have nominees to the United States Supreme Court based on their qualifications rather than any litmus test.

Some urge we do nothing because we can't be certain how bad the (climate) problem might become or they presume the worst effects are most likely to occur in our grandchildren's lifetime. I'm a proud conservative, and I reject that kind of live-for-today, 'me generation,' attitude. It is unworthy of us and incompatible with our reputation as visionaries and problem solvers. Americans have never feared change. We make change work for us.

But I also want to change the dynamics of this debate, which has kept us gridlocked into positions which caused people to shoot at abortion clinics and other Americans to view it as the only issue in American politics, ... There are areas we can agree on. ... We need to work together to eliminate abortion.

A man I admire and respect - Congressman John Lewis, an American hero, made allegations that Sarah Palin and I were somehow associated with the worst chapter in American history, segregation, deaths of children in church bombings, George Wallace. That, to me, was so hurtful.

How much damage will have been done before we act?