Frederick Douglass had to teach himself how to read before standing up to defeat slavery.

Ann Romney... looked to me like a corporate wife. The stories she told about struggles - eh! It's hard for me to believe. I mean, she's a very rich woman, and I know that, and America knows that.

If you're a black kid, you're going to have hell in your life.

Apparently, the heart of opposition to new gun regulations is in the white community. Yet white people face far less daily violence with guns.

Hikes in the debt ceiling - without any political demands from the opposition party - had been routine until President Obama took office.

As the 2012 elections approach the finish line, the chatter among columnists and political reporters is about upcoming books that take readers inside the campaigns, cutting-edge efforts to micro-target voters on Internet social applications, the enormous money flowing through super-PACs, and extreme political polarization.

The 2012 presidential campaign's turn away from the classic, straight-up, American election - where the candidate who gets the most votes nationwide wins - is another sad reminder of the extreme political polarization distorting today's politics. No one talks about a 50-state strategy for winning the presidency these days.