Ronald Reagan's attack on people who receive public assistance was partially an attack on people of color.

Trayvon Martin could have been any of our sons, so I was not especially moved by that remark of President [Barack] Obama's.

I hope his wife feeds him [Clarence Thomas, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court] lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease. . . . He is an absolutely reprehensible person.

Sometimes, I repeat myself, and that was a second elimination [of Barack Obama]. I worked with a team, including a great editor who, as the project came together, suggested other additions and eliminations. It was a process.

Don't believe the hype that black North Carolinians are not voting. We've heard this time and time again. It's just not the truth.

We have a very large military community - veterans and others - who basically do believe in the militarism.

It was quite a process to narrow more than 400 columns down to 80. I write weekly, though, and I don't always write about President [Barack] Obama, so that was the easy elimination.