I believe in the principles of the Republican Party.

I would have strong opinions and be prepared to argue my case, but if you talk to my colleagues, I think you'd find they consider me the jokester, the informal mayor of the West Wing.

If we do with Latinos what we did with African-Americans, Republicans and conservatives will be doomed.

But, look, Washington is a town that creates myths for its own existence and its own amusement, and I was a subject of myth, sort of like Grendel in Beowulf - you know, not seen very often but often talked about.

If you look underneath the surface of the Tea Party movement, on the other hand, you will find that it is not sophisticated. It's not like these people have read the economist Friedrich August von Hayek.

It's not comfortable for me to write about my family. I'm not comfortable writing about me.

If you decide to become a political actor, then the things that you say and you do become subject of public scrutiny and comment.