For a person who promised hope and civility in politics, Mr. Obama has shown a borderline obsessiveness in blaming Mr. Bush.

'Empathy' is the latest code word for liberal activism, for treating the Constitution as malleable clay to be kneaded and molded in whatever form justices want. It represents an expansive view of the judiciary in which courts create policy that couldn't pass the legislative branch or, if it did, would generate voter backlash.

In Europe and the United States, you've got different systems to select candidates, and no system is perfect.

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

71 percent of the American people think that the federal government should take no more than 20 percent of anybody's paycheck no matter how much they make.

Social Security is fine for those at or near retirement today. For those receiving their checks today, don't worry. It's going to be there for you. For those that are nearing their retirement years, don't worry, it's going to be there for you. But for your kids - for your boy and my boy, and for their children, for our kids and grandkids, it's a real big question as to whether or not the system's going to be there.

Would the Iraq War have occurred without WMD? I doubt it.