The United States has to be a leader in the world, because the problem is: If we are not leading, nobody else will.

I don't usually comment on columnists' ideas of what I'm thinking. That's a dangerous game to get into.

I think the primary message to the world is that the United States is going to remain the strongest military power in the world.

The Taliban is resilient.

I'm not big on commissions.

The president is out there today trying to talk about health care, and the reality is nobody cares about what he's saying on health care because this news is consuming everything. No president could tolerate that or should tolerate it.

In the zero-sum budget game, every dollar spent on this problem [illegal immigration] must be taken from somewhere else....No, we should not tolerate people immigrating illegally. But we need to treat this issue honestly and fairly.