I find having a column a very difficult form of journalism. I'm not a natural like Tom Friedman and Anna Quindlen.

Perpetual optimism is annoying. It is a sign that you are not paying attention.

We are riveted by the soap operas of public lives. We admire the famous most for what makes them infamous: it reassures us that they are not better and no happier than all the people with their noses pressed hard against the glass.

It is men's worst fear, personally and professionally, that women will pin the sin on them.

Military guys are rarely as smart as they think they are, and they've never gotten over the fact that civilians run the military.

When I need to work up my nerve to write a tough column, I try to think of myself as Emma Peel in a black leather catsuit.

I think even the Hollywood money people are saying they've got to get the party back from the Clinton wing. They can't, you know, keep nominating these Northeast liberals. They have to look for people who can win.