Americans want to be protected, but not at the cost of vitiating the values that make us Americans.

Wooing the press is an exercise roughly akin to picnicking with a tiger. You might enjoy the meal, but the tiger always eats last.

Settling is about not embracing what is best for you and accepting what you really don't want. When you settle, you accept less than you deserve. Settling becomes a habit and a way of life, but it doesn't have to be. According to Maureen Dowd, "The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for

I think the evangelicals think they're in a holy war now.

Celebrity distorts democracy by giving the rich, beautiful, and famous more authority than they deserve.

Zingers should glow with intelligence as well as drip with contempt.

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.