A generation ago [the Democratic Party] stood for progressive change. Now they defend every federal program as if each were sacred. They have become the most conservative force in American politics.

I'm from Minnesota. I'm optimistic. I mean, that's just who I am.

We have to fight the terrorists as if there were no rules and preserve our open society as if there were no terrorists.

You'll know the green revolution has been won when the word 'green' disappears.

I'm a capitalist. I believe in capitalism. But capitalism only works if you have safety nets to deal with people who are naturally left behind and brutalized by it.

I have no problem with a war for oil-if we accompany it with a real program for energy conservation. But when we tell the world we couldn't care less about climate change, that we feel entitled to drive whatever big cars we feel like, that we feel entitled to consume however much oil we like, the message we send is that a war for oil in the gulf is not a war to protect the world's right to economic survival-but our right to indulge. Now that will be seen as immoral.

Most jobs are outsourced to the past, they aren't outsourced to India or Mexico or Pakistan or anywhere else.