The closer one gets to elections or wars, the further one gets from the truth.

It may not be fair, but it's true that in politics - in TV broadcasting, in any public figure - people pay attention to your appearances. One of the things we were all talking about was Al Gore won't be running for president unless we see that he's losing weight. Americans usually elect a taller man president.

We think we can't survive without deficit spending - but we soon won't be able to survive with deficit spending, either.

As boom- and bust-prone as high finance always has been and remains, the greatest systemic risk to our economy is not Wall Street. It's the growing federal debt (and weakening dollar) being enacted by those Washington politicians - the ones who want to protect us from Wall Street.

I've always found that avoiding insanity is useful in life - which in American politics sometimes puts one in the minority.

The fact is that we do pay attention. I think that it's unfortunately the case, whether you're a man or woman and you're running for president you need to look as good as you can look.

A Diogenesian search for an honest person would rarely lead to the author of a memoir.