constituted a critical lapse in judgement and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely responsable

All America loses when any person is denied or forced out of a job because of sexual orientation. Being gay, the last time I thought about it, seemed to have nothing to do with the ability to read a balance book, fix a broken bone, or change a spark plug.

If you believe in making change from the bottom up, if you believe the measure of change is how many people's lives are better, you know it's hard and some people think it's boring. Speeches like this are fun, actually doing the work is hard.

I will tell you this: I will not raise taxes on the middle-class to pay for these programs.

There are a lot of very brilliant people who believe that the nation-state is fast becoming a relic of the past.

I like the job. That's what I'll miss the most... I'm not sure anybody ever liked this as much as I've liked it.

When I was a younger man and had a life, I owned an El Camino pickup in the '70s. It was a real sort of Southern deal. I had Astroturf in the back.