Have a definite opinion.

Different regions may require different strategies, as President Bush has noted, but not different basic principles. It's either collective security or selective security.

Last, but not least, avoid cliches like the plague.

The Republicans do not look on the Democrats as the evil empire.

I'm a right-wing pundit and have been for many years.

We are all environmentalists now, but we are not all planetists. An environmentalist realizes that nature has its pleasures and deserves respect. A planetist puts the earth ahead of the earthlings.

Never look for the story in the 'lede.' Reporters are required to put what's happened up top, but the practiced pundit places a nugget of news, even a startling insight, halfway down the column, directed at the politiscenti. When pressed for time, the savvy reader starts there.