The wonderful thing about being a New York Times columnist is that it's like a Supreme Court appointment - they're stuck with you for a long time.

To be accused of 'channeling' is to be dismissed as a ventriloquist's live dummy, derogated at not having a mind of one's own.

What a joy it is to see really professional media manipulation.

When duty calls, that is when character counts.

I think we have a need to know what we do not need to know.

The trick is to start early in our careers the stress-relieving avocation that we will need later as a mind-exercising final vocation. We can quit a job, but we quit fresh involvement at our mental peril.

Gridlock is great. My motto is, 'Don't just do something. Stand there.'