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

Cast aside any column about two subjects. It means the pundit chickened out on the hard decision about what to write about that day.

The Latin motto over Poindexter's new Pentagon office reads Scientia Est Potentia - "knowledge is power." Exactly: the government's infinite knowledge about you is its power over you.

The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.

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.

Some handsome and ambitious men believe they are above all morality, and a woman's virtue becomes a mere challenge to them.

George Washington had a tough second term.