A novel makes it possible to understand not just events, but the people who control the events; not only their choices, but also their motives.
Republicans have been fleeced and exploited and lied to by a conservative entertainment complex.
People who want to wage cultural wars ought to keep in mind that cultural views often don’t move at all for a very long time, but when they move they can move very fast.
The Iraq fight itself is probably going to go very, very fast. The shooting should be over within just a very few days from when it starts.
People need to understand that in Washington, the process is the punishment.
My view on candidates on money is unless it’s proven that the donor stole the money, the campaign keeps the money.
There are a lot of wonderful people in America who shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court – and a lot who should be on the court who aren’t such wonderful people.
Why should we not expect self-designated environmental leaders to practice what they preach?
I’m a latecomer to the environmental issue, which for years seemed to me like an excuse for more government regulation. But I can see that in rich societies, voters are paying less attention to economic issues and more to issues of the spirit, including the environment.
So if I have two pieces of cake, do I have twice as good an experience as the first piece of cake? One of the things I’ve found in life is that the first piece of cake is the best.
Nobody ever won an election by spitting at his political opponents.
The thing that sustains a strong Fox network is the thing that undermines a strong Republican party.
Speech writers are more vulnerable to vanity than any other group of people in Washington.
Whenever you discuss politics, it is always better to use individual names rather then the term neocon.
The big winners under the American fiscal system are the rich, who pay some of the lowest taxes anywhere in the world; the old, who are the main beneficiaries of the American social service state; farmers, rural people. These are Republican constituencies.
The elite isn’t leading anymore. It’s trapped.
Partly because of the desperate economic situation in the country, what were once the leading institutions of conservatism are constrained.
If right and left are competing to be the biggest victim, who is competing to be the government?
Journalism can go right up to the door of the room in which the decisions are made. A novel can go inside the room – and inside the character’s heads.
Look, the media are trapped by changes in the technology and business of their industry.
Maybe it’s true that people with less extreme views who are also interested in public affairs have been driven out by a marketplace that doesn’t offer them anything of the tone they want to listen to.