"Our laws governing lobbying and campaign contributions have struck the right balance between the wishes of the people and those of private industry, so why are we so quick to doubt that the same great results can be achieved by putting the government's justice-dealing branch on the same market-based course?"

"Maybe that first, gigantic deficit the Reaganites piled up was an accident, just a combination of deluded 'supply side' tax cuts and a huge bag of good stuff for the Pentagon. But pretty quickly conservatives discovered that deficits, when done correctly, did something really cool: deficits defunded the Left."

"As you may recall, Truman was extremely unpopular when he finally left Washington in 1953, thanks largely to the Korean War. Today, however, he is thought to have been a solidly good president, a 'Near Great' even, in the terminology of those surveys of historians they do every now and then."

"What is at stake in the debate over health care is more than the mere crafting of policy. The issue is now the identity of the Democratic Party."

"It is a timeless truth that ethics is not a doctrine written in marble, but a daily standard lived in conscience."

"Why would anyone lie? The truth is always more colorful."

"I make films from the heart. I want to concentrate on the job of doing great and honest performances, and I'm gonna get better with every performance of mine, with every film of mine."

"And he that strives to touch the stars,   Oft stumbles at a straw."