We have actually experienced in recent months a dramatic demonstration of an unprecedented intelligence failure, perhaps the most significant intelligence failure in the history of the United States.

The potential for regional conflict in the absence of an internationally active America is real.

The Chinese are really good at diplomacy - and even at making their interlocutors feel very uncomfortable.

I'm all in favour of grand important speeches, but the president then has to link his sermons to a strategy.

Many a poor soul has had to suffer from the weight of the debts on him, finding no rest or peace after death.

Asteroids are deep-space bodies orbiting the Sun, not the Earth, and traveling to one would mean sending humans into solar orbit for the very first time. Facing those challenges of radiation, navigation and life support on a months-long trip millions of miles from home would be a perfect learning journey before a Mars trip.

The truth is that I oppose the Iraq war, just as I opposed the Vietnam War, because these two conflicts have weakened the U.S. and diminished our standing in the world and our national security.

I think the big lesson I've learned is that it's very hard to write satire in America because almost immediately, whatever you've thought of turns out to come true, or sometimes it already was true.