Even if [Republicans] were willing to stick a finger in his eye, they won’t hold the searching oversight hearings now on how this whole thing came about.

What she did just makes you cringe. It’s clearly unethical by any standard.

What they’ve done, at least, is to give themselves a little breathing room from what was going to be a really ugly confrontation, and one that was a complete lose-lose for Republicans, no matter what.

The pending complaint on DeLay was on the Texas case (over political fund raising),

Let’s face it. When you’re the governor of New York and even mentioned as a presidential candidate, you’re going to be under an enormous microscope.

What Gore needs, to counter the anti-Clinton, anti-Gore sentiment that’s out there for a number of Democrats, is strong labor backing. And this issue is a thorn in the side of organized labor. This is...

I think it’s clear we’re in damage control now.

This is a powerful partnership.

It’s the most expansive vision of the executive power of a president in our lifetime. To suggest that (Congress has) given him a blanket authority to do what he has done is a vast stretch.

President Bush right now is in the midst of a very severe case of second-term blues.

The fault line here is really among the fiscally conservative Republicans, who are uneasy about deficits.

When you have a dramatic expansion of the ability of individual members to direct federal funds or to designate contracts, you are creating the most fertile environment for corruption imaginable.

Lobbying is in the DNA of the political process … and you’re never going to get around human nature. So you can’t legislate perfection here, but it’s very clear that we’ve gotten lax, and there’s...

To a large degree the durability of this compromise is going to depend on the actions of President Bush. He can keep it or blow it up. It depends on what kind of judges he...

In some ways there’s a real desire to get out of it because you don’t want to be saddled with a loss, but if you leave now it’s like opting out of the battlefield in...

There’s a sense that there is a culture of cronyism and corruption and incompetence

Congress as a whole needs to step back and look at the way it conducts its business. It’s not just lobbyists influencing members of Congress, it’s members of Congress shaking down lobbyists for money.

Everything that surrounded the K Street Project and what flowed from it all of that is under intense pressure.

This is not just a one-way street.

President Bush right now is in a very serious case of second-term blues. It may be the avian flu of second-term blues.

It’s a self-perpetuating system involving interests, members of Congress, people in the executive branch and patronage positions and so on.

I think if you took a secret ballot in the Senate and House, you’d get a majority of Republicans joining on to those [libertarian] concerns. But the majority of Republicans in both houses see themselves...

It’s just not a realistic budget. It’s not a budget the Republicans are going to go anywhere near … Perhaps the best thing they have going for them is that Democrats really don’t have much...

You have smart people and a lot of money at stake. People are going to find loopholes.

That would have been a big plus for the president. You get the blame when you’re the top dog. And in this case, I think there is no doubt that we had inadequate preparation and...

I’m sure that he’s growing a little tired of members taking what he believes are gratuitous personal shots at him,

Some members are pulling the blanket over their heads and hoping the storm will pass. For others, there is also a genuine belief that if you just jump in a spasm of reaction, you could...

There’s no question that it will hurt him and it will hurt him significantly. He’s still getting the solid support from his base. The question now is whether his performance with the hurricane begins to...

My understanding is that now, after taking soundings, he’s thinking about running for leader.

Even if the reality is, there’s nothing more that he could have done back in Washington or anywhere else … the symbol matters.

I think Specter is going to be protective of Roberts against what he thinks are intrusive questions. But if he thinks Roberts is not even beginning to address larger questions of philosophy of judging, then...

We build people up who have positions of power or visibility and venerate them and then have to show they have feet of clay.

If you passed a steroids bill now while letting the deficit careen out of control and not doing much to get Iraq on track, they would attract a lot of ridicule for spending their time...

There is extreme nervousness about November. The last thing that members want is to be out there in a tough campaign, where the wind is at your face, defending the indefensible.

Having a lot of time left as president is a good thing for him, because it gives him the opportunities and time to get out of some of these holes.

If we’re going to end up with a lower turnout special election, that’s one in which a Republican may be able to do a little better. But I’ve got to believe that you’re still going...

Lots of members have been appalled at the kind of Gilded Age mentality of the party. Others felt like they had to take one for the team.

The pivotal moment in the 1992 campaign was when [the first President] Bush said, ‘The economy is not as bad as you think it is’. If this president reaches a point where he’s suggesting the...

It’s a disaster for DeLay. They’ve not only formally started the process, but this is a public petition.

By any standard this is a low point. It will be interesting to see if Bush goes for a conservative, in-your-face appointment to the Supreme Court to rally the base, which has been more critical...

Even those people in the leadership who’ve done commendable jobs may find themselves in the cross hairs just because it’s possible there will be a more widespread desire for change.

This is a major fork in the road for him.

It would have gone past us as just one of those moments where each side was teeing off against the other. But that event punctuated things, and I do think it made a difference in...

But, after the terrible lapses that occurred here, they are going to be on the defensive, and the ability to push other things onto the agenda will be limited.

The Republicans will make a bonfire under Jim McDermott,