Tea Party adherents are actually more religion-driven and more anti-abortion than the party they are supposedly upending.

Obama must scrutinize and disassemble the post-Sept. 11 imperial presidency, even if he reduces his own power in the process.

The Bush administration opened several lines of attack against the rule of law and the integrity of an independent Justice Department. The scandals are so famous that they've been reduced to shorthand: Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, NSA, Attorneygate.

Obama can show that America's promise of equality not only means that anyone can reach the highest office in the land - it also means that everyone is equally subject to the law.

If anything, the genuine human struggles in 'Sicko' raise questions about our society that run much deeper than what passes for political discourse today. Why does such a rich nation let people suffer and die without health care?

Obama's openness is a welcome change from his predecessor, who went all the way to the Supreme Court to hide the RSVP list for a single policy meeting. And transparency is intrinsically good, since in a democracy, very little government activity is legitimately secret.

A louder government with less journalism does not enrich our democratic process.

When a government forcibly holds enough people indefinitely without trial, it evokes the kinds of raids, detention, and abuses of power associated with authoritarian states - or darker periods in American history.

Even George W. Bush, who as president pushed the boundaries of executive power, never proposed a statutory scheme to hold people indefinitely.

A precedent provides legal authority for an action precisely because it occurred before.

I got some experience appearing as a guest on several news channels, and I thought over the years I would be able to mix practicing law and writing with providing analysis on TV. I didn't know that would lead to a full-time opportunity that would take me away from my law practice. When MSNBC made me an offer to join, I jumped at it.

My job is to be accurate and clear.

Law and politics are often overly complicated because there are people that don't want the rest of us to know what's going on.

It always rankled me - in law school and the legal profession - when lawyers would speak to each other in their own exclusive language.

There are a lot of things that people learn and live through culture first, and politics comes afterward.

The press is always more comfortable with factual determinations than moral ones, although in day-to-day life, a lot of people care a heck of a lot more about morality than every precise actual fact.

Being an independent reporter with legal knowledge fits me better than being an attorney who is representing one side or one goal.

I would love to get Chief Justice John Roberts for an interview. I think that would be fascinating, I think that Supreme Court nominees should do more interviews.

'House of Cards' is aiming for truth, not accuracy.

Washington is deeply frustrating because so many of the positions that politicians hold are a product of ephemeral self-interest. They reverse themselves, for themselves, all the time.

Hypocrites are more enraging than extremists, as every campaign operative knows.

'House of Cards' is full of hypocrites, some ashamed, many proud. There is no silver lining here, no appeal to a just system that is temporarily thwarted by corrupting forces.

While 'Django Unchained' presents a morally stark universe, where people do and say evil things with no remorse, it also luxuriates in the license that such evil provides.

TV is still a 'push' medium - we are broadcasting into any home or business with basic cable, and depending on what's happening in the world, we have a wider audience, from news junkies to very sporadic viewers. On TV, you want your reporting to be valuable to that entire audience and be relevant.

One of the great things about 'The Cycle' is that we have a wide set of topics - news, culture, music, and sports - and every week, we have several authors of new books on, which often injects literature, history, technology, business, and science into our show as well.

I started freelancing, writing op-eds and book reviews, one at a time. I then got the opportunity to write recurring freelance pieces for 'The Nation' magazine, focusing on how the Internet was changing politics.

I get up with an old-school alarm clock.

Thieves don't usually make good therapists.

It's never a good sign when extremism becomes the norm.

That's the problem with precedents. Even the extreme ones tend to get repeated.

Political operatives don't tend to be existentialists. They do know, however, that if a supporter doesn't vote, then his or her opinion does not make a sound - or a difference.

Republicans believe an obstructionist, do-nothing Congress will deny Obama momentum and keep their base energized.

The 'FISA Amendments Act' would gut the oversight system established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which subjected domestic spying to review by a special intelligence court.

From the Fourth Amendment to post-Watergate reforms to the national outcry when Bush's warrantless surveillance was revealed in 2005, the United States has a strong tradition of overseeing the government's power to spy on its citizens.

Like any extraordinary power, surveillance provides temptations for abuse, such as tracking political opponents and journalists.

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of American history knows that unchecked spying undermines democracy and public trust.

Corporations, like nations, do not have friends. They have interests.

A healthy corporation acts on the interests of its stakeholders and customers.

Shareholders, of course, have every right to weigh in on whether (or how) they want a company to exercise political influence.

When controversy calls, corporations can be far more responsive than politicians. The market votes every day, after all.

Of course, no one doubts McCain's personal tenacity, from braving torture to overcoming cancer. Yet plenty of nonpartisan observers doubt his credibility.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid likes to reminisce about being an amateur boxer. But his Senate tenure has often looked like an endless rope-a-dope.

Obstruction takes time.

Confronting Republicans can definitely mobilize a disaffected Democratic base.

It's hard to be a national punch line unless lots of voters have soured on you.

Historically, the most favorably viewed figure in any administration is the first lady, regardless of her husband's popularity. That is largely because first ladies avoid the political fray and are ritualistically presented as a warm, human presence in the White House.

Obama won the presidency by running the first integrated three-screen campaign - reaching people directly via Internet, cell phones, and TV - with an authentic, complex style that resonated for voters sick of dark, deceitful, and divisive politics.

In campaigns, promises are usually treated skeptically. Past positions are viewed as the one reliable way to gauge a candidate's instincts.

The modern GOP has perfected this cyclical deficit outrage ritual. Republicans run up the tab when they control the White House, then scream about deficits when Democrats win - insisting that 'serious reform' means cutting only Democratic budget priorities.