Claire McCaskill: “When it is children, it is HHS.”

There is an over-classification problem, and I was surprised Secretary Gates didn't mention it.

I think that, fundamentally, voters do understand that we have very, very low unemployment. They see it in their families, that everybody has jobs, everybody can get jobs, their jobs are paying slightly better.

This is really, really bad. What they’re saying is, if you criticize the president of the United States, as an elected member of Congress, we will silence you.

This is never a referendum. Presidential elections, by the time they run around, is always, 'well, who do you like slightly better than the two you don't like?' So it is a binary choice.