Paul Begala

While Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are sort of circling each other like two scorpions in a jar, it's John Edwards who the smart money is on particularly to win Iowa.

They are not slowing down.

I think she's a politician who wears well over time.

I think he is a viable candidate. I have no idea if he'll actually get in. I think he's very viable.

He has been the chief cheerleader for what most Americans -- two-thirds of us now -- think has been a disastrous war in Iraq.

It's the war. It's all about the war.

The key variable is not American will. It's Iraqi will. And the Iraqis have to decide if they want to have a country or if they want to have a civil war.

That is such hog wash. That is such a load of garbage from a guy like Richard Lugar, who is a respected thinker on foreign affairs.

He has got to find a way to move the reality on the ground.

It's not even a debate anymore as to whether he's a lame duck. It's whether he's a dead duck because of Iraq.

No military strategy will work unless we have a political strategy on the ground that will actually make these Iraqis want to come together in a multi-sectarian nation

What he's going to do is extend the tours of duties of young men and women who are already overextended.

The -- the problem here is not that the Democrats don't have a plan. It's that Mr. Bush doesn't have a clue.

The one indispensable person for this Democratic victory was George W. Bush.

I think the Democrats I am seeing are much more centrist.

I am very confident the Democrats will take the House. I'm still not confident they're going to take the Senate.

It's the biggest issue out there, Anderson, but not the only one. Democrats are very upset with the war and Americans are very upset.

If he is, he ought to be paid by the Republican Party, not by the American taxpayers.

It's definitely a demotion, you know, but -- nobody ever surrenders power in the West Wing voluntarily, nobody, ever, and Karl especially.

The president's problem is Iraq. The president's problem is Katrina. The president's problem is the deficit. The president's problem is gasoline prices at three bucks a gallon.

Nobody ever surrenders power in the West Wing voluntarily, nobody, ever, and Karl especially.

Most presidents, and, frankly, the successful ones, have had a lot of strong people around them.

I would start with Dick Cheney and finish with Barney the dog, and fire the lot of them.

If the president fails to let off some of that steam, bleed off some of that energy for change, it's actually very good for the Democrats.

It is, frankly, in the Democrats' political interest for Bush to continue the status quo, because that's what they want.