Any successful nominee should possess both the temperament to interpret the law and the wisdom to do so fairly. The next Supreme Court Justice should have a record of protecting individual rights and a strong willingness to put aside any political agenda.

I want to say with the utmost of sincerity not as a Republican but as an American that I have great respect for Senator Obama's historic achievement to become his party's nominee not because of his color but with indifference to it.

When the Senate ceases to engage nominees in meaningful discussion of legal issues the confirmation process takes on an air of vacuity and farce and the Senate becomes incapable of either properly evaluating nominees or appropriately educating the public.

I wish I had known more firsthand about the concerns and problems of American businesspeople while I was a U.S. senator and later a presidential nominee. That knowledge would have made me a better legislator and a more worthy aspirant to the White House.

Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman.' Wouldn't they have to withdraw? New racism is no better than old racism.

My nominee for Best Picture of the year - maybe the best picture ever because it's essentially made up of and is an ecstatic love letter to all other movies - is Christian Marclay's endlessly enticing must-see masterpiece 'The Clock.'