Thieves don't usually make good therapists.

The Dream Act and the DISCLOSE Act, to name two, had majorities in both chambers during Obama's first term, but they were filibustered to death. They probably await a similar fate unless the filibuster is reformed.

I think the challenge for anyone in a visible industry, whether it's media, government, or political organizing, is to take serious criticism seriously and not to live in the shadows of the noise and the concern trolls.

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

If you believe in democracy, you accept, by definition, the existence and triumph of opposing ideas. The people who believe deeply in the Internet's force as a commons operate on that kind of premise.

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

'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.

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.

Younger viewers have a very strong detector for what's real and legit and what's phony or pandering.

TV ads are great for broadcasting, but voter turnout is about narrow-casting. And not all messengers are created equal.