30 Quotes by Jonathan Alter

And by laying the groundwork for a system centered on home ownership rather than the public housing popular in Europe, the New Deal made possible the great postwar housing boom that populated the Sun Belt and boosted millions of Americans into the middle class, where, ironically, they often became Republicans.

The Times will not comment on the meeting, but one can only imagine the president?s desperation. The problem was not that the disclosures would compromise national security, as Bush claimed at his press conference. ...No, Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story?which the paper had already inexplicably held for a year?because he knew that it would reveal him as a law-breaker.

The price of loyalty is incompetence.

It sometimes takes a while for executives to figure out that the reporters they think of as little bugs to be squashed or spun can be more powerful than they are.

In the press grandstand where I watched Discovery rise against the cloudless sky, the media hit the abort button on cynicism. The Earth shook to the sounds of man, three miles away. The candle lit. . . only someone stripped of awe can leave a launch untouched.

The key to fixing education is better teaching, and the key to better teaching is figuring out who can teach and who can't.

If it's easy for the government to learn about us, it should be easier for us to learn about the government, what they're doing.

Logic can convince but only emotion can motivate.

The only thing worse than a silly politician analyzing art is a silly artist analyzing politics