Very few undocumented workers come here to be unemployed.

Ideological purity does not now, nor has it ever, produced results.

The vast majority of Secret Service agents are incredibly competent people.

Disney World is exactly the wrong description of how the Secret Service should operate in public. Their jobs are not about pleasing adults and children, but rather protecting the president and the first family.

When I worked in the White House in the 1970s and '80s, I was often stopped within the White House by agents checking my credentials. They were very observant and would stop anyone they didn't recognize.

I salute South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Lindsey Graham for their calls to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the Statehouse.

When a black man is stopped by a cop for no apparent reason, that is covert racism. When a black woman shops in a fancy store and is followed by security guards, that is covert racism. It is more subtle than 1960s racism, but it is still racism.

Jim Crow laws stripped blacks of basic rights. Despite landmark civil rights laws, many public schools were still segregated, blacks still faced barriers to voting, and violence by white racists continued. Such open racism is mostly gone in America, but covert racism is alive and well.

I think a flat tax has merit. Anything would be better than the current tax code.

Most federal employees perform their tasks honorably and well.

As tragic as Benghazi was, its importance pales next to killing Osama bin Laden.

If politicians of both parties would spend more time legislating and less time attacking each other, we would all be better off.

There have been plenty of Republican efforts to go to the extreme scandal zone. Impeaching Bill Clinton was a classic example. Fortunately, the Senate had enough sense to acquit Clinton, and the American people were behind him in huge numbers.

Republicans just don't get that their idea of scandal is not what the average American thinks is a serious scandal.

The media role in highlighting racial incidents only serves to exacerbate tension. We rarely write about racial harmony.

Republicans need to stop complaining about blacks voting over 90% for Democrats. If they're not willing to compete in those neighborhoods, they will keep losing those voters.

Politicos talk a big game about bringing jobs to devastated cities like Detroit, but rarely succeed.

We've come a long way from the days of Jim Crow, and yes, we elected a black president, but racism lives.

I've been involved in five presidential campaigns, once as national campaign manager for Walter Mondale.

When issues emerge that might harm a campaign, like the Clinton e-mails, you have to get all the facts out right away, but not before you have all the facts.

In presidential campaigns, experience as a candidate is an invaluable asset.

Hillary Clinton is in political trouble and perhaps even legal trouble over her use of private e-mail accounts and bypassing government-issued accounts containing substantial amounts of information that belongs to the federal government. But ultimately, I don't think this latest controversy will hurt her presidential ambitions.

Too many younger people seem to prefer following celebrities instead of doing the work required to get an education that will someday lead to a job. If students today spent as much time on math and science and history as they do following these shallow celebrities, they might actually become contributors to society someday.

I would be delighted not to see another celebrity, regardless of their political beliefs, come to Washington to make yet another appeal for some cause about which they know little.