Richard Cohen

“There was a time when an ordinary American could close the door and keep the world at bay. Now the world comes elbowing in every time you go online.”

“I am not a German bitter-ender. I am, though, a German never-forgetter.”

“Fox News has been a force in converting the party of Lincoln into the party of Trump. The network's allegiance to Trump approaches mindless adoration.”

“The concept of cultural appropriation is nothing less than an intellectual fence: Keep out.”

“Israel may be beloved, but for American security, it is not essential.”

“I don't like what George Zimmerman did, and I hate that Trayvon Martin is dead. But I also can understand why Zimmerman was suspicious and why he thought Martin was wearing a uniform we all recognize.”

“Republicans remain silent because Trump is doing what they want - lowering taxes on the rich, eviscerating regulations, bulldozing the environment, and insisting that a woman's body is not her own.”

“The more Scott Walker campaigns, the more he proves he is not intellectually fit for the office he's seeking. He asserts innocent ignorance on matters he should by now know something about - a way of masking his apparent bigotry.”

“Our country undergoes periodic episodes of extreme intolerance and fear of foreigners, refugees in particular. Not only were people of Japanese descent placed in internment camps during World War II, but so were some Italians and Germans.”

“I never went to college to make money.”

“Every rippling muscle is a book not read, a movie not seen, or a conversation not held.”

“As a presidential candidate, Trump seems heaven-sent just to make fools out of Republicans.”

“Hillary Clinton looms over the Democratic Party like Evita from her balcony.”

“We fear hackers lifting our digital wallet, a public accounting of our private lives, and we wonder if the shoes that follow us around the Internet will someday, with the click of a distant mouse, look like the jackboots of old.”

“Pence is not a man to look a gift horse in the mouth. He's got his eye on 2020.”

“The NRA has led the way in the mainstreaming of a demented gun ideology.”

“Something about the Clintons sets the GOP to howling at the moon.”

“I am glad to see the Confederate battle flag gone from a place of honor at the South Carolina state capitol.”

“I served in the Army. I worked at blue-collar jobs. I washed dishes and bused tables.”

“In my several visits to Germany, I have written in admiration of that country's strenuous efforts to face its past and make amends.”