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I haven't been in Washington long, but I have learned that it is a place filled with people who say one thing to get elected and do the opposite once they get there.

I'm not a Washington person.

Washington is a place where politicians don't know which way is up and taxes don't know which way is down.

Most of the people who live in Washington come from other places and you can learn something from them.

Washington is a place where politics and economics often aren't on speaking terms.

Washington was a swamp. It was not somewhere that they believed people would want to go, so the idea was that people got involved as a public service, not to make a career out of it.

Washington is a place where people have always been suspect of style and overt sexuality. Too much preening signals that you're not up late studying cap-and-trade agreements.

Oh, that all the things my father had told me about how disgusting Washington is are true. And again it's the system - there are lots of nice, well-meaning people there. But it's a sleazy place. And politics is all about doing favors.

This idea that you can't be an honest man and a Washington politician is a myth, a crock made up by sellouts and careerist hacks who don't stand for anything and are impatient with people who do. It's possible to do this job with honor and dignity.