John Connally's conversion to the GOP raised the intellectual level of both parties

A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word "but" which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative -- before they tell you. Thus: "I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but ... " (a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).

On an intellectual level, it stayed up on that level, ... It didn't get down to anything grisly, so I was delighted.

I find it extraordinary that anyone would have an intellectual conversion to Roman Catholicism.

I'm a schoolteacher. That's even worse than being an intellectual. Schoolteachers are not only comic, they're often cold and hungry in this richest land on earth.

This is a conversion story on the level of Augustine. Anne Rice was a daughter of darkness.