Where's the progress that we're going to see in Afghanistan? You have to keep public support both on the economy and the war or these things will really become troubling.

Historians say we won't know Cindy Sheehan's place in the war until the war itself is history. And whether you agree with her or not, she sits waiting for one conversation, and has unleashed another.

I hope to stand firm enough not to go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause.

I think that's what is possible, that somehow her protest and her vigil will make more people empathize with the casualties than have previously done so.

I think after Sandy Hook, when Obama went out, and he talked a lot about gun control and met with the parents, there was a sense that something was going to happen. But then, I guess, the power of special interests was greater than public sentiment.

I wish we could go back to the time when the private lives of our public figures were relevant only if they directly affected their public responsibilities.