Ronald Reagan was a dim hack who did horrible damage to almost everything he touched. — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
In the fall of 1989, I was writing 600-word columns at the 'Herald.' My heart always was in long-form narrative writing, though.… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
I judge the jobs I've had in this business by the places they took me, and by that standard, there simply has… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
Campaigns are no longer high-minded exchanges of ideas, even though God knows we need more good ones - ideas, that is. — Charlie Pierce Campaigns Copy Share Image
Paul Ryan hasn't lacked for a job since he left college as the golden child of Wisconsin Republican politics, riding his family… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
The murder of John Kennedy in broad daylight in the streets of an American city remains, to me, an unsolved crime. — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
In 1989, my father died after a prolonged struggle with Alzheimer's disease. All four of his siblings followed him into the shadow… — Charlie Pierce Affliction Copy Share Image
Optimism…is neither weak nor naive. It can be tough and pure and earned just as clearly as any brooding existential despair. — Charlie Pierce Brooding Copy Share Image
'We, The People' is more than a statement of purpose. It is an acknowledgement of an obligation to each other. — Charlie Pierce Acknowledgement Copy Share Image
In the year of our Lord 2010, the voters of the United States elected the worst Congress in the history of the… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
If you offer athletes stipends, then you're into pay-for-play, and that's the ballgame. People should realize that, and they should realize that… — Charlie Pierce Amateurism Copy Share Image
The creative project of self-government - hard and frustrating but necessary - is to produce that political commonwealth that changes over time,… — Charlie Pierce Change Copy Share Image
There are few colonial nations anymore. Instead, we are colonized by financial institutions beyond our political control. We are colonized with pens… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
This has been the new normal since September 11. Everyone knows, but nobody says, that if something happens again, the elite consensus… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
We owe each other a debt and we owe each other an obligation, and because of these fundamental American imperatives, there are… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
I think, over the last couple of years, the written word has made a comeback on the Internet. For example, I'm seeing… — Charlie Pierce Comeback Copy Share Image
There is a reason why conservatives talk about 'government' and not 'self-government,' because to refer to the latter is to concede that… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
Every president learns on the job because nobody's really prepared for the kind of decisions that cross your desk every day. No… — Charlie Pierce Decision Copy Share Image
There is a lot in American politics (and in American life) that is angry, greedy, reckless and violent. — Charlie Pierce American life Copy Share Image
There is a barbarism in the American soul, and we must protect some of it by law. To root it out is… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
In order to get big things done, sometimes, presidents have to be deft at moving the pea around under the shells. — Charlie Pierce Big things Copy Share Image
At the time of his death, John Kennedy had a national security establishment that was a writhing ball of snakes. — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
Gradually, football has seen its appeal slip at the most basic levels. Pediatricians are advising parents not to let young children play… — Charlie Pierce Advising Copy Share Image
To recognize that head injuries were as essential a part of football as they are of boxing would be to erase the… — Charlie Pierce Boxing Copy Share Image
As he enters his final term, with the elegiac music playing out there in the distance, Barack Obama will use the history… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
Bill Clinton was not a symbol. People did not invest in him their idea of what America should be or, worse, their… — Charlie Pierce America Copy Share Image
As a writer, I have to admit, there is something darkly compelling about Alzheimer's because it attacks the two things most central… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
You know, what genuinely makes me uneasy with the way things are going are not - is not really that Trump is… — Charlie Pierce People Copy Share Image
School districts around the country, and the taxpayers that support them, have a moral right to the information the NFL might have… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
We have a revolutionary history to honor and uphold. Which was what Nelson Mandela did. He reminded us of that which we… — Charlie Pierce History Copy Share Image
Barack Obama is not a man of The Gut, and it is driving official Washington crazy. This is a good thing, because… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
We create our own government. We are responsible for its beauty and for its ugliness. We are responsible for its glories and… — Charlie Pierce Architect Copy Share Image
Football was always a deal we made with ourselves. We adopted it for its brutality, which was embedded in a context that… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
It is now an article of absolute faith among Republicans that 'the government' is an entity separate from 'the American people,' which… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
For all the huffing and blowing we get about rugged individualism, the American spirit and the American experiment always have had at… — Charlie Pierce American spirit Copy Share Image
Launching a newspaper without a coherent idea of how you're going to promote it, or get it to people who might want… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
If religion comes into the public square, it is as vulnerable as any other human institution to be pelted with produce. Ignorance… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
The Republicans find their faith imperiled by Barney Frank's marriage. There is always a shadow on the wall, a monster in the… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
According to the people who dearly would love to throw him out of office, Barack Obama was elected to be 'above politics.'… — Charlie Pierce Copy Share Image
