“My politics of optimism and hope still casts its lot with the Democrats - in the optimistic hope that the dying embers of its status as the party of our better angels, one that took risks for social j...”

Rick Perlstein

“College was at the heart of his sentimental imagination.”

Rick Perlstein

“There's no question that Kennedy was an utter failure as a passer of laws during his proverbial thousand days.”

Rick Perlstein

“Reagan's emotional intelligence, his ability to suss out people's longings and to channel them for political purposes, was better than just about any human being that ever lived.”

Rick Perlstein

“Prediction is structurally inseparable from the business of punditry: It creates the essential image of indefatigable authority that is punditry's very architecture; it flows from that calcified image...”

Rick Perlstein