Bob Beckel

I do oppose repealing Obamacare, because it's working for growing numbers of previously uninsured Americans.

If we have intelligence on the location of terrorist training centers, it is insane not to act.

We need to gather intelligence, but we need to do so legally.

Ever since 9/11, our intelligence agencies, as part of the 'war on terror,' have expanded their operations to include American citizens. I was 'terrorized' when I learned that the National Security Agency was intercepting information on Americans.

There is a huge difference between gathering intelligence in foreign countries, even our allies, and secretly getting information on U.S. citizens.

The U.S. military cannot fight Iraq's war for them.

I am not opposed to government efforts to stop terrorist plots. We are still seared by the memory of 9/11, and we should be.

Putting fear into people is the principal goal of terrorists, and they have been successful.

Domestic wiretaps, government television cameras blanketing our streets, spy drones by the thousands flying over our heads. It makes you wonder if the very foundation of this great country, which is liberty, is eroding right before our eyes.

We know that in the Muslim communities around the world, they do not like us. They recruit people from poor areas and turn them into terrorists.

Jim Crow laws stripped blacks of basic rights. Despite landmark civil rights laws, many public schools were still segregated, blacks still faced barriers to voting, and violence by white racists continued. Such open racism is mostly gone in America, but covert racism is alive and well.

As a life-long liberal who has engaged in protests against the government and for civil rights, I am saddened at efforts by some of my fellow liberals to silence commencement speakers with whom they might disagree on some issues.