The days when the words 'Hollywood actor' framed Ronald Reagan like bunny fingers as an ID tag and an implied insult seem far-off and quaint: nearly everybody in politics - candidate consultant pundit and Tea Party crowd extra alike - is an actor now a shameless ham in a hoked-up reality series that never stops.

This aesthetic quality then is what politics is all about. It's authenticity that separates winners from losers good politics from bad and he-man leader-types from consultant-directed puppet-boys.

One of the things that I think you see sometimes in politics is a certain degree of caution. It's usually advised by consultants who don't want to see you march to the end of a limb.

A conservative is someone who makes no changes and consults his grandmother when in doubt.

Medical decisions have been politicized. What doctor wants a state legislator in his consulting room?

As a woman my style defines my leadership. It's a gentler more compassionate approach. I consult I listen and I compromise where it's in the best interest of the citizens.

Harvard is first and foremost a university and not a consulting operation and our job here is to teach and to research and to create knowledge on Asia in conjunction and in cooperation with scholars as well as with political intellectual and cultural leaders in Asia.

Now I'm a failed political consultant. But sometimes fiction has a way of capturing people's imagination in a way that non-fiction doesn't. Conservatives typically haven't written much fiction - specifically political thrillers - over the years to educate inspire and mobilize people on issues of great import but we ought to.

The type of leukemia that I am dealing with is treatable. So if I do what my doctors tell me to do - get my blood checked regularly take my meds and consult with my doctor and follow any additional instructions he might make - I will be able to maintain my good health and live my life with a minimum of disruptions to my lifestyle.

The reproduction of mankind is a great marvel and mystery. Had God consulted me in the matter I should have advised him to continue the generation of the species by fashioning them out of clay.