What an amazing time to be alive.

What an amazing time to be watching the news and having conversations about the news

and consuming all kinds of bits and pieces and opinions from hither and thither.

Like a little bowerbird pecking around the internet and social media,

trying to figure out what's true and what's not.

But also what an amazing time to be susceptible and vulnerable to stridency, to misinformation,

to what aboutism, to people trying to distract us from what really matters,

jangling keys in front of our face in order to get us to look over here instead of remaining

stable and calm and even keeled about our own opinions, our own vision of the truth. Now is a moment

to reach across aisles, to set aside differences, to have faith in democracy, to have faith

in bigger ambitions and

bigger things to believe in than just the day-to-day. The only way we can do that is by having

conversations that resonate with all of us, conversations that make sense to all of us, conversations

that are difficult, conversations that are important, conversations that are, as always, a little bit uncomfortable.

Today on the show, a terrific individual, an individual with whom I just wish I'd had more time.

That was my only regret, because sometimes you speak with someone and they give very short,

carefully thought out answers. Kathy is not that sort of a person. Kathy wouldn't do that to you.

She wouldn't give you a little sound bite. She will go careening

off into her own universe of thoughts about something. And I have to use all of my stamina just

to get a word in edgeways. And I use my journalistically well approved of technique of interrupting

her incessantly to try to get a shut up about whatever she's talking about

and start talking about what I want to talk about, but I don't even want her to talk about

...