Bob Herbert, “A World of Difference,” New York Times, August 19:

So it might come as a surprise to some that Senator McCain’s macho hero [Teddy Roosevelt] happened to have been among the first naturalists at Harvard, an inveterate bird-watcher, and a prolific and sensitive writer.

David D. Kirkpatrick, “After 2000 Run, McCain Learned to Work Levers of Power,” New York Times, July 21:

Entertaining guests at his property in Sedona, Ariz., he [John McCain] invariably drags them for long walks to indulge his passion for bird watching. “If you took all the people at Gitmo, put them in the cabin for a weekend and made them listen to John talk about the birds, they would all spill their guts,” Mr. [Lindsay] Graham said.