He took some questions on his new book Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative. Read the interview here. Some excerpts:

On Trent Lott:

Lott blames me for forcing him out as Senate majority leader following his comments suggesting America would have been better off if a segregationist had been elected president in 1948. But there was a moment when I could have offered advice that might have kept him from losing public support and forfeiting the trust of his GOP senatorial colleagues. I didn’t take the moment to disagree with his rosy (and incorrect) assessment that the issue was going away. Pressing him to do an immediate and full apology that showed he understood how badly he had offended many Americans might have kept him in the majority-leader post.

On Harriet Miers & the Right:

Did the White House — especially me — underestimate the conservative animosity toward Harriet Miers, for example? Yes, but then some conservative opinionmakers underestimated or misrepresented Harriet Miers, too. Burned by the experience of Justice David Souter, when conservatives trusted the reassurances of the chief of staff to President Bush 41, these conservatives were in no mood to accept someone whose personal views were not intimately known to them. I understand that, and if I didn’t know Harriet, I may have reacted as they did. But I did know Harriet, and so I wish I had come up with appropriate ways they could have been reassured and become supportive.
But it is what it is. The nation got two strong and able young conservative justices, and people saw the character of a bright, principled, and decent human being in how Harriet selflessly withdrew rather than force a fight that would have cost President Bush enormous capital.

On Bill Buckley & National Review:

As a pre-teen, I eagerly read National Review at my hometown library and then devoured every one of his books I could lay my hands on. I even badgered the librarian to find some for me. He spoke at the University of Utah, and I was enthralled. After the speech, I had a chance to shake the great man’s hand. He was a huge influence on me, and his writings still are.

There’s more here.