AND I QUOTE / What Political Books Are Saying : BALANCE OF POWER: Presidents and Congress from the Era of McCarthy to the Age of Gingrich,<i> By Jim Wright (Turner Publishing: $25.95; 526 pp.)</i>

“The greatest danger facing America today is hate--unreasoning hate seeking targets to attack, someone or something to hurt. . . . I believe hate is free society’s mortal menace. . . . This growing decibel level of hatemongering and negativity threatens democracy in four ways. It pollutes the atmosphere with self-destructive anger, it undermines faith in the system, it obscures any serious discussion of issues, and it keeps many good and decent people out of politics.”

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A former speaker of the House reflects nostalgically on 34 years in Congress and the gentleman’s era of log-rolling. This is a dignified memoir of a career brought short by an ugly tarnish: After surviving the Depression, World War II and nine presidents, Wright fell to accusations that he improperly accepted gifts from a business associate. Here, the Texas Democrat delivers his Checkers speech, asking to be remembered for what he gave, not for what he got.

JUST WONDERING: Will I be the only one to finish this book with a twinge of longing for those days when our pols were expected to go into the back room, shut the door (and their mouths) and get things done?