 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Credits |
Cast |
1 |
2 |
3 |
End |
Reviews |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Credits |
Cast |
1 |
2 |
3 |
End |
Reviews |
|
|
|
. . [QUOTES FOLLOW LINKS] see: BUREAUCRACY GEORGE W. BUSH CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS, CAMPAIGN FINANCING CAMPAIGNS JIMMY CARTER BILL CLINTON, HILLARY CLINTON CONGRESS CONSERVATIVES CALVIN COOLIDGE CORRUPTION DEMOCRACY DIPLOMACY, DIPLOMATS ELECTION [AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL - 2004] ELECTIONS FOREIGN AID, FOREIGN POLICY FREE TRADE JOHN GARFIELD GOVERNMENT INDEPENDENTS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS LYNDON JOHNSON JOHN F. KENNEDY LEFTISTS LIBERALISM, LIBERALS ABRAHAM LINCOLN NIXON YEARS PARTISANSHIP POLITICAL PARTIES POLITICIANS (below) POLLS POWER PRESIDENTS PROGRESSIVES RADICAL THOUGHT RONALD REAGAN FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT SENATE (THE U.S.) SLOGANS SOCIAL SECURITY, SOCIALISM SUPREME COURT TAXATION MARGARET THATCHER HARRY S. TRUMAN UNITED NATIONS VICE-PRESIDENT VOTING WASHINGTON D.C., GEORGE WASHINGTON, WATERGATE --- Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. --Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918) American historian & man of letters. _The Education of Henry Adams_ [1907] - I must not write a word to you about politics, because you are a woman. --John Adams (1735-1826) First VP and second President of the United States. Letter to his wife, Abigail Adams. I agree with you that in politics the middle way is none at all. If we finally fail in this great and glorious contest, it will be by bewildering ourselves in groping for the middle way. --John Adams (1735-1826) First VP and second President of the United States. Letter to Gen. Horatio Gates [23 March 1776], quoted in _John Adams_ by David McCollough. - There can not a greater judgment befall a country than such a dreadful spirit of division as rends a government into two distinct people, and makes them greater strangers and more averse to one another than if they were actually two different nations. --Joseph Addison (1672-1719) English essayist, poet, and dramatist. _The Spectator_ [24 July 1711] Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich by promising to protect each from the other. --Oscar Ameringer We should put the spin-doctors in spin clinics, where they can meet other spin patients and be treated by spin consultants. The rest of us can get on with the proper democratic process. --Tony Benn (1925- ) British Labour politician. In "Independent" [25 October 1997]. He brings to the fierce struggle of politics the tepid enthusiasm of a lazy summer afternoon at a cricket match. --Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) British Labour politician. People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war, or before an election. --Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia 1862-1890. He unified Germany with a series of successful wars and became the first Chancellor 1871-1890 of the German Empire. The liberals can understand everything but people who don't understand them. --Lenny Bruce [Leonard Alfred Schneider] (1925-1966) American comedian. In John Colton (ed.) _The Essential Lenny Bruce_ [1967]. Nowhere have I seen politics simply as an activity, so reviled, mocked, jumped on and derided as in sunny Australia...there is a credibility gap the size of the Grand Canyon and it is very hard for a stranger to see exactly why...The Australians appear to a man to regard their politicians as time-serving crooks or simple minded hirelings; as a direct consequence of this many of them doubtless are. They refuse to take their utterances seriously even on the infrequent occasion when they say something worth a moment's thought. --James Cameron (1954- ) Canadian-born American film director. - It is hard enough to understand the politics of one's own country; it is almost impossible to understand those of foreign countries. --Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister [1940-1945, 1951-1955]. Speech in Commons [22 February 1944]. If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart, and if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no head. --Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister [1940-1945, 1951-1955]. The multitudes remained plunged in ignorance of the simplest economic facts, and their leaders, seeking their votes, did not dare to undeceive them. --Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister [1940-1945, 1951-1955]. _The Gathering Storm: The Second World War_ [1948-1951] - To let politics become a cesspool, and then avoid it because it is a cesspool, is a double crime. --Howard Crosby (1826-1891) American preacher and teacher. Applause, mingled with boos and hisses, is about all that the average voter is able or willing to contribute to public life. --Elmer Davis (1890-1958) American radio announcer & news commentator. Political passions, aroused everywhere, demand their victims. --Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist who developed the special and general theories of relativity. (Final written words in an unpublished manuscript, probably written April 12-14, 1955. Quoted in Abraham Pais' _Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein_, [1982]) Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated, and, in its true sense, a nobel one. --Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), American Army General, supreme Allied commander WWII, NATO commander, American President [1953-1961]. In a letter to Leonard V. Finder [22 January 1948]. The spirit of our Amerian radicalism is destructive and aimless. It is not loving; it has no ulterior and divine ends, but is destructive only out of hatred and selfishness. --Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American philosopher and poet. "Politics" _Essays_, Second Series [1844] ^ My father, normally a temperate man, so disliked the [political views of the] Chicago Tribune that once, when he had a flat tire in a snowstorm and the man driving a Tribune truck offered to help him, my father told the man to mind his own damn business and bugger off. (My father used to tell this story as an example of how stupid politics can make you.) --Joseph Epstein "The Last Tycoon?" _The Wall Street Journal_ [9 April 2007] ^ I am truly a candidate with both my feet on the ground . . . And when on next November fifth, I am elected chief executive of this fair land, amidst thunderous cheering and shouting and throwing babies out the window, I shall, my fellow citizens, offer no such empty panaceas as a New Deal, or an Old Deal, or even a Re-Deal. No my friends, the reliable old False Shuffle was good enough for my father and it's good enough for me. --W. C. Fields [William Claude Dukenfield] (1880-1946) American vaudeville star and film actor. _Fields for President_ [1939] Politics consists more in profiting from favorable circumstances than preparing them in advance. --Frederick II [Frederick the Great] (1712-1786) King of Prussia [1740-1786]. _Testament politique_ [1752] Like the effect of advertising upon the customer, the methods of political propaganda tend to increase the feeling of insignificance of the individual voter. --Erich Fromm (1900-1980) American philosopher and psychologist. _Escape from Freedom_ [1941] The vice-presidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss. --John Nance Garner (1868-1967) American Democratic politician If everybody in this town connected with politics had to leave town because of [chasing women] and drinking, you'd have no government. --Barry Goldwater (1909-1998) American conservative politician [in 1989] There are two major kinds of promises in politics: the promises made by candidates to the voters and the promises made by the candidates to persons and groups able to deliver the vote. Promises falling into the latter category are loosely called 'patronage,' and promises falling into the former category are most frequently called 'lies.' --Dick Gregory (1932- ) American comedian and social activist, _Dick Gregory's Political Primer_ [1972] Liberals defend military spending and conservatives social spending--in their own districts. --Robert A. Hall "Hall's Law of Politics" Liberals want to strike down the abortion laws, so that unwanted babies can be killed off before they are born. Conservatives want to strike down the welfare laws, so that unwanted babies can be starved to death after they are born. --N. Sally Hass In politics, being ridiculous is more damaging than being extreme. --Roy Hattersley (1932- ) British Labour politician, in "Evening Standard" [9 May 1989] He serves his party best who serves the country best. --Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) 19th President of the U.S. [1877-1881], in his inagural address [5 March 1877] - Political tags -- such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth -- are never basic criteria. The human race is divided into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from the highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort. --Robert A(nson) Heinlein (1907-1988) American science-fiction writer Politics is just a name for the way we get things done... without fighting. We dicker and we compromise and everybody thinks he has received a raw deal, but somehow after a tedious amount of talk we come up with some jury-rigged way to do it without getting anybody's head bashed in. That's politics. The only other way to settle a dispute is by bashing a few heads in... and that is what happens when one or both sides is no longer willing to dicker. That's why politics is good even when it is bad... because the only alternative is force-- and somebody could get hurt. --Robert A(nson) Heinlein (1907-1988) American science-fiction writer, _Podkayne of Mars_ - Girls shouldn't play with men's balls. Their hands are too small. --Senator Wally Horn of Iowa talking about girls sports in school--and specifically, what size basketball they should play with. At least two-thirds of our miseries spring from human stupidity, human malice and those great motivators and justifiers of malice and stupidity: idealism, dogmatism and proselytizing zeal on behalf of religous or political idols. --Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist If we meet an honest and intelligent politican, a dozen, a hundred, we say they aren't like politicians at all, and our category of politicians stays unchanged; we know what politicians are like. --Randall Jarrell (1914-1965) American poet In politics you have no friends, only allies. --John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917-1963) American Democratic statesman, President of the U.S. [1961-1963] (Quoted in John Henry Cutler and Honey Fitz's _Three Steps to the White House_ [1962], Chapter 22) Once you label me, you negate me. --Sören Kierkegaard (1813-1855) Danish philosopher People sometimes ask me, "What's the difference between what you do today as a political analyst in Washington and what you did in the past as a psychiatrist?" I tell them, "In both professions, I dealt with people with delusions of grandeur. In my former profession, those who had the delusions of grandeur did not have access to nuclear weapons. So the stakes were a little lower." --Charles Krauthammer (1950- ) Columnist for the Washington Post, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1987, Interview, _The Limbaugh Letter_ [March 2002] My first qualification for this great office is my monumental personal ingratitude. --Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) American politician who served three terms as mayor of New York City [1933-1945] To job seekers following his first election You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next. --Frank McManus, on political life, "Sydney Morning Herald" [28 Dec 1974] This has all the earmarks of an eyesore. --James McSheehy, member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, commenting on a construction project he was against. - Even as a boy I never had any belief in religion, and even as a youth I never went through the Socialist green sickness that was then almost universal. I was against [William Jennings] Bryan the moment I heard of him, and my interest in Roosevelt 1 was always born of delight in the mountebank, not of belief in the prophet. ... I was not, of course, a partisan of the economic royalists who then ran the Republic--on the contrary. I believed that most of them were thieves and that all of them were frauds--but it seemed to me that, at their worst, they were appreciably better than the Chaldeans and soothsayers who proposed to drive them out of power, if only because they were at least more or less competent at their nefarious business. --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist and literary critic, _My Life as Author and Editor_, ed. Jonathan Yardley [1993] For me to go into politics would be like sending a virgin into a house of ill-repute. --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist and literary critic If he did not come out for spiritualism, chiropractic, psychotherapy, and extrasensory perception, it was only because no one demanded that he do so. If there had been any formidable body of cannibals in the country, he would have promised to provide them with free missionaries, fattened at the taxpayers' expense. {about Harry Truman} --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist and literary critic Contemplating such a body as the House of Representatives one sees only a group of men who have compromised with honor. They have been broken to the goose-step. They have kept silent about good causes,and spoken in causes they know to be evil. The higher they rise, the further they fall. The occasional mavericks, thrown in by miracle, last a season and then disappear. The old Congressman, the veteran of genuine influence and power, is either one who is so stupid that the ideas of the mob are his own ideas, or one so far gone in charlatanry that he is unconscious of his shame. --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist and literary critic, _Notes on Democracy_ [1926] The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed -- and hence clamorous to be led to safety -- by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist and literary critic, _In Defense of Women_ [1920] It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office. --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist and literary critic A good [politician] is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. --H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880-1956) American journalist and literary critic, quoted in "Newsweek" magazine [12 September 1955] - To a woman heckler shouting "I wouldn't vote for you if you were the Archangel Gabriel" ..... If I were the Archangel Gabriel, madam, I'm afraid you would not be in my constituency. --Sir Robert Gordon Menzies (1894-1978) 16th and 21st Prime Minister of Australia [26 Apr 1939 - 29 Aug. 1941; 19 Dec 1949 - 26 Jan 1966] (at Williamstown, Victoria) - Anger Mismanagement By Stephen Miller March 19, 2004 The Wall Street Journal [ . . . ] The ancients knew that anger was a common emotion -- and, oddly, a pleasing one. In the "Iliad" Achilles, regretting that anger has disturbed his judgment, speaks of "that gall of anger that swarms like smoke inside of a man's heart / and becomes a thing sweeter to him by far than the dripping of honey." The ancients argued that in certain circumstances anger is appropriate. (In ancient Greek the word for anger is also translated as spiritedness.) Democratic and Republican strategists want their base to be angry so that voter turnout will be high. Yet anger is bad for deliberation. In "Of Duties," Cicero says: "Nothing can be done rightly or thoughtfully when done in anger." He advises that, "even in disputes that arise with our greatest enemies, and even if we hear unworthy things said against us, [we must] maintain our seriousness and...dispel our anger." Are Americans more angry about politics than ever? Maybe not. In the 19th century, many foreign visitors noted the acrimonious nature of American political campaigns. In "Domestic Manners of Americans" (1832), Mrs. Trollope wrote that "electioneering madness... engrosses every conversation, it irritates every temper, it substitutes party spirit for personal esteem; and, in fact, vitiates the whole system of society." In "American Notes" (1842), Charles Dickens referred to the "injurious Party Spirit" that sickens and blights everything. To take but one example from later in the century: James Garfield, a Republican congressman campaigning for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, said that a victory by the Democratic nominee, Samuel Tilden, would be an "irretrievable calamity." When Garfield learned that the Democrats had captured the House, he angrily exclaimed: "We are defeated by the combined power of rebellion, Catholicism and whiskey." American political campaigns have often featured angry rhetoric, but in the 19th century there was not what might be called an ideology of anger, as there seems to be now. In the past 40 years, counterculture theorists, psychologists, rappers and talk- show hosts have acted as if expressing one's anger is good for the psyche and good for the nation. In his (sadly) influential essay "The White Negro" (1957), Norman Mailer said: "To be an existentialist, one must be able to feel oneself -- one must know one's desires, one's rages, one's anguish, one must be aware of the character of one's frustration and know what would satisfy it." Existentialist here is a fancy term for a person who gets in touch with his feelings. And feelings are everywhere now, with plenty of fuel to keep the angry fires burning. Three decades ago, in the movie "Network," Howard Beale was shouting that he was "mad as hell" and "not taking it anymore." Today one can stoke one's anger by listening to talk radio, watching contentious television talk shows and visiting Web sites filled with invective. Great political thinkers, including David Hume and James Madison, would not have been pleased by all this. They argued that a nation was in danger of collapsing into violent civil discord if most politicians and most voters were angry. It was important, the young Ben Franklin said, to "command one's temper." Now many observers think political discussion should lead to a higher anger level. The authors of "Salons: The Joy of Conversation" (2001) call for a revival of salons in which "passionate conversation" will lead "to passionate action." Well, passion, yes, if by that is meant full, thoughtful engagement. But anger is something else. It is a kind of sickness, and it distorts all debate. Anger causes people to cast legitimate differences of opinion in stark moral terms, as if all those on one side possess integrity and all those on the other side are corrupt. During the French Revolution the Jacobins, the masters of the Terror, denounced all those who disagreed with them as "corrupt." With politicians from both parties angrily calling opponents lying and corrupt, it's a good thing we don't have guillotines anymore. Mr. Miller is the author of "Three Deaths and Enlightenment Thought: Hume, Johnson, Marat" (2001). - No country or people who are slaves to dogma and the dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded. --Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) Indian statesman. I'm glad I'm not Brezhnev. Being the Russian leader in the Kremlin, you never know if someone's tape recording what you say. --Richard Nixon (1913-1994) American Republican statesman, President [1969-1974]. Beware the politically obsessed. They are often bright and interesting, but they have something missing in their natures; there is a hole, an empty place, and they use politics to fill it up. It leaves them somehow misshapen. --Peggy Noonan (1950- ) Speechwriter for U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush Ten degrees to the left of centre in good times, Ten degrees to the right when it affects me personally --Phil Ochs (1940-1976) American "protest" singer People don't want handouts! People want hand jobs! --CT Gov. William O'Neil Then there's politics. Just imagine politics with its dumbbell element subtracted. There would be no Republican candidates. There would be no Democratic voters. The whole system would collapse. --P.J. O'Rourke (1947- ) American political satirist Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. --George Orwell [Eric Blair] (1903-1950) English novelist, _Shooting an Elephant_ [1950] "Poilitics and the English Language" Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. --Pericles (495-429 B.C.) Leader of Athens Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. --Plato (427?-347 B.C.) Greek philosopher When I die, I want to be buried in Chicago, so I can still be active in politics. --Charlie [Charles B.] Rangel (1930- ) American politician - Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. --Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) U.S. President [1981-1989] and former Hollywood actor, at a conference in Los Angeles [2 March 1977] Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book. --Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) U.S. President [1981-1989] and former Hollywood actor - All politics are based on the indifference of the majority. --James Barrett "Scotty" Reston (1909-1995) Scottish-born American journalist; two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for reporting - There is good news from Washington today. Congress is deadlocked and can't act. --Will Rogers [William Penn Adair Rogers] (1879-1935) American humorist and actor The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. --Will Rogers [William Penn Adair Rogers] (1879-1935) American humorist and actor, _The Illiterate Digest_ [1924] - Here is the thing you must bear in mind. I do not represent public opinion: I represent the public. There is a wide difference between the two, between the real interests of the public, and the public's opinion of these interests. --Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American Republican statesman and President [1901-1909] Interview with reporter Ray Stannard Baker [9 Feb. 1906] quoted in Edmund Morris, _Theodore Rex_ The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holder's lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately. --Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) British philosopher, mathematician, and Nobel laureate, _The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell_ [1914-1944] I will not accept if nominated, and will not serve if elected. --William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) American Union general; message to the Republican Convention [1884]. In your country club, your church and business, about 15 percent of the people are screwballs, lightweights and boobs and you would not want those people unrepresented in Congress. --Alan K. Simpson (1931- ) American politician. U.S. Senator from Wyoming [1979-1997] If this thing starts to snowball, it will catch fire right across country. --Robert Thompson, former Canadian Social Credit leader My early choice in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference. --Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) American Democratic statesman, President of the U.S. [1945-1953] 1907: All democrats are insane, but not one of them knows it; none but the republicans and mugwumps know it. All the republicans are insane, but only the democrats and mugwumps can perceive it. The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. --Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835-1910) American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot, "What Is Man and Other Philosophical Writings" As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it? --Boss [William Marcy] Tweed (1823-1878) American politician and Tammany leader Half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for president. One hopes it is the same half. --Gore Vidal (1925- ) American writer In his first campaign, in 1976, Moynihan's opponent was the incumbent, James Buckley, who playfully referred to "Professor Moynihan" from Harvard. Moynihan exclaimed with mock indignation, "The mudslinging has begun!" --George F. Will (1941- ) American columnist - Will it play in Peoria? --traditional rhetorical question of American politics {implying that a political action, in order to work, must have the support of the citizens of the so-called average American town. GBAQ} ---- "Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he 'didn't want to see any stories' quoting unnamed administration officials in the media anymore...said a senior administration official who asked that his name not be used." --_The Philadelphia Inquirer_ [16 October 2003], quoted in _Reason_ [January 2004] TRIVIA: William Howard Taft was the only man in the history of the country to become the head of both the Executive and Judicial Departments of the Federal Government. -- TOPICAL When it came to the Dubai ports issue, the facts never really had a chance - not in this political season. Still, it's hard to imagine a more ignorant, bogus, xenophobic, reckless debate than the one indulged in by both Republicans and Democrats around this question of whether an Arab-owned company might oversee loading and unloading services in some U.S. ports. If you had any doubts before, have none now: 9/11 has made us stupid. --Thomas Friedman (1953- ) American journalist, in _New York Times_ [15 March 2006] - CHECK YOUR (POLITICAL) FACTS: IMAGES OF AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY ----- filibuster (noun) A tactic used to delay or prevent the passage of legislation, e.g. a long irrelevant speech pelf PELF, noun: Money; riches; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten. Ex.: As so often happens, pelf is talking louder than principle at the Colorado legislature. --"Legislature Goes Belly Up," "Denver Rocky Mountain News" [27 April 1997] end page  . . POLITICIANS see "POLITICS" (above) for related links see "WORK" for related links Unfaithfulness in public stations is criminal. But there is no encouragement to be faithful. Neither profit, not honor, nor applause is acquired by faithfulness...There is too much corruption, even in this infant age of our Republic. Virtue is not in fashion. Vice is not infamous. --John Adams (1735-1826) First VP and second President of the United States, [1776 letter to Abigail Adams], quoted in David McCollough _John Adams_ - REPORTER: Senator, are you for or against the MX missile system? SENATOR: Bob, the MX missile system reminds me of an old saying that the country folk in my state like to say. It goes like this: "You can carry a pig for six miles, but if you set it down it might run away." I have no idea why the country folk say this. Maybe there's some kind of chemical pollutant in their drinking water. That is why I pledge to do all that I can to protect the environment of this great nation of ours, and put prayer back in the schools, where it belongs. What we need is jobs, not empty promises. I realize I'm risking my political career be being so outspoken on a sensitive issue such as the MX, but that's just the kind of straight-talking honest person I am, and I can't help it. --Dave Barry (1947- ) American humorist, "On Presidential Politics" - Here richly, with ridiculous display, The Politician's corpse was laid away. While all of his acquaintance sneered and slanged I wept: for I had longed to see him hanged. --Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) British poet, essayist, historian, and novelist, "Epitaph on the Politician Himself" This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish. Only an organizing genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time. --Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960) British Labour politician. Speech in Blackpool, in "Daily Herald" [25 May 1945]. You representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgement; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion. --Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Irish-born Whig politician and man of letters. Speech, Bristol [3 November 1774]. An honest politician is one who, when he's bought, stays bought. --attributed to Simon Cameron (1799-1889) American politician, in M.J. Cohan and John Major {eds.} _History in Quotations_ [2004] p. 577 Cohan & Major add: Lincoln reluctantly made Cameron his secretary of war in 1861, and Cameron soon made the war department a byword for corruption. He was removed in Jan. 1862 and sent as minister to Russia to get him out of Washington. In April 1862 his conduct as secretary of war was censured by the House of Representatives. - American journalist: What are the desirable qualifications for any young man who wishes to become a politician? Churchill: It is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen. --Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Conservative statesman and Prime Minister [1940-1945, 1951-1955], {describing the qualifications desirable in a prospective politician}; In Norman McGowan _His Wit and Wisdom_ [1958] - You have sat here too long for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go. --Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) English soldier and statesman; Lord Protector from 1653, (speech expelling the Rump Parliament [20 April 1653]) Only one thing would be worse than the status quo. And that would be for the status quo to become the norm. --Elizabeth Dole (1936- ) American administrator and U.S. senator, elected 2002 [1999 campaign speech] Money buys access; access buys influence. --Elizabeth Drew (1935- ) American journalist and Washington correspondent for "The Atlantic" and the "New Yorker", on campaign contributions On 106 occasions, bribes were offered or discussed. On 105 of those occasions, the public official involved accepted the bribe. And on the other occasion he turned it down because he didn't think the amount was enough. --Rudolph W. Giuliani (1944- ) U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, reporting the results of a sting operation. "New York Times" [12 August 1987] 'Do you pray for the Senators, Dr Hale'? 'No, I look at the Senators and pray for the country.' --Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) American clergyman, writer, and chaplain of the Senate, Van Wyck Brooks _New England Indian Summer_ [1940] Politicians are entitled to change their minds. But when they adjust their principles some explanation is necessary. --Roy Hattersley (1932- ) British Labour politician, in "Observer" [21 March 1999] - Those who are in Albany escaped Sing Sing, and those who are in Sing Sing were on their way to Albany. --Elbert Hubbard (1859-1915) American editor, publisher, and author who died in the sinking of the "Lusitania", _The Roycroft Dictionary and Book of Epigrams_ [1923] Now and then an innocent man is sent to the legislature. --Elbert Hubbard (1859-1915) American editor, publisher, and author who died in the sinking of the "Lusitania" - I have seen in the Halls of Congress more idealism, more humaneness, more compassion, more profiles of courage than in any other institution I have ever known. --Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978) 38th vice-president of the United States [1965-1969] and liberal senator [1949-1965 & 1971-1978], speech at Syracuse University [6 June 1965] - When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property. --Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American statesman and president [1801-1809], remark to Baron von Humboldt [1807] in B. L. Rayner _Sketches of the Life, Writings, and Opinions of Thomas Jefferson_ [1832] I think, myself, that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. --Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American statesman and president [1801-1809], letter to William Ludlow [6 September 1824] - Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it. --Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American Democratic statesman, President [1963-1969] ^ Kennedy, John Fitzgerald (1917-1963) American politician, 35th President of the United States [1961-1963] After the fiasco of the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, the American people rallied around their President. Kennedy's popularity rating was never higher, with 82 percent expressing their approval of him. Kennedy was dumbfounded. 'My God! It's as bad as Eisenhower. The worse I do, the more popular I get.' --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ My first qualification for this great office is my monumental personal ingratitude! --Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) American politician who served three terms as mayor of New York City [1933-1945], disposing of office seekers following his election as mayor of New York City, 1934, quoted in Ernest Cuneo _Life With Fiorello_ [1955] I once said cynically of a politician, "He'll double-cross that bridge when he comes to it." --Oscar Levant (1906-1972) American pianist and actor Successful democratic politicians are insecure and intimidated men. They advance politically only as they placate, appease, bribe, seduce, bamboozle, or otherwise manage to manipulate the demanding and threatening elements in their constituencies. The decisive consideration is not whether the proposition is good but whether it is popular -- not whether it will work well and prove itself but whether the active talking constituents like it immediately. Politicians rationalize this servitude by saying that in a democracy public men are the servants of the people. --Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) American journalist, _The Public Philosophy_ [1955], ch. 2, sec. 4 What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong. {replying to a politician who said, 'I will support you as long as you are in the right.' ODTQ} --Lord Melbourne (1799-1848) British Whig statesman, in Lord David Cecil _Lord M_ [1954] - In 1919, the great pianist Ignace Paderewski agreed to serve as prime minister of Poland, and he attended the Paris Peace Talks in that capacity. The story is told that the French premier, Clemenceau, said to him, "Are you related to the pianist?" Paderewski replied, "I am, in fact, the pianist." Continued Clemenceau, "And now you are prime minister?" "Yes," answered Paderewski. Sighed the Frenchman: "What a comedown." --Jay Nordlinger, "Beethoven, Verdi - and someone you don't know," NROnline [15 September 2003] - As any politician will tell you: you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time -- and usually that's enough. --Robert Orben (1927- ) American magician and comedy writer ^ Packer, Alfred (1842-1907) American gold prospector In 1873, in Utah, Alfred Packer and some friends went on a gold prospecting trip. The weather proved too difficult, and most of the party went home. Packer and six men continued on into the mountains. But it was Packer alone who returned, insisting he had been deserted by his friends, of whom there was no trace. He claimed he had subsisted on roots and small game, but he looked rosy and flush indeed. It was not long before the half-eaten bodies of his companions were found, and Packer confirmed that in a dispute he had killed and consumed them all. As he was sentenced to death, the judge said to him, "Alfred Packer, you depraved Republican cannibal - there were only six Democrats in Hinsdale County and, by God, you've et five of them!" --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service. --Georges Pompidou (1911-1974) French statesman, in "Observer" [30 December 1973] I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting. --Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) U.S. President [1981-1989] and former Hollywood actor A statesman is a successful politician who is dead. --Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902) American lawyer and politician The taxpayers are sending congressmen on expensive trips abroad. It might be worth it except they keep coming back! --Will Rogers [William Penn Adair Rogers] (1879-1935) American humorist and actor He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch. {on President Somoza of Nicaragua, 1938} --Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945) American Democratic statesman, President [1933-1945]; attributed I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live. --Socrates (470?-399 B.C.) Greek philosopher ^ Taft, William Howard (1857-1930) 27th President of the United States [1909-1913] and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court [1921-1930] During a political speech a listener threw a cabbage at Taft, who then paused, examined the cabbage, and said, 'I see that one of my opponents has lost its head.' --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] - Being prime minister is a lonely job . . . You cannot lead from the crowd. --Margaret Thatcher (1925- ) British conservative stateswoman and Prime Minister [1979-1990], _The Downing Street Years_ [1993], ch. 1 I went to the store the other day to buy a bolt for our front door, for, as I told the store, the Governor was coming here. "Aye," he said, "and the Legislature too." "Then I will take two bolts," said I. He said that there had been a steady demand for bolts and locks of late, for our protectors were coming. --Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher, _Journal_ [8 September 1859] A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years. --Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) American Democratic statesman, President of the U.S. [1945-1953], in "New York World Telegram and Sun" [12 April 1958] I have learned the difference between a cactus and a caucus. On a cactus, the pricks are on the outside. --Morris King (Mo) Udall (1922-1998) American politician and professional basketball player - ^ Wilson, Woodrow (1856-1924) American politician; president of Princeton University [1902-1910], President of the United States [1913-1921] One afternoon during his time as governor of New Jersey, Wilson received news of the sudden death of a personal friend, a New Jersey senator. He was still recovering from the shock when the telephone rang again. It was a prominent New Jersey politician. 'Governor,' he said, 'I would like to take the senator's place.' Wilson replied, 'It's perfectly agreeable to me if it's agreeable to the undertaker.' --_Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes_ edited by Clifton Fadiman and André Bernard [2000 ed.] ^ Stephen Leacock told of an old Canadian politician on the hustings. "The time will soon come," he told his audience, "where I must go to that place to which all go and none return." He waited for a response from the crowd and was pained when he got none. His listeners sat woodenly in their chairs. They thought he was going to move to the States. - Let me tell you about Florida politicians. I make them out of whole cloth, just like a tailor makes a suit. I get their name in the newspaper. I get them some publicity and get them on the ballot. Then after the election, we count the votes. And if they don't turn out right, we recount them. And recount them again until they do. --Edward G. Robinson talking to Humphrey Bogart in the 1948 thriller, "Key Largo." - Q: Mr. Secretary you say you're innocent, yet five people swore they heard you make the statement. A: Senator, I can produce 500 people who didn't hear me say it. ----- demagogue (noun) 1. A political leader who gains power by appealing to people’s emotions and prejudices rather than their rationality. malfeasance (noun) An illegal act or wrongdoing, esp. by a public official. Cr.Syn.: abuse, misconduct Related: crime, injury, misconduct, iniquity, malpractice malfeasant (adj.) end page | PACIFISM & PAIN | PAINTING - PARENTING | PARIS - PASSPORTS | PAST (THE) - PATRIOTISM | PEACE - PERCENTAGES | PEOPLE | PERCEPTIONS - PERSUASION | PESSIMISM - PHOBIAS | PHONIES - PHYSICS | PI - PLANS | PLACES | PLANTS - POETRY | POETS - POLITICAL PARTIES | POLITICS & POLITICIANS | POLLS - POPES | POPEYE - POTENTIAL | POVERTY | POWER | PRACTICALITY - PRAYER | PREACHERS - PREPARED (BE) | PRESENT (THE) - PRETENDING | PRETENTIONS - PRIVACY | PROBLEMS - PROGRESSIVES | PROGRESS - PROPAGANDA | PROPOSALS - PUBLIC (THE) | PUBLIC OPINION - PURPOSE (ON HAVING A) | QUALITIES - QUIPS | QUIRKS - QUOTATIONS | | H | I - J | K - L | M | N - O | P - Q | | Return Home | The Credits | The Cast | Act 1 | Act 2 | Act 3 | The End | The Reviews | Photos | |
||