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POLITICS & POLITICIANS (PAGE 2 M - Z)

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It is the absolutist, whether of left or right, that
Democracy has to fear. This is the man who thinks
that he alone possesses wisdom, patriotism and
virtue, who recognizes no obligation to accept
community decisions with which he disagrees,
who regards any means as justified by the end,
who views the political process as a power
struggle to impose conformity rather than a
means of reconciling differences.
--Stanley Marcus (1905—2002)
American retailer.
Quoting from an editorial in the St. Louis "Post-Dispatch",
in an interview with "Life" (mag.), [31 January 1964].

I'm 1000% for Tom Eagleton and have no
intention of dropping him from the ticket.
--George S. McGovern (b. 1922)
American politician.
Quoted in "N.Y. Times" [27 July 1972].
Democratic candidate for president McGovern was affirming
his support for running mate Thomas Eagleton. A few days
later McGovern dropped Eagleton from the ticket.

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.
Quoted in Jack Smith _How To Win a Pullet Surprise_ [1982].

[Replying to a politician who said, 'I will
support you as long as you are in the right:]
What I want is men who will support me when I am in the wrong.
---Lord Melbourne [William Lamb] ] (1779—1848)
British Whig statesman.
In Lord David Cecil _Lord M_ [1954].

-

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]


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 central belief of every moron is that he is
the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his
common rights and true desserts. He ascribes all
his failure to get on in the world, all of his
congenital incapacity and damfoolishness, to the
machinations of werewolves assembled in Wall
Street, or some other such den of infamy. If
these villains could be put down, he holds, he
would at once become rich, powerful and eminent.
Nine politicians out of every ten, of whatever
party, live and have their being by promising to
perform this putting down. In brief, they are
knaves who maintain themselves by preying on
the idiotic vanities and pathetic hopes of half-wits.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
Baltimore "Evening Sun" [15 June 1936]


[Of Harry Truman's success in the 1948 presidential campaign:]
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.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
"Baltimore Sun" [7 November 1948]


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" (mag.) [12 September 1955].


The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you
and me. They have, taking one with another, no special
talent for the business of government; they have only a
talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device
to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for
something they can't get and to promise to give it to them.
Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The
tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other
words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election
is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.
--H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.
In Malcolm Moos (ed.)
_H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe_ [1956].


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]


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.
--attributed to H.L. (Henry Louis) Mencken (1880—1956)
American journalist and literary critic.

-

-

Response 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 [1939-41 & 1949-66].
Quoted in Ray Robinson _The Wit of Sir Robert Menzies_ [1966].

-

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"Anger Mismanagement"
by Stephen Miller
in _The Wall Street Journal_ [19 March 2004].

...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).

-

Boss Tweed: "As long as I count the Votes,
what are you going to do about it?"
--Thomas Nast (1840—1902)
German-born American cartoonist.
Caption of cartoon _Harper's Weekly_ [7 October 1871].

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 (b. 1950)
Speechwriter for U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
_What I Saw at the Revolution_ [1990] "Another Epilogue"

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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]

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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.
--attributed to Robert Orben (b. 1927)
American magician and comedy writer.

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 (b. 1947)
American political satirist.
_The CEO of the Sofa_, ch. 9 [2001]


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.
_Politics and the English Language_ (essay) [1946]

^

^

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 Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

^

Just because you do not take an interest in politics
doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.
--attributed to Pericles (495—429 B.C.)
Statesman, orator, and general of Athens.

You can always get the truth from an American
statesman after he has turned seventy, or given
up all hope of the presidency.
--Wendell Phillips (1811—1884)
American abolitionist and reformer.
Speech [7 November 1860].

Those who are too smart to engage in politics
are punished by being governed by those who
are dumber.
--attributed to Plato (427?—347 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.

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].

-

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)
American President [1981-89]; former Hollywood actor.
At a conference in Los Angeles [2 March 1977].


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)
American President [1981-89]; former Hollywood actor.
Quoted in Robert Byrne _1911 Best Things
Anybody Ever Said_, p. 364 [1988].


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)
American President [1981-89]; former Hollywood actor.
Attributed in Robert Andrews _The Concise Columbia
Dictionary of Quotations_, p. 230 [1989].

-

-

A statesman is a politician who is dead.
--Thomas Brackett Reed (1839—1902)
American lawyer and politician.
Quoted in "L.A. Times" [10 October 1896].


They [two fellow Congressmen] never open their mouths
without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.
--Thomas Brackett Reed (1839—1902)
American lawyer and politician.
Quoted in Samuel W. McCall _The Life of Thomas Brackett Reed [1914].

-

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.
Quoted in Michael Rogers _Political Quotes_, p. 11 [1982].

It is but shaping the bribe to the taste,
and every one has his price.
--Samuel Richardson (1689—1761)
English novelist.
_A Collection Of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments_, p. 138 [1755]

-

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]


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.
Quoted in Samuel Krislov & Raymond Lee _Clash of Issues:
Readings and Problems in American Government_ [1984].


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.
Attributed in Bob Fenster _Laugh Off_, p. 135 [2005].

-

-

Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite
to efficient service to the public. Unless a man is honest
we have no right to keep him in public life, it matters not
how brilliant his capacity, it hardly matters how great his
power of doing good service on certain lines may be.
--Theodore Roosevelt (1858—1919)
American Republican statesman and President [1901-09].
_The Strenuous Life_ [1900]


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_ [2001].


There is a homely old adage which runs: 'Speak softly and carry a big
stick; you will go far.' If the American nation will speak softly, and yet
build, and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient
navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far.
--Theodore Roosevelt (1858—1919)
American Republican statesman and President [1901—1909].
Quoted in Edmund Morris _Theodore Rex_ [2001].

-

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.
_Sceptical Essays_ [1928]

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 (b. 1931)
American politician. U.S. Senator from Wyoming [1979-97].
Quoted in "New York Times" [28 August 2002].

I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.
--attributed to Socrates (470?—399 B.C.)
Greek philosopher.

I am not sure what it means when one says that he is
a conservative in fiscal affairs and a liberal in human
affairs. I assume what it means is that you will strongly
recommend the building of a great many schools to
accommodate the needs of our children, but not
provide the money.
--Adlai E. Stevenson (1900—1965)
American Democratic politician.
News conference [Fall 1955]

-

If you mean whiskey, the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the
bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys
the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread
from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that
topples Christian men and women from the pinnacles of righteous
and gracious living into the bottomless pits of degradation, shame,
despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am
opposed to it with every fibre of my being.

However, if by whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the
philosophic wine, the elixir of life, the ale that is consumed when
good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the
warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas
cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an
elderly gentleman on a frosty morning; if you mean that drink that
enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life's great tragedies
and heartbreaks and sorrow; if you mean that drink the sale of which
pours into Texas treasuries untold millions of dollars each year, that
provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our
deaf, our dumb, our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest
highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this
nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favor of
it.

This is my position, and as always, I refuse to be compromised on
matters of principle.

--Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat, Jr. (1922—1996)
American judge and politician.
[1952 speech]

-

And he gave it for his opinion, 'that whoever could make two
ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of
ground where only one grew before, would deserve better
of mankind, and do more essential service to his country,
than the whole race of politicians put together.'
--Jonathan Swift (1667—1745)
Anglo-Irish poet and satirist.
_Gulliver's Travels_ [1726] "Voyage to Brobdingnag"

^

William Howard Taft (1857—1930)
27th President of the United States [1909-13]
and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court [1921-30].

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 Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

Being prime minister is a lonely job ... You cannot lead from the crowd.
--Margaret Thatcher (b. 1925)
British conservative stateswoman and Prime Minister [1979-90].
_The Downing Street Years_, ch. 1 [1993]

If this thing starts to snowball, it will
catch fire right across the country.
--attributed to Robert Norman Thompson (1914—1997)
Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator.

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. [1945-53].
Speech in Washington, D.C. [11 April 1958].


My 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.
--attributed to Harry S Truman (1884—1972)
American Democratic statesman, President of the U.S. [1945-53].

-

-

The chances are that a man cannot get into congress
now without resorting to arts and means that should
render him unfit to go there.
--Mark Twain & Charles Dudley Warner
_The Gilded Age_, ch. 50 [1873]


It could probably be shown by facts and figures
that there is no distinctly native American
criminal class except Congress.
--Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835—1910)
American humorist, novelist, journalist, and river pilot.
_Following the Equator_, ch. 8 [1897]


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.
_Christian Science_, bk. I, ch. 5 [1907]

-

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.
1976 comment as quoted in John C. Skipper _The Iowa Caucuses:
First Tests of Presidential Aspiration, 1972-2008_, p. 47. [2009].

Half of the American people never read a newspaper.
Half never vote for president. One hopes it is the
same half.
--Gore Vidal (b. 1925)
American writer.
Quoted in Mark S Hoffman _The World Almanac and Book of Facts_ [1992].

Politics makes strange bed-fellows.
--Charles Dudley Warner (1829—1900)
American newspaperman, author, editor, and publisher.
_My Summer in a Garden_ [1871] "Fifteenth Week"

Edwin Goodwin, a doctor living in Solitude, Indiana in 1897,
"supernaturally" discoved that pi was equal to 3.2376. Goodwin
had his "solution" published in the "American Mathematical
Monthly,' then set about getting government approval for his
own private pi. He convinced his local legislators to introduce
a bill before Indiana's House offering state schools free use of
his "new mathematical truth." The bill, chocked full of math
jargon, fooled the House and passed by a 67-0 vote. (It later
failed to pass the Indiana Senate.)
--Bruce Watson
_Smithsonian Magazine_ [2000]

-

Once when Disraeli was canvassing for votes door to
door, a woman opened the door. Disraeli paused and
then, explaining his pause, exclaimed: 'I was overcome
by the resemblance to my sainted mother—and she
was a very beautiful woman.'
--George F. Will (b. 1941)
American columnist.
Quoted in "Newsweek" [1982].


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 (b. 1941)
American columnist.
_One Man's America_ [2008]

-

^

Woodrow Wilson (1856—1924)
American politician; president of Princeton University
[1902-10], President of the United States [1913-21].

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 Andrι Bernard [2000 ed.]

^

-

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.)

-

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.

--

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

Through nearly a dozen hearings, we were frankly trying to fix
something that wasn’t broke. Mr. Chairman, we do not have a
crisis at Freddie Mac, and particularly at Fannie Mae, under
the outstanding leadership of Franklin Raines.
--Maxine Waters (b. 1938)
American politician.
At a 2004 Congressional hearing about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

These two entities [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] are not facing any
kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems,
the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see
in terms of affordable housing.
--Barney Frank (b. 1940)
American politician.
[11 September 2003]

-

Great Orators of the Democrat Party.....

YESTERDAY

'One man with courage makes a majority.'
--Andrew Jackson

'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'
--Franklin D. Roosevelt

'The buck stops here.'
--Harry S. Truman

'Ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.'
--John F. Kennedy

TODAY

'America is--is no longer, uh, what it--it, uh, could be, uh, what it was
once was...uh, and I say to myself, 'uh, I don't want that future, uh,
uh for my children.'
--Barack Obama (Without a teleprompter)

-

-----

demagogue (noun)
1. A political leader who gains power by appealing to people’s
emotions and prejudices rather than their rationality.

filibuster (noun)
A tactic used to delay or prevent the passage
of legislation, e.g. a long irrelevant speech.

gerrymander [JER-i-man-der], verb:
The dividing of a state, county, etc., into election districts so as to give
one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the
voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

malfeasance (noun)
An illegal act or wrongdoing, esp. by a public official.
Syn.: abuse, misconduct.
Related: crime, injury, misconduct, iniquity, malpractice.

mugwump [MUHG-wuhmp], noun:
1. A person who is unable to make up his or her mind on an issue,
esp. in politics; a person who is neutral on a controversial issue.
2. A Republican who refused to support the party nominee, James
G. Blaine, in the presidential campaign of 1884.

pelf [PELF], noun:
Money; riches; gain; -- generally conveying
the idea of something ill-gotten.


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