What's your favorite political quote?

[red dog 1]

"Although it's not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative."


John Stuart Mill

[femmocrat]

1. Sen. Edward Kennedy, 1980 concession speech:

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

I miss him and wish he had lived to see ACA.

[red dog 1]

3. I miss him too.

IMO,Senator Edward Kennedy would have pressured the White House to make the ACA a
"Medicare-For-All" health plan.

He was no fan of the big insurance companies.

[hibbing]

2. Harry S. Truman

I've always liked this one or the various permutations of it.

I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.

Peace

[red dog 1]

4. Speaking of "Give 'em Hell, Harry"

"A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities, and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties."

Harry S. Truman

[Boom Sound 416]

5. Churchill

'Americans will always do the right thing, once all other possibilities are exhausted.'

[Scuba]

6. "They are unanimous in their hate for me - and I welcome their hatred."

[red dog 1]

14. "Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds"

Last edited Sat Apr 19, 2014, 01:35 PM - Edit history (1)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

It's not a political quote; but it's a great quote, IMO.

[lastlib]

7. John Kenneth Galbraith, the quotable liberal economist:

"Liberals sometimes do the wrong thing for the right reason. Conservatives do the wrong thing for no reason at all."

[red dog 1]

13. Good one!

[Initech]

8. Here's a good one from the great Lewis Black:

"We have the Republicans, a party of bad ideas and the Democrats, a party of no ideas. And how it works is a Republican will stand up in Congress and go "I've got a really bad idea!", and the Democrats respond "Well I can make it shittier and shittier and shittier!!".

[Shankapotomus]

9. This one is not necessarily political

but when I first heard it related at his funeral by his son, I heard his whole politics in it as loud as day:

"We’re going to climb that hill together, even if it takes us all day." --Ted Kennedy.

That was said by Kennedy to his son while helping him adapt to an artificial leg. But I also sensed immediately that it could also be applied metaphorically to our nation as a whole. It was one of the most moving moments of his funeral and I think it summarizes liberal philosophy of not abandoning the vulnerable quite dramatically.

[red dog 1]

12. Good quote, by a good man.

and I do miss him.

[rrneck]

10. All politics is local. nt

[rug]

11. "Political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible."

- George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm

[Ptah]

15. “Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.” ~ Frank Zappa

“Government is the Entertainment division of the military-industrial complex.”

― Frank Zappa

[russspeakeasy]

16. "Hello", he lied.

[frogmarch]

17. “People that are really very weird

can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history.” Dan Quayle

[red dog 1]

18. "If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure"

Last edited Sat Apr 19, 2014, 03:08 PM - Edit history (1)

"Welcome to President Bush, Mrs Bush, and my fellow astronauts."

"I have made good judgments in the past..I have made good judgments in the future."

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy -- but that could change."

"The future will be better tomorrow."

"I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix."

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."

"It's time for the human race to enter the solar system."

"I stand by all the misstatements I have made."


and my favorite Dan Quayle quote:

"I am not part of the problem..I am a Republican."

[frogmarch]

19. ha! What a treasure

Quayle was.

[malthaussen]

22. The Yogi Berra of politicians.

Only not so loveable. And nowhere near as good a player.

-- Mal

[red dog 1]

23. Funny you should say that

I was thinking the same thing as I listed Quayle's "misstatements"

I think my favorite Yogi Berra quote was a reference to a hotel the Yankees had stayed at:
"The towels were so thick there, I could hardly fit them into my suitcase"

[cyberswede]

20. Galbraith

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."
- John Kenneth Galbraith

[bif]

21. "I am not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat."

Will Rogers.

[red dog 1]

24. I use that one as my logo quote.

[Coventina]

25. Pat Robertson

Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

Pat Robertson


Why is it my favorite? It helps remind me that the right sees me as less than human, due to my gender.

Notice the assumption that all women are married and have children, defined by their roles, not as individuals.

[barbtries]

26. JFK

“If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.”
― John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage

[red dog 1]

28. That's a great JFK quote

[A HERETIC I AM]

27. "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

Last edited Sun Apr 20, 2014, 06:00 PM - Edit history (1)

By Joseph N. Welch to Senator Joe McCarthy, June 9th, 1954

Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

The entire exchange, according to the Wikipedia entry on Mr. Welch;

Until this moment, Senator, I think I have never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Fred Fisher is a young man who went to the Harvard Law School and came into my firm and is starting what looks to be a brilliant career with us. Little did I dream you could be so reckless and so cruel as to do an injury to that lad. It is true he is still with Hale and Dorr. It is true that he will continue to be with Hale and Dorr. It is, I regret to say, equally true that I fear he shall always bear a scar needlessly inflicted by you. If it were in my power to forgive you for your reckless cruelty I would do so. I like to think I am a gentle man, but your forgiveness will have to come from someone other than me.

When McCarthy tried to renew his attack, Welch interrupted him:

Senator, may we not drop this? We know he belonged to the Lawyers Guild. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

McCarthy tried to ask Welch another question about Fisher, and Welch cut him off:

Mr. McCarthy, I will not discuss this further with you. You have sat within six feet of me and could have asked me about Fred Fisher. You have seen fit to bring it out. And if there is a God in Heaven it will do neither you nor your cause any good. I will not discuss it further. I will not ask Mr. Cohn any more questions. You, Mr. Chairman, may, if you will, call the next witness.

A YouTube vid of the exchange;

[red dog 1]

29. Welch really "got" McCarthy with that one.

It remains to this day one of the most famous quotes in American history.

[A HERETIC I AM]

30. Yup. It was before my time....

but I think Welch said what most Americans had been thinking for quite some time.

McCarthy ruined the lives of countless Americans whose only crime is that they didn't think in a way that he approved of.

[red dog 1]

31. You're right about that.

At the time of the McCarthy Hearings, Ronald Reagan was President of the Screen Actors' Guild,

instead of "sticking up" for the writers, directors & producers that McCarthy blacklisted, (thus ruining their careers), Reagan "squealed on them" and "named names" of suspected communists in Hollywood..

[A HERETIC I AM]

32. Yeah...I've read about that. (Edited)

Reagan had an interesting history, if nothing else. A classic "speaks out of both sides of his mouth" type.

My dad was CIA and joined (or rather was recruited) in the mid fifties. He knew and was friends with many who were victims of the McCarthy era.

I think that time was one of the reasons, if not the primary reason the remark made by Michelle Bachmann a while back about investigating Congress for being "Un-American" was ridiculed so widely and ignored rather comprehensively. (sorry I left out the last part of that thought before I posted!)

""I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?"

Statement made to Chris Matthews, back in '08

[red dog 1]

36. Reagan only became President by illegal, deceitful acts..

!).."October Surprise", where William Casey & others met secretly with Iranian officials in Paris
and asked them to delay releasing the hostages until after Reagan became POTUS

2).."Debategate", where White House CIA officer Donald Gregg copied Jimmy Carter's briefing
papers for his 2nd debate with Reagan.(Treasonous act?)
Then, George Will used the stolen Carter briefing papers to "coach" Reagan so that he knew
what carter was going to say before he actually said it.
("Well, there you go again&quot

I wonder why William Casey, Donald Gregg, George Will & the others weren't put on trial for treason?
Isn't stealing secret Presidential papers from the White House a crime?

[Jamaal510]

33. J.Madison: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." nt

[hobbit709]

34. A flea can be trained to do almost anything a Congressman can

Mark Twain.

[red dog 1]

35. Good one!

"We have the best government money can buy."


Mark Twain

[Tom Ripley]

37. "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel": Samuel Johnson

followed closely by:
“If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray my country”: E.M. Forster

Obviously, I am not big on jingoistic horseshit.