A very apt Truman quote in these times

[pokerfan]

Today I want to talk to you about what that Republican Congress has been doing to you, and to your families, and to your country.

Understand me, when I speak of what the Republicans have been doing, I'm not talking about the average Republican voter. Nobody knows better than I that man for man, individually, most Republicans are fine people. But there's a big distinction between the individual Republican voter and the policies of the Republican Party.

Something happens to Republican leaders when they get control of the Government or even of a part of the Government--something that shocks and dismays many of their own loyal supporters.

Republicans in Washington have a habit of becoming curiously deaf to the voice of the people. They have a hard time hearing what the ordinary people of the country are saying. But they have no trouble at all hearing what Wall Street is saying. They are able to catch the slightest whisper from big business and the special interests.

When I talk to you here today about Republicans, I am talking about the party that gets most of its campaign funds from the special interests in Wall Street. I am talking to you about the party that gave us the phony boom of the 1920's, and the Hoover depression which followed it. I am talking to you about the party that gave us that Republican 80th Congress.

The Republican Party today is controlled by silent and cunning men who have a dangerous lust for power and privilege. The Republican Party is fundamentally the party of privilege. These men are now reaching out for control of the country and its resources.

It is your votes which will decide whether or not they have their way. That is why I have come out here today.

I want you to know the facts.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=13004">Address at the State Capitol in Denver. (9/20/48)

[MadrasT]

1. It's hard to believe that was written 60 years ago. n/t

[pokerfan]

4. Later on in that same speech

We all know that the housing situation in this country is a national disgrace. It is almost unbelievable that we should have made so little progress in providing decent housing conditions for millions of American families.

From the first day of that Republican 80th Congress, there was a housing bill before it, which would meet the problem. That bill was a full-scale program to provide housing for all our people and not just for those who can pay high prices. But the Republicans refused to act.

The situation became more and more desperate. Veterans' groups, labor groups, mayors of cities, Governors of States, pleaded with the Republicans to pass the housing bill. Even that hypocritical Philadelphia convention made a plea for it. Can you beat that? They still did nothing.

The Republican stand on housing was clearly exposed last July, when I called the Congress into special session and demanded again that they enact housing legislation. The bill was ready. It had been studied and discussed, times without number. It was supposed to be nonpartisan.

But what happened? There was a certain real estate lobby which had its high-priced agents operating in Washington. These men, representing big real estate interests, were in close touch with the Republican leaders. The Republican leadership in the House of Representatives cracked the whip. And the Republican Senate killed the nonpartisan housing bill.

This was no accident. It was Republican policy. In 1947, Senator Taft joined with two Democratic Senators--Senator Wagner and Senator Ellender--in introducing the housing bill. But in 1948 he voted against the bill with his own name on it. What a whip they must have cracked over Taft.

Why did the Republicans kill the bill? The answer is plain. They wanted to leave housing under the control of the profiteers. There is a lot of money to be made out of providing houses for the 'people--if private interests are allowed to exact exorbitant profits from the people.

Have you felt the pinch of the housing shortage? Put the blame where it belongs.

And remember, if the Republicans were to come into power for the next 4 years, the future of American housing would be in the hands of the same men who killed that housing bill--the men who obey the lobbyists of selfish interests, the powerful real estate lobby, and half a dozen others which I am going to talk to you about later on in this campaign.

[54anickel]

5. Just goes to show, some things really never do change! That or history repeats itself over and over

and over and over........hard to learn lessons from history when folks are allowed to revise it before it's taught.

[Sukie]

2. Wow

That could very well apply to present times.

[YOY]

3. Harry just gave 'em the truth and they thought it was hell.

n/t

[Narkos]

6. Amazing. Republicans=Aristocracy, forever and always n/t

[TuxedoKat]

7. Timely words, interesting speech. If you ever get the chance

to visit the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, MO, do go. One great story I remember was that the '80th congress believed a Republican would win the presidency so they voted for a boatload of money for the new administrations's inaugural balls and festivities. Of course, Truman won, so the Dems had no compunction over spending that money!

[pokerfan]

10. If I'm ever in Missouri again

Only time I've ever been in Missouri I was just passing through on my way to Tennessee which is a bit of a drive from the Pacific Northwest. Didn't even stop in St. Louis.

Do you see that, kids? That's the St. Louis Arch. The Gateway to the West. It's over 600 feet tall and there's an elevator all the way to the top.

Dad, can we go up on it?

No.

[TuxedoKat]

12. LOL! I used to live in St. Louis!

Great city -- loved it. I've been up in the arch more times than I can remember. It is no picnic, a small, cramped elevator ride to the top and then if it is a windy day you can feel the arch swaying. St. Louis is great for a baseball game though on a hot summer night, with the arch overhead, a full moon, and a draft beer, Cardinals baseball, it doesn't get much better than that. :)

[Liberalynn]

8. I loved when Keith Olberman

brought up the Truman quote: "How many times do you have to be hit over the head before you realize who is hitting you?"

If anyone tells me they are voting for McSame, I'm simply saying that and then walking away.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

9. Harry had a way with cutting through the BS

"I will stop telling the truth about your record as soon as you stop lying about mine!"

[pokerfan]

11. Real "straight talk" before the term was co-opted

"I never gave anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell."