An awesome Harry Truman quote (perfectly fits today as much as it did 60+ years ago)

[scheming daemons]

"Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing. They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage--the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them. They consider electrical power a great blessing--but only when the private power companies get their rake-off. They think American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire of Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it."

- Harry S Truman

Man, he had a way of calling it like it is.

[Top Cat]

1. K&R

[SharonAnn]

20. Harry S. Truman quotes - "Carry the battle to them. Don't let them

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/harry_s_truman.html

Carry the battle to them. Don't let them bring it to you. Put them on the defensive and don't ever apologize for anything.
Harry S. Truman

All the president is, is a glorified public relations man who spends his time flattering, kissing, and kicking people to get them to do what they are supposed to do anyway.

Harry S. Truman "America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and unbeatable determination to do the job at hand."
Harry S. Truman

[JDPriestly]

43. Just watched the documentary on Harry Truman. It's available on Netflix.

Absolutely inspiring. He did not have a high school education, and his wife was very unhappy about his election to the presidency. But he did the job with courage. He made some huge mistakes, but don't we all. At the same time he exemplified American courage and independent spirit. What a great man!!!

[gkagejr]

55. US Senator Harry Truman on Floor of the US Senate in 1937

“We worship money instead of honor. A billionaire, in our estimation is much greater in these days in the eyes of the people than the public servant who works for public interest. It makes no difference if the billionaire rode to wealth on the sweat of little children and the blood of underpaid labor. No one ever considered Carnegie libraries steeped in the blood of Homestead steelworkers, but they are. We do not remember that the Rockefeller Foundation is founded on the dead miners of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company and a dozen other similar performances. We worship Mammon; and until we go back to ancient fundamentals and return to the Giver of the Tables of Law and His teachings, these conditions are going to remain with us.
It is a pity that Wall Street, with it’s ability to control all the wealth of the nation and to hire the best law brains in the country, has not produced some statesmen, some men who could see the dangers of bigness and of the concentration of the control of wealth. Instead of working to meet the situation, they are still employing the best law brains to serve greed and self interest. People can only stand so much and one of these days there will be a settlement……”

[bvar22]

56. Welcome to DU,

and thanks for that quote.
It just made My Greatest List,
and you will see it again on DU!
:hi:


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone

"By their WORKS you will know them."

[TomClash]

2. Only one part is a bit dated

"And they admire of Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it."

They bought it long ago.

[7wo7rees]

54. Nov 22, 1963

"The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses." -- Utah Phillips

[scheming daemons]

3. Another one... short and to the point:

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a Republican. But I repeat myself."
— Harry S. Truman

[unblock]

4. that one's a bit of a rip-off; the original samuel clemens quote:

"suppose you were an idiot. and suppose you were a member of congress. but i repeat myself."

but these days especially, i don't mind the partisan version.

[ChazInAz]

24. Well after all.....

.....Harry and Sam were both from Missouri. Just a little judicious homage to a home-town boy.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Wasn't he the guy who gave 'em hell? nt

[scheming daemons]

6. No... he told the truth on 'em and they THOUGHT it was hell..

;-)

[hootinholler]

7. According to him...

He told the truth and they just thought it was hell.

-Hoot

[Cracklin Charlie]

8. From Independence, Missouri, home of President Truman

Another good HST quote: When told that President Roosevelt had died in Georgia, Truman said "Oh, shit".

[Jakes Progress]

9. Ahhhh. Harry. Back when Democrats were Democrats.

[scheming daemons]

10. Truman had a 25% approval rating when he left office.....

....so don't pretend that Democrats loved him back then.


Only in retrospect, with 50 years of history in between, has his reputation and ratings gone up.

[Mimosa]

12. Guess people didn't like the Korean war? n/t

[Jakes Progress]

30. Your point being

that popularity is more important than principle? I would guess you would have been one of the supposed majority that didn't approve of Harry.

Care to share your historical documents that back up that figure? The same figures were touted in his bid for the office in 1948. None of the polls gave him a chance to beat Dewey. Then people voted. The vote is always more accurate than some survey. So stash your popularity polls. Harry did what he thought was right. The '48 election shows what can happen when you do that.

[Roci]

44. I'm old enough to remember

Harry Truman.
Please let me tell you that there are still plenty of good Democrats out there who believe in the same things that Truman did. That's because they are timeless. Truman knew that right and wrong don't shift with political sands. Take a stand that you know is right, and eventually, you win through, because by and large people know what's right, and that's what they want in their government, and in those who run it.
The problem is that the current "leadership"- and how I almost choke on that word when it comes to these well-monied political hacks who've decided to sell your future welfare and security to get votes and make money now- is that they have no solid beliefs on which to stand. Their beliefs are all for sale and have already been sold to the highest bidder.
On top of everything else, we have a President who is so anxious to "get a deal" that he's forgotten that there are some beliefs that ought not be bargained away at any price, nor for any reason.
This "Bipartisan" crap is just that. It ought to be spelled "buy Partisan" because what's being traded like a farmer trying to unload a lame mule to a city slicker is the security and comfort of the people who have the least.
30 years of the American worker taking it up the wrong end have come home to roost. The other Party, the "Party of NO" can now be so contemptuous of basic American Democracy because they know that the man in the White House is their own personal doormat.

The Constitution is a fantastic document. It lays out how the most beneficial form of government should function to the greatest benefit of everyone. It's greatest strength and its greatest flaw is we, the people. There is only one provision in the Constitution which can easily remedy weak leadership. It is called an election.
Maybe this is the generational lesson that people need to learn all over again about how important it is that we vote, and vote for the right people while we have the chance.
We have this President, and this Congress for a bit less than two years. Maybe, rather than stay home, and sit on their hands in understandable disgust, real Democrats need to put down the TV remote and go out and campaign for what they believe in-Just like Harry. And when we vote, we ought to bring as many friends to the polls as we can manage. There's a saying that "Friends don't let friends vote Republican."
They will, unless real Democrats start offering them an alternative, and it had better be pretty dammed quick, for our sake, and the sake of the Nation we know is right and just for everyone.

[stevedeshazer]

47. What you said!

Bravo!

[Mimosa]

11. WOW! That is just as relevant today!

Thanks, Scheming Daemons. :)

[polichick]

13. k&r - I especially like this part:

"They think American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire of Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it."

[bvar22]

14. Give em Hell, Harry.

This is my favorite quote:

"I've seen it happen time after time. When the Democratic candidate allows himself to be put on the defensive and starts apologizing for the New Deal and the Fair Deal, and says he really doesn't believe in them, he is sure to lose. The people don't want a phony Democrat. If it's a choice between a genuine Republican, and a Republican in Democratic clothing, the people will choose the genuine article, every time; that is, they will take a Republican before they will a phony Democrat, and I don't want any phony Democratic candidates in this campaign."
---President Harry Truman

QED:2010


Thank You, Harry!

[Roci]

40. As I have said before

President 44 needs to start acting more like President 33, rather than President 14.

[JDPriestly]

48. Better elaborate -- 14th president -- Franklin Pierce. I know. You forgot about him.

The stage for the Civil War was all but set under Franklin Pierce, the supreme compromiser.

. . . .

To win Southern support for organizing Nebraska, Douglas added provision declaring the Missouri Compromise to be invalid. The bill provided that the residents of the new territories could decide the slavery question for themselves. Although his cabinet had made other proposals, Douglas and several southern Senators successfully persuaded Pierce to support Douglas' plan.
Franklin Pierce, by George Healy

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act triggered a series of events that became known as Bleeding Kansas. Pro-slavery Border Ruffians, mostly from Missouri, illegally voted in a government that Pierce recognized, and Pierce called the Topeka Constitution, a shadow government set up by Free-Staters, an act of "rebellion." Pierce continued to recognize the pro-slavery legislature even after a congressional investigative committee found its election illegitimate, and dispatched federal troops to break up a meeting of the shadow government in Topeka.

The Act provoked outrage among northerners who saw Pierce as kowtowing to slave-holding interests, provided the impetus for the formation of the Republican Party, and contributed to critical estimates of Pierce as untrustworthy and easily manipulated. Having lost public confidence, Pierce failed to receive the nomination by his party for a second term. Pierce's hiring of a full-time bodyguard - the first president to do so -, is testament to his ruined reputation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Pierce

[JDPriestly]

46. "Give 'em hell, Obama," is what we need to be telling our president.

And we do not need cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. They are not going to help balance the budget. They will just impoverish the government and the American people all the more.

We need to end our trade agreements if they can't be rewritten to insure fair trade.

[Hawkowl]

15. Obama never criticizes his friends--the Republicans .nt.

[scheming daemons]

17. That's just factually incorrect, and you know it

On many occassions, too many to actually count and list, Obama has blistered the Republican party.


Less than two weeks ago he hammered them in a press conference... to such a degree that Mark Halperin said he acted like a "dick" toward them.



When you post what you posted here... which is an absolute and outright lie, and you KNOW IT IS A LIE, you are engaging in behavior that is just as bad as anything Fox News does.


Don't fucking lie.

[lark]

34. You protest too much

While it was a factual lie, it was true in essence. Obama does talk bad about Repugs, but then turns around and spouts every single one of their talking points and does exactly the thing he said he'd never do. So what is more important, what he says (sometimes Dem) or what he does - ALWAYS REPUG.

[MsPithy]

39. Just today Obama said, "I've been hearing from my Republican FRIENDS..."

I also seem to recall Obama calling Liberals "sanctimonious." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/07/AR2010120707214.html
That is what is know as a blistering and completely uncalled for attack. When he disagrees with Republicans he acknowledges they have a different point of view. The name-calling he reserves for Liberals. Do you think Emanuel would have gotten away with calling the Left, "Fucking retarded," if Obama didn't agree? And, by how many points did Blanche Lincoln loose? 20+?

Speaking of lying, has Obama ever called a Republican out for the outrageous, un-American lies they use to beat him over the head? Death Panels? Eliminating oil subsidies hurts small business? Global warming is a hoax? He is not pro-business, He is a Socialist, Marxist, Communist, Muslim, Racist, Anti-Christ? Investment creates jobs? Has Obama ever called a Republican sanctimonious, or fucking retarded? Please post the link.

Yes, Obama said Congress (not just Republicans) needs to get it's work done, by comparing them unfavorably to his pre-teen daughters, OUCH! Is that what you call "blistering?"

Sorry, but you are just wrong. On economic policy and foreign policy Obama is Republican-lite. As a matter of fact, that is how he plans to run in 2012, "I'm not as bad as the Republicans."

Please be more careful who you call a liar, and even on their worst day no Democrat even approaches the completely fact free fantasy world of the Fox channel.

[JDPriestly]

49. Obama is not secure enough -- personally secure enough -- to deal

with confrontation. That is very strange for a lawyer.

And by the way, if you know anyone who doesn't like confrontation and wants to go to law school, tell them to rethink their career plans.

The world does not work without at least some confrontation. You can't always run away from it. You have to learn to deal with it in a way that diffuses it without your losing. And sometimes that means standing up to a bully.

Obama has not learned to stand up to bullies. But then, that is a skill that can be quickly mastered if you put your mind to it. It is about time that Obama puts his mind to it, because he is up against the biggest, fattest, meanest, most arrogant bullies in the world -- the Republican Party.

[MsPithy]

52. You raise an interesting point,

but I respectfully disagree. Obama is smart enough and diplomatic enough to call Republicans out on their bald faced lies without being confrontational. No drama Obama could have coldly stated the facts, and demolished the Republican lies without breaking a sweat.

And as for being uncomfortable with confrontation, he has no problem with confronting Liberals. It is obvious to me that Obama believes the Republican economic philosophy, supply side economics and bankers and hedge-fund managers know best.

[ccharles000]

16. K/R

so true

[blueclown]

18. President Obama has not lived up the legacy of FDR, Truman and LBJ.

Those were true titans of the Democratic Party. Obama has a long way to go.

[damonm]

19. While we're on the subject of Truman...

“Experience has shown how deeply the seeds of war are planted by economic rivalry and social injustice.”
Just another one of those gems that show how underappreciated the man has been.

[LiberalFighter]

21. I put that section of his speech on the back of our dinner directory last year.

Our state house speaker referenced it during the dinner and then later at our state convention.

[great white snark]

26. Good on you LiberalFighter.

Hopefully it inspired more than just you.

[LiberalFighter]

38. I'm sure it did.

One of the attendees had it published in an organization's newspaper shortly after the event.

A local city council person ask for the whole article.

[MissDeeds]

22. Excellent quote

And 100% true. Any Democrat who thinks he/she can compromise with these people should memorize this.

K&R

[meegbear]

23. K&R

[Maineman]

25. I love this quote !!

[great white snark]

27. K&R

Thanks scheming daemons.

[LongTomH]

28. More quotes from Harry

It is time that all Americans realized that the place of labor is side by side with the businessman and with the farmer, and not one-degree lower.

In the past, the benefits of modern medical science have not been enjoyed by our citizens with any degree of equality. Nor are they today. Nor will they be in the future - unless government is bold enough to do something about it.

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.

[bluethruandthru]

29. A lot of things change but you can always count on the greed of the republicans. n/t

[Sherman A1]

31. Gotta Love HST

:kick: A True Democrat!

[Roland99]

32. Oh, if only Ike's warning had been heeded.

[avebury]

33. K&R

[russspeakeasy]

35. It's really sad that we have to go all the way back to

Harry Truman to source any democratic spine.

[Lucky Luciano]

36. It would be nice to see Obama call them out directly like that. nt

[NewJeffCT]

37. Unfortunately - to quote Adlai Stevenson in response to a woman

who said that Adlai would have the support of every thinking person in America, "Thank you ma'am, but I need a majority to win."

[RaleighNCDUer]

41. This proves two things - First, that Republicans have not changed in 60 years.

Second, that Democrats have.

[SaveAmerica]

42. Seems like many didn't know their history and repeated it.

[The Big Vetolski]

45. Any Harry Truman quote is worth a K&R. BTW, I met him once. In

Independence. My "aunt," who was really something like a third cousin twice-removed who my parents found when they got into genealogy, had known him forever and set up a meeting. I don't remember much as I was only 4. He was just a nice old guy who let me bang on his piano and Bess served good ice cream, which is what I remember the most.

You've probably read it, but any of you who have not read "Plain Speaking," by Merle Miller, are missing a jewel. Or "Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure," by Matthew Algeo. They both really bring Harry to life. I wish we really could. We need him. Badly.

[louslobbs]

50. K&R

Lou

[Land Shark]

51. The original quote, in its rich context, is here

Below is an extended excerpt from the actual source of the quote in the original Post above. While the quote in the form bandied about the internet (very similar to above) does include things Truman said, it also omits quite a few (a total of five) of his charges against Republicans - most of which make the quote better. FWIW, I wonder who did the editing on this quote way back when?

The most pertinent portion of the quote is in larger type in the bottom half of the excerpt below, and the five omitted portions are underlined in the second half of the excerpt below from the Truman papers.

{...}True liberalism is more than a matter of words. It demands more than sound effects. It cannot hide behind the catch phrases of the Republican candidate for President-catch phrases like "unity" and "efficiency." Unity for what cause? Efficiency for what Purpose, I wonder ?

The American people, in this critical year, are entitled to a full and open discussion of the issues. They are not getting it from the Republican candidate for President.

It is no service to the country to refuse, in the name of unity, to discuss the issues. It is no service to democracy to conceal the difference between the major parties.

Unity in a democracy cannot be produced by mealymouthed political speeches.

Unity on great issues comes only when the voice of the people has been heard so clearly, so strongly, so unmistakably, that no one--not even the second guessers--can doubt what the people mean.

Thomas Jefferson did not seek unity by concealing the real issues between himself and Alexander Hamilton. He made the issues clear, so that the people could reach a decision. And their decision determined that democracy rather than autocracy should prevail in this great country of ours.

Andrew Jackson did not seek unity with the moneymakers in Philadelphia. He made the issues so clear that the people decided to place the control of the money in the Government of the United States, and not in a few private banks.

Abraham Lincoln did not seek unity with Stephen A. Douglas. He made it clear that this Nation could not continue to exist half slave and half free.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1933, did not seek unity with the economic royalists. He proposed the New Deal.

And today, I do not seek unity by concealing the issues between me and the special privilege groups that control the Republican Party.

I never will seek that sort of unity.

-----------------

{...}
Hitler learned that efficiency without justice is a vain thing.

Democracy does not work that way. Democracy is a matter of faith--a faith in the soul of man--a faith in human rights. That is the kind of faith that moves mountains--that's the kind of faith that hurled the Iron Range at the Axis and shook the world at Hiroshima.

Faith is much more than efficiency. Faith gives value to all things. Without faith, the people perish.

Today the forces of liberalism face a crisis. The people of the United States must make a choice between two ways of living--a decision, which will affect us the rest of our lives and our children and our grandchildren after us.

On the other side, there is the Wall Street way of life and politics. Trust the leader! Let big business take care of prices and profits! Measure all things by money! That is the philosophy of the masters of the Republican Party.

Well, I have been studying the Republican Party for over 12 years at close hand in the Capital of the United States. And by this time, I have discovered where the Republicans stand on most of the major issues.

Since they won't tell you themselves, I am going to tell you.

They approve of the American farmer-but they are willing to help him go broke.

They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing.

They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights.

They favor a minimum wage--the smaller the minimum the better.

They indorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools.

They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them.

They approve of social security benefits-so much so that they took them away from almost a million people.

They believe in international trade--so much so that they crippled our reciprocal trade program, and killed our International Wheat Agreement.

They favor the admission of displaced persons--but only within shameful racial and religious limitations.

They consider electric power a great blessing-but only when the private power companies get their rake-off.

They say TVA is wonderful--but we ought never to try it again.

They condemn "cruelly high prices"--but fight to the death every effort to bring them down.

They think the American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people.

And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it.

Now, my friends, that is the Wall Street Republican way of life. But there is another way--there is another way--the Democratic way, the way of the Democratic Party.

Of course, the Democratic Party is not perfect. Nobody ever said it was. But the Democratic Party believes in the people. It believes in freedom and progress, and it is fighting for its beliefs right now.

Original Source in Truman Library: http://www.trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=1986
October 13, 1948 speech by President Harry S. Truman, addressing the people of Minnesota and "proud to salute a fighting liberal--the next Senator from Minnesota, Mayor {Hubert} Humphrey of Minneapolis." Broadcast nationwide.

[Plucketeer]

53. TIMELESS!!! nt