"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", May 7, 1918
Friday, October 29, 2004
T.Roosevelt Thought for the Week
Tip o' the Keyboard to the Bull Moose blog
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TR represented a turning point in America: if not for TR, the thing that Lincoln saved would have been taken over by corporations long before Bush handed it over to them.
A strong president, a brilliant diplomat, an deeply educated and principled man, in intensely physical man who got into office quite by accident of assassination. Just dumb luck.
Now we've got dumb luck again, but with a whole new twist.
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