Frank McCourt Quotes
Certain citizens claimed I had disgraced the fair name of the city of Limerick, that I had attacked the church, that I had despoiled my mother's name, and that if I returned to Limerick, I would surely be found hanging from a lamppost.
Statement made by Cheney to Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, regarding the inspections in 2002/2003 of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
In 1989 the Chicago Institute of the arts exhibited a controversial work where the American flag was draped on the floor that appeared to invite patrons to walk on it. The Senator introduced a bill making it a crime to display the American flag:
After a memo was circulated about House Speaker-elect Tom Foley that implied that the congressman was a homosexual:. at the Republican National Committee, source of the offending letter
This dictum has driven blood feuds that have lasted over 200 years. It has also made governance and diplomacy in Northern Albania very difficult.
Spinoza was one of the most feared intellectuals in human history—feared that is by the established power structures. He is the only known person who was excommunicated by the Catholics, the Jews and the Muslims—all were forbidden to read his works. He was the enemy of authority and advocated personal reason as the guide for men.
There was a great deal of anti-American feeling in the world at the time he wrote this and for the next 4 years. But it had not been such a problem before George W. Bush assumed the Presidency, and after the Bush Administration, the anti-Americanism dissipated. Bush had to cope with the 9-11 attack and was not able to do so and maintain pro American feelings throughout the world. Towards the end of his second term, he was very unpopular even among members of his own party in America.
This quotation is the root of a great dilemma for all politicians who are attacked on a personal level. Most slanders are soon forgotten. The politician who reacts and publicly counters the slander inevitably does two things. More people become aware of the slanderous charges then there is a public battle over it, and the media tend to report the contest and hence the slanderous charge for a longer period of time than if it were uncontested. However sometimes the undefended charge is perceived as being true especially if it is a major charge. If the politician does not defend, the charge can get accepted and damage the politician’s standing. In the Kerry-Bush Prudential campaign, Kerry had the edge until the so-called Swiftboat Veterans made up a fictitious tale of Kerry, a decorated war hero, being a coward in the Vietnam war. Kerry thought the charge so preposterous that he didn’t bother to defend it. His lack of reaction was taken by much of the public as his admission of the charge. Kerry’s hero image was destroyed by a large enough proportion of the electorate that the electoral votes shifted to Bush, even though Kerry had the most votes by far. For each politician, the decision must be made for each charge and there is no clear way to know in advance which is the better strategy when a false charge is made.
Francis McCourt was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book Angela's Ashes, a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood.
