Robert G. Ingersoll Quotes
Samuel J. Tilden says we are a nation of thieves and rascals. If that is so he ought to be President.
Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.
Robert Green Ingersoll, 1833-1899, Attorney General of Illinois (Republican), Ingersollia, Belford, Clarke & Co., 1882
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This quotation illustrates an interesting phenomenon in American Presidential Politics. There have been Democratic Presidents (FDR and Obama are the most glaring examples) for whom there was vituperative hatred and derision from the conservative Republicans who would frequently refer to them as Socialists and would believe that they were trying to lead the country on the path to socialism. The Presidents always stated that they were opposed to socialism, but to little avail with their conservative haters. But the socialists of the times and even the left wing of the Democratic Party not only did not see them as socialists, but were not very supportive or complementary of their skills and capabilities. Roosevelt reveled in the situation and “welcomed: their hate. Obama was more of a public centrist who tried to avoid the president getting involved in the extreme partisanship of the day.
George Canning, 1770-1827, the British Foreign Minister at only 35 years of age was considered the most brilliant politician of this time. He would have been a natural selection for Prime Minister. However, early in Canning's boyhood his father had been disinherited and died in poverty and his mother worked as an actress to support the family. This quotation shows the snobbery and class distinction that permeated England at the time.
Lincoln was not above personal attacks on the opposition:
While President Barack Obama was primarily frequently insulted by white conservatives, black left-wingers also went after him.
Also attributed earlier to Thomas Corwin. See under "Memorials"
The House Majority Leader Tom Delay, with a history of ethics violations, got caught in some very serious ones and convinced the House majority leadership to change the rules of the Ethics Committee to prevent the minority from initiating any investigations or inquiries. The Ethics Committee was the only House committee that has an equal number of majority and minority members and before this change, either side would initiate an inquiry.
Robert Green "Bob" Ingersoll was an American lawyer, a Civil War veteran, political leader, and orator of the United States during the Golden Age of Free Thought, noted for his broad range of culture and his defense of agnosticism. He was nicknamed "The Great Agnostic". Ingersoll was considered to be the greatest orator and political thinker of his day, but his overt atheistic views curtailed his elected political career.
