William E. Gladstone Quotes
Self-vindication never does a man any good, unless he has been assailed.
William E. Gladstone, 1809-1898, British Prime Minister (Liberal), Remark, House of Commons, March 12, 1877
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The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was the lone voice who warned the President of the CIA Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. After its failure:
In the 2012 Presidential campaign, Mitt Romney castigated President Obama for cutting $730 billion from the very popular Medicare program in his budget. The cut did not reduce any benefits to Medicare recipients as the money was saved by ending a subsidy that had been paid to private insurance. However, in Romney’s proposed and published budget, he would cut Medicare by the same $730 but the cuts would come from services as the insurance companies would still get their subsidies.
He was a fierce defender of New York City.
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.
Statement made by Root to President Roosevelt regarding a prepared speech about the rights to build the Panama Canal.
… to escape censure a man must pass his whole life without saying or doing one ill or foolish thing.
This of course applied mostly to public personages and applied not only in the political arena but also in the social arena.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times, serving over 12 years.
