Political Accountability Quotes
The line was delivered by actor Robin Williams.
Attributed. The earliest close match located by QI appeared in a column by Dick Nolan in “The San Francisco Examiner” of California in 1966. The comedian Robin Williams, 1951-2014, was also very successful with this line a century later.
Roosevelt was running again for the presidency, however this time as a Third Party Candidate. He lost to Woodrow Wilson but outpolled the Republicans. This was the Third Party performance since Abraham Lincoln.
Originally it was published in Boston under the name “A Columbian Patriot.” She was right about the lifetime tenure of a senator, but it is the power of incumbency and not the senator getting forgotten that causes it. So she made an accurate prediction but gave the wrong reason.
This quotation had a close proximity to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (see linked quote). Although this was probably Lincoln's most famous line, it was not totally original. John Adams came close in a 1774 proclamation (see linked quote). As did John Marshall in his McCulloch v. Maryland decision (see linked quote). There was also Thomas Cooper in 1795 (see linked quote). But the earliest close phrase use appears to be the English cleric, John Wycliffe, in 1382 (see linked quote). It is not known with which of these Lincoln was familiar.
