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Quote of the Day: Spiro Agnew and How Some Things Never Change
On this day 44 years ago, a Vice President of the United States resigned and pled no contest to a felony charge. Spiro Agnew is remembered best for a quote against the press, calling them “nattering nabobs of negativism.” But as we look back, that was not his only delightful quote that still applies today, only moreso.
Perhaps the place to start looking for a credibility gap is not in the offices of the Government in Washington but in the studios of the networks in New York!
Hmm, yes, that could be pulled out of today’s headlines.
A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.
How very interesting.
This is the criminal left that belongs not in a dormitory, but in a penitentiary. The criminal left is not a problem to be solved by the Department of Philosophy or the Department of English—it is a problem for the Department of Justice… Black or white, the criminal left is interested in power. It is not interested in promoting the renewal and reforms that make democracy work; it is interested in promoting those collisions and conflict that tear democracy apart.
Sounds like today and Antifa.
I begin to wonder if anything ever changes. Certainly not human nature.
Published in Group Writing
Spiro 2020. Tanned, rested and ready.
Since he died many years ago, though, he’ll be running as a Democrat.
Well, duh, I almost forgot the sales pitch.
This is an entry in Ricochet’s Quote of the Day Series. Ricochet has podcasts and contributors, and they certainly do contribute to the content here, especially on the Main Feed. But Ricochet is so much more because of the members, such as you or me. Members have done many things to build a community here, without prompting from the powers that be or the founders of the site. The Quote of the Day Series is one of those things. A member came up with the idea, and just put out a schedule one day. Later, he left, and another member picked it up and kept it going, much as our Group Writing Series has also seen multiple members step forward to coördinate it over the years. In both of these series, volunteers step forward to sign up for a date to start a conversation, one that may not be about politics or today’s politics, but about other subjects or even eternal ideas.
The best thing about these series is that they are simple and easy ways for new members to ease their way into starting conversations, contributing to the community that is Ricochet, and becoming better known within the community. Never started a conversation before? This is a great way to do it.
We still have seven openings for Quote of the Day this month:
http://ricochet.com/456811/quote-of-the-day-october-schedule-and-sign-up-sheet/
We still have five openings on Group Writing this month, for which the theme is “Cards”:
http://ricochet.com/458485/group-writing-for-october-2017-cards/
And just because I am on a roll, let me mention a few other things that members have started and are ongoing:
Have I missed any?
Spiro Agnew couldn’t win in today’s Republican Party! Oh, wait, he just might…
Well, he certainly wouldn’t vote for Republicans today. All zombies vote Democrat.
There are also some notable series. Quinn the Eskimo’s music posts, David Sussman’s Whiskey Politics, Ryan M’s Flyover Country, and even, although it pains me to admit it, Titus on movies.
Actually, @lance and @randywebster also curate series of musical posts. Music is very well-represented. Titus has film. @seawriter does book reviews. @cudouglas does small-screen reviews for television. @jeromedanner also has a podcast with interesting interviews.
We have had occasional looks at art and architecture, but we have no ongoing series on the subject. Maybe we need to find a victim to write more about those.
We have had one-off posts by others on all of the arts, too. Ricochet is a very rich environment.
We also can’t forget anonymous ‘s Saturday Night Science, although he is a contributor.
And although it is a more occasional thing, @rushbabe49 does photography, or at least photography contests. Others, such as @aaronmiller and @thekingprawn post their photography. We could use a series on photography. It’s all part of the culture, and we need to find ways to win it.
Oh, man, Judge must be on his deathbed’s dying last words. Did everyone read that comment? I killed him. I’ll curse the day I learned to play a keyboard like Rubinstein… Why, God, was I cursed with such fiery genius? How many more must suffer!
Well, it would be better if someone who could write in English would do the movie reviews, but we’ll take what we can get. Bet than watching those things ourselves. ;^D
We have also had @saintaugustine writing on philosophy, as well as Titus on political philosophy.
FIFY. And the second is a question we all ask.
It gives him a leg up with the Cook County vote.
For the Will County vote, you’d better know the computer programmer.
It helps to have William Safire as a speech writer.
Spiro Agnew:
Well then, it’s excellent news that neither of them wasted their time trying very hard over the last four decades.
In the old days even crooks understood the Left—what they wanted and where they hid out. I kinda miss old Spiro.
(Because not everyone remembers – from http://politicaldictionary.com/words/nattering-nabobs-of-negativism/)
Yeah. I’ve been known to do that.
But not much lately. My brain, I think, is just too full with moving out of Pakistan and into Hong Kong and trying to write most of an Augustine book before Thanksgiving.
Some of them have created or exacerbated the problem.
The Philosophy Department, if it teaches the fundamentals–things like non-contradiction, logic, Plato, Aquinas, Locke, and the fact that emotivism is crap–may indeed be a part of the solution.
And Pat Buchannan.
I’d forgotten how important reading Safire was to my introduction to conservatism. The delight in language and a political philosophy grounded in common sense were irresistible.
Yes, and contrast him with the two so-called conservatives currently enshrined.
Spiro was a jaywalker compared to the Clinton Crime Syndicate.
Give Agnew credit for being able to pronounce “hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history” without stumbling. I would have had to practice it. A lot.
Do you mean David Brooks and Ross Douthat? I have to confess I like Douthat.