Anomalous Data - Quote of the Day

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

In Britain their king is for life – In America our president will always be one of the people at the end of four years. In that country, the king is hereditary and may be an idiot, a knave, or a tyrant by nature, or ignorant from the neglect of his education, yet cannot be removed, for “he can do no wrong.” In America, as the president is to be one of the people at the end of his short term, so will he and his fellow citizens remember, that he was originally one of the people; and that he is created by their breath – Further, he cannot be an idiot, probably not a knave or a tyrant, for those whom nature makes so, discover it before the age of thirty-five, until which period he cannot be elected.

--Tench Coxe arguing for the adoption of

the Constitution

“An American Citizen” part I

Um….Ooops?

Tuesday, February 20, 2007 10:23:29 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00) | Comments [8] | Quote of the Day

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 8:54:59 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

In Britain, their king might be a king for life, but in the United States, we still take care of our presidents until the day they die. At one point in the last decade, we were still providing for seven presidents.

I love the last sentence. In other words, we'll know by the time a guy is 35 whether or not he's an ignorant ass. Perhaps that was true in the 1700's!

Kristi

Kristi

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 9:01:45 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

Hey Kristi!

Obviously, it has become impossible, in these modern times, to avoid getting a president who is "an idiot, a knave, or a tyrant by nature, or ignorant from the neglect of his education,"

To quote Rick, "If the founding fathers were still around, they'd be throwing the tea in the harbor all over again."

Teresa

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:08:33 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

In these terms, idiot was not colloquial but had actual meaning (IQ below 20, standard deviation of 16):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot

Of course, that's not as fun.

Now a knave is an "unprincipled, crafty person". I'd argue that this doesn't fit either: I don't think that W is unprincipled, I just think his principles are far different from my own. Crafty I'm still wishy-washy about, as I think that describes pretty much every politician out there.

Tyrant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrant
There's the rub. The erosion of privacy and protections pushes the bounds of tyranny IMHO.

magicmarmot

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 10:58:11 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

Marmot,

You're no fun.

But as to the Pricipled/unpricipled thing, David Kou might disagree with you as after he left his position with the Faith Based Initiatives thing, he wrote a book basically detailing how Bush and company are cynically using the religious right that they claim to champion and in fact don't care at all about advancing their social religious agenda, despite shows of public piety.

So while "W" might be pricipled, and it is a fair assumption that his priciples differ from yours, his priciples also differ from those he advances on his public face...so, can you say that someone is pricipled if their priciples are nowhere in evidence?

Teresa

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:00:49 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

Also, Marmot,

Call me someday for a lunchy-type appointment!

That's an order.

Or I will send Lugash to persuade you.

That is all.

Teresa

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:02:07 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

Nice quote Teresa,

Thanks for sending me over.
Well, looks like we've got a knave and an idiot despite ourselves.
The 21st century American Presidency is inherently a position of corruption. One could not reach that high post without being corrupt themselves. It is time to give a "true person of the people" the post. Hell, if this "person of the earth" screws the pooch..... well, they're only there for four years right? Or, we could always recall them. Hey, that's an idea.
We'll keep looking.
In the mean time, we've got to get back to some founding roots, and away from the hypocracy that is the modern day Presidency.
The current '08 candidates on the table look pretty pathetic to me.

Peace

1loneranger

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:08:23 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

Hey 1loneranger,

Nice to see you, thanks for visiting. Everyone, if you want to check out 1loneranger's site, you can click on his comment name above, or find the link in my blogroll.

Teresa

Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:19:45 AM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)

Hi Teresa,
I'm enjoying the content over here. Thanks for the plug, I'd be happy to reciprocate in kind.
This etymological discussion regarding politicians and BushCo. is interesting. But, whatever you want to call them, they're still out of touch with the base of the country. BushCo. and his small neoCon band of radicals are taking an unwilling country in a direction counter to what the traditions of the American constitution laid out.

Monomania is defined as

Pathological obsession with one idea or subject.
Intent concentration on or exaggerated enthusiasm for a single subject or idea.

He may be an idiot and a knave or and other fluidly defined term we can come up with, but he's still out of his mind.

1loneranger

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