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bettyellen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:01 AM
Original message
"Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
Edited on Tue May-10-05 07:26 AM by bettyellen
"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954



on edit: left out reference to Hunt and corrected year



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wildeyed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:02 AM
Response to Original message
1. Far out!
Thanks for the quote.
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Taxloss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:02 AM
Response to Original message
2. Brilliant. Spot on. n/t
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bettyellen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:04 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. i can't take credit,my friend Annette dug it out and sent it to me........
thanks Anette!
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Taxloss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:08 AM
Response to Reply #4
9. You should use it as a sig line.
It's too good not to.
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bettyellen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:10 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. hey, i think i'll do that. i never had a sig line before........
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Taxloss Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:13 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. It deserves a wider audience. n/t
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efhmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:02 AM
Response to Original message
3. Where is a good practical thinking repuke when one is needed?
Edited on Tue May-10-05 07:03 AM by efhmc
Nominated for fp. It needs to be seen.
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Cooley Hurd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:06 AM
Response to Original message
5. Ike knew - and he warned us...
...about the military industrial complex. What he didn't count on was the complete corporate takeover of the media.:thumbsdown:
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Avalux Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:07 AM
Response to Original message
6. GREAT quote!
thanks. :hi:
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:07 AM
Response to Original message
7. That's just amazing. Thanks for the quote.
We should all email it to the White House.

:)
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Junkdrawer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:08 AM
Response to Original message
8. Obviously BEFORE the takeover of the media and vote counting....
but the "their number is negligible" part is still true...
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Coexist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:16 AM
Response to Reply #8
14. kick
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NJCher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:13 AM
Response to Original message
12. incredible find!
We need to put that up on billboards coast to coast!


Cher
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whistle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:14 AM
Response to Original message
13. Even back in 1952 the neo-conservatives were pushing their...
...fascistic agenda. However, their seed of selfishness and greed was allowed to spread and flourish, much like the spread of a life choking parasitic ugly weed that steals nourishment from everything around it, crowding out variety and snuffing out that which is needed most.
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OKNancy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:17 AM
Response to Original message
15. There was a thread about this a few days ago on DU
Edited on Tue May-10-05 07:43 AM by OKNancy
and for the sake of accuracy, the date should be 1956.

Also the quote above is not entirely accurate. In the original Eisenhower say a few Texas oil millionaires like Howard Hunt...

This quote was in a letter to DWE's brother Edgar.

I'll go find the original and edit.


Here it is as I saved it.


"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again.... There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H.L. Hunt...a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or businessman from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

(Eisenhower wrote his brother Edgar on May 2, l956)
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bettyellen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:24 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. i fixed it, thanks
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BeyondThePale Donating Member (895 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:18 AM
Response to Original message
16. Here is the source...
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bettyellen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:24 AM
Response to Reply #16
19. thanks, i corrected it.
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REACTIVATED IN CT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 11:59 AM
Response to Reply #16
23. His comment on the Supremes and the Constitution
was great, too!
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leveymg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:24 AM
Response to Original message
18. Ranks with Ike's "Beware the Military-Industrial Complex" warning
to JFK.

This really points out how far to the Right America has slid in the past half-century. Ike used to be considered Conservative. Today, he'd be decried as a "damn lib'rl" by the Repugs and would probably be unelectable. So much for progress.

Thanks for sharing that quote.

:bounce:
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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:29 AM
Response to Original message
20. Old Ike had more than his share of good quotes
He warned us about the military-industrial complex, too (he was originally going to include Congress, but lined that part out...should have left it in, IMHO).
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highplainsdem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 07:53 AM
Response to Original message
21. Here's a link to prove the quote is genuine, in case
anyone questions it:

http://www.eisenhowermemorial.org/presidential-papers/first-term/documents/1147.cfm

I should mention that in the same letter Eisenhower sent his brother on November 8, 1954 is a reference to a situation a year earlier, in which Eisenhower said "we were in imminent danger of losing Iran, and sixty percent of the known oil reserves of the world." I checked this out by looking at documents 281 and 457, which the footnotes referred to, and this has to do with Iran nationalizing its oil industry. Document 281 (use the link in the upper right corner of that page to reach it) is a letter to the prime minister of Iran.

Document 457, Eisenhower's diary entry for October 8, 1953, has another gem to use to show conservatives just how far they've veered to the right. There is a brief reference to the controversy between the UK and Iran, but more of the diary entry is about the Supreme Court and Eisenhower's choice of Earl Warren, who was so hated by conservatives. This is what Eisenhower had to say about that:

I was firmly convinced that the prestige of the Supreme Court had suffered severely in late years, and that the only way it could be restored was by the appointment to it of men of nation wide reputation for integrity, competence in the law, and in statesmanship. ...

I was equally determined that my selection could not be charged to favoritism or to personal political indebtedness. While all my friends knew that I had consented to stand for the Presidency only because of what I felt to be a matter of duty and service, still by and large the conviction prevails that if an individual supports another for the Presidency, there is almost automatically a great political indebtedness incurred. For this reason I would not have considered Governor Dewey, who came out in 1950 as a supporter of mine for the Presidency, even if he had had in a very high degree all of the other qualifications I was seeking.18 On top of this, Governor Dewey is so political in his whole outlook that I could scarcely imagine him as a Federal judge. Earl Warren, on the contrary, is very deliberate and judicial in his whole approach to almost any question. He is middle-of-the-road in political philosophy (another qualification I was seeking), is 62 years old, and alleged to be physically perfect for his age.

Moreover, in the Republican Convention of July, 1952, he never consented to turn over any of his own delegates to insure my nomination.19 He did not release them until after the nomination had been decided; consequently, there was no possibility of charging that this appointment was made as payment for a political debt. None of these considerations would have been important except because of the chief purpose I mentioned--to restore the prestige of the Court. I am determined that it will not be made a political convenience for any reason whatsoever, and whatever individuals I appoint to it will merit and have the respect and admiration of the vast majority of our citizens.

Earl Warren has of necessity been an interim appointment. I made it early this month so that he could participate in the opening fall sessions of the Court. He will, of course, have to be confirmed next January. In this case confirmation should be immediate and overwhelming. If the Republicans as a body should try to repudiate him, I shall leave the Republican Party and try to organize an intelligent group of Independents, no matter how small.



It's easy to see what Eisenhower would think of the current administration and the current Republican party...
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ananda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 08:13 AM
Response to Reply #21
22. they may be stupid..
.. but they're rich, superrich, no supersuperrich, and..

.. they own the mainstream media.

Also, they have us all in the brainwashed clutches of the WASP-consumerist meme that completely pervades this society and the consciousnesses of nearly everyone, including liberals.

Sue
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Doctor_J Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 12:20 PM
Response to Original message
24. "their number is negligible, and they run the country"
is the correct sentence now.
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ClassWarrior Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 01:06 PM
Response to Reply #24
25. Their number is negligible, and they've smartened up in the past 50 years.
We need to outsmart these fucks, and we ain't going to do it by lowering our own expectations of them.

Read Sun Tsu.

NGU.


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JNelson6563 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-10-05 02:43 PM
Response to Original message
26. Their numbers have grown
but their IQ's haven't.

Julie
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