What produces RUTHLESS DICTATORS?

@High Seas,

YES he did, even though ti was mostly like a misquote of John Adams

Quote:

facts are stubborn things.

1 Reply

@High Seas,

I don't know whether he said that or not. I read that he said it. In the Sunday Times I think.

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@dyslexia,

Surely the quote is "facts are stubborn things" not "stupid things"?! Spendi admits he may not recall correctly.

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@High Seas,

High Seas wrote:

Yes as to opening to China, but I think he did it as a counterweight to the Soviet Union, not from any Maoist sympathies!

Yes, perhaps, I never thought of Nixon doing that because he was sympathetic to Chinese politics. I just think its an indication of thinking outside the box and a symptom of Nixon as a politician, he was sort of all over the map.

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@High Seas,

sure enough,

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@High Seas,

Surely enough Reagan at 1988 Republican National Convention said "facts are stupid things" misquote of adams or not, that's what he said.

1 Reply

@High Seas,

Quote:

Spendi admits he may not recall correctly.

I admitted no such thing. I admitted I was relying on the Sunday Times. I recall that perfectly.

Talk of misquotes is neither here nor there. People often deliberately alter well known quotes for rhetorical effect. I occasionally do it myself.

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

.... People often deliberately alter well known quotes for rhetorical effect. I occasionally do it myself.

Well that settles it, then - sorry for misunderstanding Smile

1 Reply

@High Seas,

In the meantime I have tracked it down such as my diligence in the service of A2Kers.

Quote:

But unfortunately this is a prize example of how, in the words of that great idiot savant, Ronald Reagan, “facts are stupid things”, while fragmentary, half-remembered gossip can be richly illuminating as well as amusing.

That is from Christopher Hart's review of William Shawcross's official biography of the Queen Mother who, incidentally, smoked woodbines at school and lived to be over 100. Sunday Times Sept 20.

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

Dys - you're getting to be even more outlandish than Okie on occasion; here is what Reagan said, verbatim:

Quote:

I've been doing a little remembering of my own because of all that inflated rhetoric by our friends in Atlanta last month. But then, inflation is their specialty.

Before we came to Washington, Americans had just suffered the two worst back-to-back years of inflation in 60 years. Those are the facts. And as John Adams said, "Facts are stubborn things."

http://www.reagansheritage.org/html/reagan_rnc_88.shtml

1 Reply

@spendius,

Spendius - equipped with the proper quote as you are now, e-mail this Mr Hart of the Sunday Times and blast him to smithereens.

1 Reply

@High Seas,

I don't know how to do e-mails HS. And Mr Hart is one of my favourite book reviewers.

I read it as a compliment to Mr Reagan.

Why do I get pulled up for misspelling Reagan and not dys for misspelling "it" in the same way?

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@High Seas,

High Seas wrote:

Dys - you're getting to be even more outlandish than Okie on occasion; here is what Reagan said, verbatim:

Quote:
I've been doing a little remembering of my own because of all that inflated rhetoric by our friends in Atlanta last month. But then, inflation is their specialty.

Before we came to Washington, Americans had just suffered the two worst back-to-back years of inflation in 60 years. Those are the facts. And as John Adams said, "Facts are stubborn things."

http://www.reagansheritage.org/html/reagan_rnc_88.shtml

From your link, here is what Reagan also said, verbatim:

Quote:

Our friends on the other side had actually passed the single highest tax bill in the 200-year history of the United States. Auto loans, because of their policies, went up to 17 percent - so our great factories began shutting down. Fuel costs jumped through the atmosphere, more than doubling. Then people waited in gas lines as well as unemployment lines.

Facts are stupid things - stubborn things, I should say.

1 Reply

@old europe,

True - hadn't noticed that portion. Reagan wasn't Demosthenes, obviously. So both Dys and I are correct.

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@High Seas,

That seems to be the case.

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@High Seas,

High Seas wrote:

True - hadn't noticed that portion. Reagan wasn't Demosthenes, obviously. So both Dys and I are correct.

Quote:

Dys - you're getting to be even more outlandish than Okie on occasion

So Helen I guess it's fair to say you're getting to be even more outlandish than Okie, correct?

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@dyslexia,

You're not thinking - if both of us are correct, and Okie is incorrect, neither of us can be more outlandish than he is. Unless of course we've crossed into some supercritical region like this one > http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=h2o > and then presumably all bets are off!

http://www1.wolframalpha.com/Calculate/MSP/MSP1180197be1d0eg3abb9700005bcf0fc6c2e3d2ai?MSPStoreType=image/gif&s=44

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

There's a Nell even more outlandish than that dys. Eskimo Nell is her name. She was really ruthless.

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Now Okie wants to claim that Nixon was "all over the map," and not a conservative. I'll tell ya, if you take the time and trouble, you can make Okie claim that anyone, that any form of government is "leftist," because of policies of which he does not approve.

2 Replies

@Setanta,

okie's way past that point; his black and white doesn't resemble reality.

0 Replies

What produces RUTHLESS DICTATORS?

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