Old Fogey's Quotes for Monday

"Crusades are easier than structured campaigns. You have less responsibility and more freedom. But you always lose in the end."
John Weaver, McCain's chief campaign strategist
The McCain Makeover
[Idealists sometimes think that their moral power is sufficient. It helps but also must be accompanied by hard work]

“The most important contributor to higher profit margins over the past five years has been a decline in labor’s share of national income.”
Economists at Goldman Sachs
Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity
[This is one of the true tragedies of the Bush policies. People continue to work harder for less. How long does it take to kill the American Dream?]

“It will be in every textbook.”
James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, regarding Bush's bungling of Katrina
Year After Katrina, Bush Still Fights for 9/11 Image
[It will sit right next to the Iraq War as a pillar of a failed presidency]

"Part of Mr. Bush’s legacy may well be that he robbed America of its optimism — a force that Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other presidents, like Ronald Reagan, used to rally the country when it was deeply challenged."
Adam Cohen in editorial in NYT
Editorial Observer: What Is the Latest Thing to Be Discouraged About? The Rise of Pessimism
[Without optimisn, people wallow in their failures without the energy to seek solutions. There is one ready-made solution. Vote the bastards out!]