"Presidents wear out their welcome, and each president is denounced as the worst president we have ever had. I heard that about literally every...
Presidential Unpopularity Cycles
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Public Discourse
How to Admit Mistakes
"No matter how competent an arguer may be, the time will inevitably come when he makes a mistake … Back away, quickly and completely. Do it...
McCarthy’s Relentlessness
"Most politicians will agree with you and not mean a goddamn word of it." Source: If Not Us, Who? William Rusher, National Review, and the...
Discomfort with Religious Right
"My own guess is that what makes the critics of the religious right obscurely uncomfortable about its views is not that it “tries to impose them on...
Nixon’s Political Dilemma
"It is a fact of human psychology that there are types of personalities simply incapable of participating in a collective effort, especially if that...
Limitations of Logic in Debate
"It is a rather pathetic thing to see a man of Nixon's stature … so tangled up in the complexities of his cork-screw course toward the Presidency...
Value of Overstatement
"It will often be desirable to understate one's point slightly, provided it is clear to the audience that it is being understated and the audience...
Intellectual Discomfort and Thinking
"I recently read … a little homily to the effect that, if a person makes us think we're thinking, we love him; but if he makes us think, we hate...
Accusing Opponents on TV
"I'll make a little date with you, Mr. Sorensen … we'll come back on this program and hear where and when National Review advocated racism, and...
Choose Substance Over Style
"If you ever have to choose between solid substance and mere flashy style, by all means choose the substance." Source: How to Win Arguments (1981)...
Goldwater’s Campaign Messaging
"Goldwater's personal style, while ruggedly honest, was somewhat astringent and doctrinaire. In this connection, he was also badly served by his...
Closing Reflections on America
"Happily, I am not ending the column with a gloomy conviction that America is heading to hell in a handbasket. On the contrary ... I think the...