Political Quotes

James Blaine: “Never before or since has a great party adopted as its candidate a conspicuous public man, who was not merely outside…”

On the record
Never before or since has a great party adopted as its candidate a conspicuous public man, who was not merely outside its own ranks, but who, in the thick of every political battle for a third of a century, had been one of its most relentless and implacable foes.
Said by
James Blaine
Republican · Maine

Editor's note · Context

Blaine discusses the unusual nomination of a candidate from outside the party, emphasizing political dynamics.

Share

More from James Blaine

The States are colleagues of one another, and if some of them shall conquer the rest, and hold them as subjugated provinces, it would totally destroy the whole theory upon which they are now connected.

gutenberg.org

Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command.

gutenberg.org

But what if the feeling in any State against the United States should become so universal that the Federal officers themselves (including judges, district attorneys, and marshals) would be reached by the same influences, and resign their…

gutenberg.org

Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?

gutenberg.org

Other voices in this conversation