On the record
He understood better than any other man the art of appropriating to himself the credit of events which would have come to pass without his agency, and of reforms already planned by his political opponents.
Source
gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “He understood better than any other man the art of appropriating to himself the credit of events which would have come…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine critiques a political figure's ability to take credit for successes that were not solely their own.
Share
More from James Blaine
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.
Is any portion of the people bound to contribute their money or their blood to carry on a contest like that?
You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.
But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.
Other voices in this conversation
