Today, legislators do not even read the bills they are voting on.
My original comment was somewhat tongue in cheek as it seems everyone wants to invoke Churchill and most seem to get him wrong. It is always a danger to try and impose modern sensibilities on historic figures or to try and figure out what historic figures would do today. I do believe though that we should always try and remember the past, if for nothing else but to avoid repeating mistakes. But no matter how much we look at the past, we seem to make the same mistakes anyway. In any event, the politicians and the pundits get Churchill wrong (I even see that conservative pundit Jonah Goldberg wrote an essay on the issue and uses the "Churchill scarified Coventry" line). And our press is too silly to try and call them on it. So I think we should ask for a moratorium, until the press, politicians and pundits learn how to use google and double check things. Anthony My Blog "Towards the government I feel no scruples and would dodge paying the tax if I could. Yet I would give my life for England readily enough, if I thought it necessary. No one is patriotic about taxes." -- George Orwell, Wartime Diary, September 8, 1940. Date: Fri, 1 May 2009 11:30:05 -0500 Subject: [ChurchillChat] Re: Let's push for a moratorium on politicians (and pundits) invoking Churchill From: [email protected] To: [email protected] I remember reading in Robert Caro's biography of Lyndon Johnson that Sen. Richard Russell, chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the 1950s and 60s and unofficial leader of the Southern conservatives in the Senate, read the entire Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in his office. But it is certainly hard to imagine that happening today. Bill Jolly Philadelphia, MS On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 9:35 AM, Antoine Capet <[email protected]> wrote: "Now, with all that said, hopefully President Obama will take a gander at his first editions of the Churchill biography given to him by Prime Minister Brown". Scott Manning Philadelphia, PA ................................ Dear Scott, Which editions of the Churchill biography? Surely you cannot expect the President of the United States (or any country) to find the time to read Sir Martin Gilbert's superb tomes and their "companions" with the attention which they deserve ? It would be dereliction of duty. If indeed it is that edition, it was obviously a gift to be fully appreciated in his retirement from politics - too late in fact for him to profit by Churchill's magnificent example. In the meantime the hefty volumes will only grace the shelves of one of his offices - I cannot imagine them on his bedside table... Days only have 24 hours, for presidents as for the rest of us... It would have made more sense to give him for instance the Addison short biography if Mr Brown really wanted him to read the text now. Even so I doubt if any statesman in activity has the time to read anything other than memos and abstracts prepared by his staff. So these readings should be made during a president's formative years - when in office, it is too late... and after retiring from office it is also too late, for other reasons. Best wishes, Professor Antoine Capet, FRHistS Head of British Studies University of Rouen Mont-Saint-Aignan 76821 (France) 'Britain since 1914' Editor, Royal Historical Society Bibliography [email protected] Fax from France : 02 35 14 00 88 Fax from the United Kingdom : 00 33 235 140 088 Fax from the United States : 011 33 235 140 088 Find references of publications on-line on the free website of the Royal Historical Society Bibliography : www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl ==================== _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail® has a new way to see what's up with your friends. http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/WhatsNew?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_WhatsNew1_052009 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ChurchillChat?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
