PEROT'S FAMILIAR MISQUOTATIONS
PITNEY, JOHN J. Jr.
PEROT’S FAMILIAR MISQUOTATIONS by John J. Pitney, Jr. IN HIS AUGUST 11 SPEECH to the Reform party convention in Long Beach, California, H. Ross Perot said: “Never forget de Tocqueville’s words...
...is associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College...
...No, he didn’t...
...In this case, Perot got it more or less right...
...Devious snake that he was, Lenin may well have uttered the phrase, but he certainly did not coin it...
...A leading character is a Texas governor (Charles Durning) who responds to reporters’ questions with the responses crafted to please everybody...
...I will summarize everything I have said with these words,” Perot concluded...
...From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising people benefits from the treasury.’ With the result that a democracy always collapses under loose fiscal policy...
...The problem here is less misquotation than plagiarism...
...In fact, nobody ever had the patent on that phrase, least of all Lenin...
...But don’t worry, Mr...
...In their clever book of bad quotations, They Never Said It, Paul Boller and John George identify the Cicero passage as a phony...
...Thank you...
...IN HIS AUGUST 11 SPEECH to the Reform party convention in Long Beach, California, H. Ross Perot said: “Never forget de Tocqueville’s words when he studied our country...
...In his August 18 acceptance speech in Valley Forge, Perot turned from political philosophy to popular culture...
...But according to Respectfully Quoted, an authoritative reference book from the Library of Congress, that quotation is “unverified...
...We’ve brought that over and patented it in the U.S.A...
...The sheriff had this song, ‘Ooh, I love to do the little sidestep...
...The public debt should be reduced and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled...
...And if America ever ceases being good, America will cease being great...
...And Respectfully Quoted agrees that the passage is almost certainly spurious...
...Perhaps you can see why Perot didn’t quote the real thing...
...Do you agree with that...
...The budget should be balanced...
...There really was such a song, though Burt Reynolds, who played the sheriff, did not sing it...
...He then sings a song that could become Mr...
...Perot, I won’t sue...
...In Perot’s case, however, dubious quotesmanship does not stop with Alexis de Tocqueville...
...As you know, those are not my words...
...Tytler actually said that there never was a republic that was not “ultimately ruled by a single will, and therefore (however bold may seem the paradox), virtually and substantially a monarchy...
...The treasury should be refilled...
...Perot’s approach to the issues...
...The article concluded thus: “Finally, ‘The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas’ (1982) features a sequence that sums up Mr...
...It is called ‘Sidestep.’” By the way, I was the author of the Wall Street Journal piece...
...Last year, I explained in this magazine (“The Tocqueville Fraud,” Nov...
...Remember that song—we had a movie a few years ago with Dolly Parton in it, The Best Little You-know-what in Texas...
...Tocqueville never said that...
...Now, isn’t that sad...
...This goes back to Lenin’s phrase, tell the people want they want to hear,” Perot continued at Long Beach...
...Perot’s anthem...
...Alexander Fraser Tytler (1747-1813), Lord Woodhouselee, did indeed write about democracy...
...You can quote me on that...
...Cicero spoke those words 2,000 years ago...
...The bogus quotation still lives...
...Now, I would like to learn a little bit from history before we leave today,” Perot told the Long Beach g a t h e r i n g, “and have you listen to the words of P r o f e s s o r Alexander Tytler, Scottish historian who in 1787 said, ‘A democracy can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves money from the public treasury...
...Now you see me, now you don’t and here I go.’ Keep that in mind when you watch these guys”—meaning Clinton and Dole...
...Richard Gephardt deployed it to defend Clinton administration policy in Bosnia, and the president himself has used it on several recent occasions, including Ron Brown’s memorial service and the video clip that preceded his acceptance speech in Chicago...
...On June 29, 1992, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed titled “A Moviegoer’s Guide to Ross Perot,” which listed a number of films that were reminiscent of Perot’s character...
...He said America is great because America is good...
...13) that the “America is great” line is something that politicians have been falsely attributing to Tocqueville for decades...
Vol. 2 • September 1996 • No. 1
