[marron]

Thanks, I love that quote from TR.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I've come to the point where I find myself quoting it *very* frequently. It's kind of frustrating, in a way, since although it is a classic analogy, it makes a superb point that is not part of the analogy and therefore can't easily be pulled. So I find myself wanting to quote two paragraphs, and in that context it just isn't quite as pointed as just "the man in the arena."

The other two favorites which are also on my computer "sticky" at the ready to paste into a post are,

The wisest and most cautious of us all frequently gives credit to stories which he himself is afterwards both ashamed and astonished that he could possibly think of believing . . .

It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity,
and they very seldom teach it enough. - Adam Smith

(which is frustrating in its own way since the source paragraph has the first line last in the paragraph). And finally,

Half the truth is often a great lie. - Benjamin Franklin

. . . which I used to attribute to Winston Churchill, but if Franklin said it it wasn't original to Churchill - if indeed it was original to Franklin. Wouldn't surprise me if the sentiment is much older.

The Franklin quote illustrates the impossibility of ever proving that journalism is objective, since it's not possible to prove that it is the whole truth - for the excellent reason that it is not the whole of the truth. The Smith quote similarly challenges the idea that conventional wisdom - such as the conceit that journalism is objective - can be trusted implicitly. And the Roosevelt quote, obviously, punctures the pretensions of journalists to be superior to those whom they second guess - and not only journalists, but the socialists who use the same technique to rob the entrepreneur of the ownership of ("credit for") the "means of production" (which is intimately entwined with what is produced, which something socialists take for granted but which entrepreneurs - but not bureaucrats - continuously improve. And improvement is essential to quality, since if you are not trying to improve you are in fact degrading).