Politics, politics, politics

Kudos to Scholars and Rogues for putting together a compendium of notable quotations about politics. 

Be sure to see their whole list, but here's a sampling to whet your appetite:

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. › H.L. Mencken, 1956

When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I’m beginning to believe it. › Clarence Darrow

In our age there is no such thing as “keeping out of politics.” All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia. › George Orwell

There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen. › Author Unknown

The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet. › Mark Twain

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it. › P.J. O’Rourke

I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. › Charles de Gaulle

The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it. › Edward Dowling

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward. › Franklin D. Roosevelt

I offer my opponents a bargain: if they will stop telling lies about us, I will stop telling the truth about them. › Adlai Stevenson

Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them. › Lily Tomlin

A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in. › H. L. Mencken

A good politician under democracy is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. › H. L. Mencken

Take our politicians: they’re a bunch of yo-yos. The presidency is now a cross between a popularity contest and a high school debate, with an encyclopedia of clichés the first prize. › Saul Bellow

Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. › Oscar Ameringer