[KLUG Advocacy] Re: [KLUG Members] (OT) Churchill

[Bruce Smith]

> >The exact quote goes "Democracy is the worst form of government except
> >all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.",
> >according to my quote book.  And while attributed to Winston, there is a
> >note about speculation whether this is an "original" statement or was he
> >paraphrasing someone else (no shock, Winston was kind of a rube from
> >everything I've read).
> 
> An extended quote:
>    "Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this 
>     world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or 
>     all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form 
>     of government except all those other forms that have been tried from 
>     time to time."
>        Sir Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965), Hansard, November 11, 1947
> 
> I see no credible indication that Churchill was paraphrasing, and I'd
> like to know in what way[s] he can be characterized as a "rube".

I have no desire to debate the "rube" label, but I recently read some
trivia about Churchill that IMO is worth sharing.

Did you know that Churchill decided he was going to watch the Normandy
D-day landing first hand from the deck of a British warship?  He was so
determined to go through with this, that Ike tried many different
tactics but was unable to talk Churchill out of this idea.  Churchill
said he would simply assign himself to the royal navy for the day and
there was nothing that Ike could do about it.

After realizing that Ike wasn't going to change Churchill's mind, Ike
finally went to King George and ask him to speak to Churchill about
this.  After much time and effort, Churchill finally conceded.

I'd never heard this story before, and found it very interesting, FWIW.