When Barry Goldwater said “Extermism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue” in his 1964 Republican nomination speech, he was actually cribbing from Thomas Paine’s “A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice.”

Ronald Reagan was a much more successful right-wing politico because he didn’t mess around with high-brow figures such as Paine and instead just stole from Clint Eastwood: “I have only one thing to say to tax increases: ‘Go ahead and make my day.” (Incidentally, George Bush I (*)was less successful with his watered-down bit of machismo “Read my lips…” (broke that promise during a particularly brave moment, actually.)

Howard Dean is accused by the The Nation’s Matt Talibi of having taken the rather common outsider refrain “I Want my Country Back” from past Joe Trippi – influenced campaigns: Jerry Brown and Dick Gephardt. But, I suspect it might be more deriviate of the 2000 anti-Dean gay civil unions backlash election year slogan “Take Vermont Back.”

Meanwhile, Kerry is taking Bush’s line “Bring it On”, which begs an entirely different discussion. One I’ll post later.
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(*) Actually in the Bush family hiearchy it would be George Bush II, with the current president being George Bush III. But, the father of Prescott Bush was never named “King”, so…

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