H. L. Mencken apparently never quite said that “No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” He said lots of similar things, however, and I like to think he would have been proud of being the sort of chap to whom people attributed such astringent mots.
He would also, I feel sure, regard the theater surrounding the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign as a test case of the proposition.
Been told several times that the quote at the beginning of the article is attributed to P.T. Barnum; the same guy that charged people 10 cents (there used to be a "cents" key on keyboards, yeah, that old) to enter a maze in a building to "Come see the egress"-"This way to view the egress", and when they reached the exit and came out, many would go back, pay another dime, and say that they must have missed seeing the egress the first time.
ReplyDeleteScarecrow
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.” If you don't believe it just watch TV commercials that are apparently to be successful. Believe me the Deep State runs successfully using this motivation.
ReplyDeleteHe also said:
ReplyDeleteDemocracy is the belief that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it long and hard.