Teddy Roosevelt on the Bush-Kerry Presidential Debate

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt, from his "The Man In The Arena" Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, France, April 23, 1910

Comments

[Peter DiNuzzo]

Thanks for putting the debate into the proper perspective. I just thought that instead of defending his positions, President Bush would have attacked Kerry's many positions thereby putting Kerry in the defensive mode. All in all Kerry gained support from his base and Bush reaffirmed his steadfastness and conviction in protecting America

[Betsy Devine]

It's hard to imagine that Roosevelt would have identified draft-dodging, vacation-loving Bush with as the bold risk-taker while dismissing a war hero like Kerry as a "cold and timid."