Rep. Michael Arcuri (D-NY) on his participation in the House Populist Caucus, quoted in today’s Washington Times:
“I know if William Jennings Bryan were alive today, he would be standing up with us.”
The article also lists Paul Wellstone as a role-model, and mentions Tom Harkin as a product of the 1980s Populist caucus.
And, while it can’t match Arcuri’s Bryan acknowledgment, I did dig this quote by founder Bruce Braley:
“[President Obama is] described a lot of times as post-partisan… We, on the other hand, are decidedly partisan.”
The caucus is almost entirely a product of the 2006 freshman class (2/3 of its members, including its founder). And this is just the House. Add some of the Senators elected that year: McCaskill, Webb, Tester, Brown… and that really could’ve been one of those course-changing elections.
Finally, because William Jennings Bryan rarely makes news these days, I have to add the Washington Times synopsis of his career (same article cited above):
Bryan championed a number of causes — women’s suffrage, progressive income taxes, the direct election of senators — long before they were adopted. However, he fell short in three tries for the White House, was an ineffectual secretary of state, and ended his career in ignominy at the 1925 Scopes ‘monkey trial.’
Sigh. Dead over 83 years and still being defined by Hofstadter or Mencken…
You do realize that there is no getting away from the Scopes Monkey Trial. Never will his name be erased from that. It seems as though the colnel inherited the wind.
Heavenly Hillsborough! Will the colonel never get the respect he deserves?