Rather than get bogged down over the source of the quote, as some posters to this thread seem to be doing, let's just focus on the article. Barone is one of the most knowledgeable men about politics writing today, and his point that a politician needs to keep pushing an agenda to succeed is well taken.
I am not bogged down in the source of the quote. I understand the milieu of the quotation very well--and am apalled.
A bon mottossed about in a gathering of fools, however "well meaning", always results in oceans of blood. Consequently, the source of the Word is worth the wade through the bog.
The Word, as you will recall, was made flesh--and changed the world.....