Fact Checking The "Norman Thomas 1944 Speech"

[NCBraveheart]

I heard the quote below and as far as I can fact check it is true, anyone know anything to the contrary?? I hate to quote something and then be found to have been duped by an urban internet hoax. I have found a number of sites but none have this quote.

Norman Thomas said this in a 1944 speech:

“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of “liberalism,” they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.” He went on to say: “I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform.”

[egannacht]

It's called fabianism

[Oldpuppymax]

I don’t know if he said it or not. The problem is, he COULD HAVE!

[Califreak]

Behold: The Fabian Post Turtle as depicted on Wikipedia.

[skinkinthegrass]

It's called fabianism

BINGO!...That's Zer0Bambi / Tony Blair / Gordon Brown....To a "TEE"

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators." - P. J. O'Rourke
"Socialism is great until you run out of someone elses money" Margaret Thatcher
"There are two sets of rules. One set for the rulers and another for the rest of us." —Richard Yancey, former IRS tax collector

[egannacht]

from the wikipedia article

“Fabianism has also been criticised for its flirtation with both fascism and Stalinism.”

[mak5]

The Norman Thomas High School in Manhattan and the Norman Thomas ‘05 Library at Princeton University’s Forbes college are named after him. He was also the grandfather of Newsweek columnist Evan Thomas. None of this should come as any surprise considering the locations and leanings of those institutions and people.

[Carlucci]

There is audio of Ronald Reagan quoting this part and attributed it to Thomas in 1927:

“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of “liberalism,” they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6DmjBneGBc

If Reagan said it, it’s good enough for me.

[NCBraveheart]

The discussions of Fabiansim and Mr. Thomas history are fine, what I need to know is not if he “might or could” have made that quote. But DID he.

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

The only important difference between Nazi-ism, Fascism,
Communism, Socialism and Liberalism is the spelling, and
that the last group hasn't got the brains to figure it out.

- Bill Vance
***
I would add Islamo-Fascism to the above quote.

[Enterprise]

The problem is believing which source.

Thomas quotes

[NCBraveheart]

Exactly, snopes.com is researching the quote. I am trying to rebut a few liberal idiots and I don’t want to look stoopid

[Enterprise]

You are more than wise then. I have never let anything stand in the way of making a royal ass of myself. Even here on Free Republic I have had a couple of doozies!

[searchingforthetruth]

BRAVEHEART,
Go to GOOGLE.COM and enter NORMAN MATTOON THOMAS in the search-bar.
More that You ever wanted to know.
Especially from Wiki-pedia
Also check for remarks by Thomas and Gus Hall, who agreed that Democrats AND Republicans had (by 1970) adopted the planks of the Socialist / Communist party so they both quit!
This is SCARY

[stardrawn]

The Norman Thomas Paper Guide 1904-1967
It is a large pdf

http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/rbk/faids/thomasn.pdf

[harpcat]

This is really to this whole string..

First off, do you have any idea how different he liberals of 1948 are to today? You might find yourself agreeing ith them a lot. Secondly, I have dug and dug and found that the statement is not attributable to him, no matter what people say, and the idion who says “He could have” is retarded because I could say it like I could say a lot of things...I didn’t. Rightly attributing statements is the responsibility of every honest journalist, otherwise, do not use it...

Finally... did you know he said this? “If you want a symbolic gesture, don’t burn the flag, wash it.”

I don;t think many know exactly hat brand of socialism he fought for, though it s okay to be opposed it is irresponsible to think that it is in any way comprable to the kind of liberal agenda we see today. Many of those Old school socialists would be appalled!

[harpcat]

This is really to this whole string..

First off, do you have any idea how different he liberals of 1948 are to today? You might find yourself agreeing with them a lot. Secondly, I have dug and dug and found that the statement is not attributable to him, no matter what people say, and the idiot who says “He could have” is retarded because I could say it like I could say a lot of things...I didn’t. Rightly attributing statements is the responsibility of every honest journalist, otherwise, do not use it...

Finally... did you know he said this? “If you want a symbolic gesture, don’t burn the flag, wash it.”

I don;t think many know exactly hat brand of socialism he fought for, though it s okay to be opposed it is irresponsible to think that it is in any way comparable to the kind of liberal agenda we see today. Many of those Old school socialists would be appalled!

[Top Sgt]

Don’t put too much faith in Snopes. It is simply a Mom & Pop operation, and quite biased to the left. Not too dissimilar to FactCheck.

[USMC0351Grunt]

OOH-RAH Carlucci! I would add that WE as a generation have yet to come up with our OWN quotes that hold any water... Other than what all the Army Generals and Ronald Reagan always say when they are bragging about us Marines!

[Arjay_Bob]

In would add Tea Party Conservatism as well.