I know this is not directed to me, but I would had just declared the quote to be unsourced, but I got curious and looked around for how he saw Roosevelt, his driver reported that he did dislike politicians, but Patton told him that he was close to President Roosevelt.
One has to remember that his most in-famous comment was:
Seems to me than then he was an equal opportunity offender of the American Politicians, that and his relation with Roosevelt make me doubt more if Patton did say the quote from the OP in that exact way.
No, I don’t know it and you did, directly, imply it. What do you think democracy is if it does not mean that “politicians … gain their jobs based on a popularity contest”? Yes, you are right that there are no skill requirements for politicians except “popularity”, i.e., the ability to attract votes, but that is an unavoidable consequence of having a democratic political system. If it is of dealbreaking importance for you, then you are against democracy. If you are committed to democracy, it is something that you need to stop bitching about and learn to live with.
Your opinions about government debt and spending, misguided as I think they are, are quite irrelevant to this point.
No offence, but it’s a yes or no question you asked. I think it has been answered. There are only so many times the question can be answered with a resounding, no. That is if no-one else can answer the question in the positive.
Magiver, your personal opinions about politicians are irrelevant to the OP. Unless you have some factual information specifically relevant to the question, let’s drop it.
And everyone else, let’s drop the hijack as well and get back to the authenticity of the quote.
If the US Federal Government required itself to follow standard accounting practices(practices it requires everyone else to legally follow) then US national debt would be much greater than its currently reported $16 trillion.
Before anyone uses that book, The Unknown Patton, as the source for anything, they should be required to actually read it. It’s an utter mess. The quotation in the OP is found on pages 31 and 57 of the book. The author doesn’t even make any attempt to tell you where it comes from. He more or less says that this is just his personal interpretation of what Patton believed.
Truman apparently wrote in a diary entry, “A professional liberal is the worst form of politician.”, and after Eleanor Roosevelt refused to endorse him for the nomination in 1948, wrote of her in his diary, “No professional liberal is intellectually honest.” It’s not a Patton quote, but it’s the best I can find.