This report on New York governor David Paterson’s effort to enhance his political prestige by super-sizing his security detail calls to mind H.L. Mencken’s description of the chief talent of successful politicians:
their power to impress and enchant the intellectually underprivileged.
This quotation is on pages 148-149 of A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949).
(HT to Reuvain Borchardt for alerting me to Mr. Paterson’s grotesque self-promotion.)
