Quote of the Day

"Far too many people in this business have accepted the Etch-A-Sketch argument to the point at which whether something is true or not is measured by its effectiveness as a tactic. 'He had to run to the right in the primaries and then pivot to the center in the general' — that's something that makes the political wiseguys look smart, but, taken literally, it means that the entire election process in the world's oldest self-governing republic is a contest to find out who can most smoothly move from one set of lies to another, and it is also a recipe for depriving the people who ultimately will make that decision of the kind of information they need to do so. How this is in any way good for democracy is not for small minds to ponder, I guess."

-- Esquire's Charlie Pierce on tonight's second presidential debate

To quote a famous elderly philosopher from a long time ago, "that is why you fail," political press.

Quote of the Week

"The Republican Party has set out at its 2012 convention in search of the Event Horizon of utter bullshit."

-- Esquire's Charles Pierce

And there you have it: my favorite thing said about this year's Republican National Convention -- and the rest of Pierce's column is equally vicious and brilliant.

Oh and sorry about all the quotes today -- they're just really good and I'm really busy.

"I Don't Think There's One Word That Can Describe a Man's Life"

Not so much a Quote of the Day as the quote, literally, of a lifetime:

"I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out."

That's legendary film critic Roger Ebert in a journal entry he wrote called "Go Gently Into That Good Night." It's featured in an astonishing profile of Ebert in the latest issue of Esquire. Honestly, it's required reading.

Esquire: Roger Ebert: The Essential Man

By the way, if you're not following Ebert on Twitter, you should be.