“Nobody shoots at Santa Claus”
Entry in progress—B.P.
Wikipedia: Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith, Jr. (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944), known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American politician who was elected the 42nd Governor of New York four times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. He was the first Roman Catholic and Irish-American to run for President as a major party nominee. He lost the election to Herbert Hoover. He then became president of the Empire State, Inc. and was instrumental in getting the Empire State Building built at the onset of the Great Depression.
Google Books
The Yale Book of Quotations
Edited by Fred R. Shapiro
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
2006
Pg. 714:
Alfred E. Smith
U.S. politician, 1873-1944
“No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace, is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.”
Quoted in New Outlook, Dec. 1933
Google Books
Safire’s Political Dictionary
By William Safire
New York, NY: Oxford University Press
2008
Pg. 642:
Santa Claus, nobody shoots at Proverb about the political folly of attacking government entitlements.
Former Governor Alfred E. Smth, in a press conference in New York late in 1933, said, “No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace is going to shoto Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.” In 1936, when Smith, the embittered 1925 Democratic presidential candidate, was campaigning against Roosevelt, he shortened the point to a simple “nobody shoots at Santa Claus.”
Google News Archive
1 December 1933, Berkeley (CA) Daily Gazette, “Alphabet Soup Jumble Seen by Bourbon Critic,” pg. 11, col. 3:
Municipal officials have not pointed out the dangers of the C. W. A. because “no sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas,” Smith said.
(Al Smith—ed.)
Time magazine
RELIEF: Alphabet Soup
Monday, Dec. 11, 1933
(...)
Many an oldtime Smith admirer has felt that the Brown Derby was rapidly losing the common touch since his withdrawal from active politics, was growing reactionary and bad-tempered as the New Deal unfolded. Yet even these erstwhile friends had to admit that Al Smith retained his salty gift of phrase when he concluded his attack thus: “Some of my readers. may ask why others have not pointed out these dangers in the CWA program. The answer is very simple. No sane local official who has hung up an empty stocking over the municipal fireplace is going to shoot Santa Claus just before a hard Christmas.”
Google News Archive
14 July 1934, Reading (PA) Eagle, “NEWS Behind the NEWS” by Paul Mallon, pg. 8, col. 1:
Someone is supposed to have asked Al Smith recently what he though of the chances of Mr. Roosevelt’s foes in organizing opposition.
“No chance at all as long as the government keeps giving away money,” Smith replied. “Nobody shoots at Santa Claus.”
Pachaderm Points
Nobody Shoots Santa Claus
(...)
Former Governor Al Smith said of Roosevelt’s spending, “Nobody shoots Santa Claus.” He was right in one respect: people love free money. But it’s our money. Politicians give back what they’ve taken from us, pretending it’s a gift. Obama and his accomplices are turning the U.S. economy into a shovel-ready project. It’s going to take years to dig out.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 7:50 pm and is filed under Uncategorized.