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A politician, a man engaged in party contests, must be an opportunist. Let us give up saying that word as if it contained a slur. If you want to win in party action, I take it for granted you want to lure the majority to your side. I never heard of any man in his senses who was fishing for a minority. Now, if you want to win, you have got to fish for the majority, and the only majority you can get is the majority that is ready. You can't wait for the majority of tomorrow, if you want a majority today. You have got to take the opportunity as you find, and work on that, and that is opportunism, that is politics, and it is perfectly legitimate.1
—Woodrow Wilson,
“The Ideals of Public Life,”
November 16, 1907