Political Notes: Chairman Daley's Maxims

Gentlemen, get the thing straight once and for all—the policeman isn't there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder.

Only one American politician could have said it: Chicago's Mayor Richard Daley, who committed that memorable malapropism while defending police misconduct during last year's Democratic Convention. Taking a leaf from Chairman Mao, Pocket Books has published Quotations from Mayor Daley—a bouquet of bluster, sanctimony and lost battles with the English language. Excerpts:

¶ On his political apparatus: "Organization, not machine. Get that. Organization, not machine."

¶ On tampering with election...