Another political thread, but this time with more of a schadenfreude theme: What is your favorite example of an utterance that a politician lived to regret?
Mine comes from April 1940, when a mood of somewhat misplaced confidence had spread among British politicians because Germany had not yet invaded Western Europe, leading Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to remark famously in an April 4 speech that Hitler had “missed the bus.” Chamberlain couldn’t have known, but at the time he spoke, the first support ships for the German invasion of Norway - one of World War II’s most audacious operations and a disaster for the Allies from start to finish - had already put to sea, and the fighting would start in days. And five weeks after Chamberlain’s speech, Germany invaded France and the Low Countries, another Allied debacle. Whoops!
Believe it or not,a president is held to a higher level Also ,it was not funny.
Try Romneys remarks about getting brainwashed. Derailed his run at pres.
Considering that Trent Lott is only now being allowed out of the national political penalty box, I’d say his comment that “if we’d only elected Strom Thurmond president, we wouldn’t have all these problems today” has to make the list.
“The Democrats are the party of rum, Romanism, and rebellion.”
Spoken by a preacher in the election in 1884 in support of James G. Blaine (“The continental liar from the state of Maine.”). The words were connected with his campaign and he lost a very close election when New York went for his opponent, Grover Cleveland (“Ma, Ma, where’s my pa?”). It was the “romanism” that did him in – the Irish vote in NY went heavily for Cleveland, giving him victory in the state by around 1200 votes.
Another factor in Blaine’s defeat was another quote from a scandal. Blaine had been involved in the Credit Mobilier (probably the third worst political scandal in US history after Watergate and the Teapot Dome) and, in the course of correspondence, wrote at the bottom of one missive, “Burn this letter.” It became the Democrat’s rallying cry.
How would he have known anything happened of importance in the American colonies? The declaration was signed thousands of miles away…
In the same vein, Louis XVI wrote in his diary on July 14, 1789 (the day the Bastille was stormed) “Rien.” (Meaning “nothing”). He was referring to his hunting trip results.
D’oh. Hit submit too soon.
He probably wrote his entry, however, before the storming (it occured in the later afternoon, meaning he probably wouldn’t have heard about it until late at night at Versailles).
I’ve never understood how Ford could get himself to say that, especially when it didn’t hide some horrible personal secret, like Nixon’s did. How could he expect anyone to take him seriously with that? And why was important to him to say it?
