# Favorite Words That a Politician Lived to Regret? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 16, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694 "2006-11-16T16:21:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/41 "2006-11-17T03:37:50Z")
“…a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” -Herbert Hoover during the 1928 presidential campaign. The next year started the great depression of 1929. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/42 "2006-11-17T04:06:47Z")
> [@](#): > > the German invasion of Norway - one of World War II’s most audacious operations and a disaster for the Allies from start to finish Not quite. The German Navy lost most of its front-line strength, which could be considered to have rendered the invasion of the UK later that year out of the question. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/43 "2006-11-17T15:50:55Z")
[QUOTE=The Octagon] amazing [/QUOTE] amazing _quack_ [QUOTE=Renob] Why would Reagan regret that? He was making a joke and a pretty funny one at that. [/QUOTE] People didn’t find it very funny at the time, but as I said I don’t think that fazed him. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/44 "2006-11-17T16:58:27Z")
[QUOTE=Dragwyr] “..a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” -Herbert Hoover during the 1928 presidential campaign. The next year started the great depression of 1929. [/QUOTE] Actually, Hoover didn’t say that. The original quote about a chicken is found from _Henri IV_, French King 1553-1610. He said > [@](#): > > I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he is unable to have a chicken in his pot every Sunday. Hoover said, in a campaign speech in 1928 > [@](#): > > The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pail to the full garage. . The Republican party adopted after this a political slogan **A Chicken in Every Pot. A Car in Every Garage**. Courtesy of Fred Shapiro’s wonderful new [The Yale Book of Quotations](http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/qyd/media.html) which I just purchased(and contributed to). ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/45 "2006-11-17T17:39:37Z")
Which one was it who said, “The insurgency is in its last throes”? Either Cheney or Rumsfeld. Unfortunately, neither one has the sense of shame to be regret having said that obvious lie. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/46 "2006-11-17T18:03:05Z")
_“There can be no whitewash, at the White House”_ - Richard Nixon, April 30th 1973 ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/47 "2006-11-17T18:31:00Z")
“We’re all right! We’re all right!” - Neil Kinnock, Leader of the Labour Party, 1st April 1992, at a political rally in Sheffield a week before the UK General Election, at which they were widely expected to defeat the incumbent Conservative Party. Kinnock’s behaviour on the podium - acting as though the election was already won - caused a drastic slide in support and in the end the Conservatives held on and won the election. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/48 "2006-11-17T18:44:16Z")
would have been better for the Tories if they had lost - Labour would have taken the blame for being bundled out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism, and they would have been back in again next time. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/49 "2006-11-17T19:06:21Z")
Not a politician, but Gerald Ratner’s quote about the products sold in his chain of low budget jewellry shops must go down as one of the all time greats > [@](#): > > Ratner was addressing the Institute of Directors at the Royal Albert Hall when he foolishly described a £4.99 sherry decanter and glasses as “crap”. He then went on to discuss an earring, which, he claimed, “cost less than an M&S prawn sandwich and probably wouldn’t last as long.” > > His comments wiped an estimated £500m off the value of the company and turned those profits into a £122m loss. “One minute I was retailer of the year, the next I was the biggest idiot that ever lived,” he remarks. > > The shares plummeted from £4.20 to 7p. The whole chain collapsed as the public stayed away in droves. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/50 "2006-11-17T19:07:09Z")
[QUOTE=Mk VII] would have been better for the Tories if they had lost - Labour would have taken the blame for being bundled out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism, and they would have been back in again next time. [/QUOTE] Somehow I doubt if Neil Kinnock regards his defeat as a blessing in disguise, though. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/51 "2006-11-17T19:22:26Z")
[QUOTE=kelly5078] “I have a black, I have a woman, two Jews and a cripple.” - James Watt, on what an all-round inclusive sort of guy he was. He never recovered. [/QUOTE] Isn’t he the same fellow who said, vis-a-vis the Pope making pronouncement about unmarried folks’ sexual behavior, “He no play-a the game, he no make-a the rules” ? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/52 "2006-11-17T19:28:01Z")
[QUOTE=Joycelyn Elders] With regard to masturbation, I think it is something that is a part of human sexuality and a part of something that should perhaps be taught [/quote] Not that she was wrong or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/53 "2006-11-17T21:22:34Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3] Isn’t [former Secretary of the Interior James Watt] the same fellow who said, vis-a-vis the Pope making pronouncement about unmarried folks’ sexual behavior, “He no play-a the game, he no make-a the rules” ? [/QUOTE] No, that line is credited to Gerald Ford’s Secretary of Agriculture, [Earl Butz](http://www.slate.com/id/2000109/entry/1001181/) (see last paragraph of linked column). Butz also tossed off a notorious remark about [“what the coloreds want.”](http://tafkac.org/celebrities/butz_racist_remark.html) Incidentally, he lives in the Lafayette area, and is still active (at 97) in the local chapter of a fraternal organization (I believe it’s Kiwanis, but can’t vouch for that). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/54 "2006-11-17T22:33:22Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] No, that line is credited to Gerald Ford’s Secretary of Agriculture, [Earl Butz](http://www.slate.com/id/2000109/entry/1001181/) (see last paragraph of linked column). Butz also tossed off a notorious remark about [“what the coloreds want.”](http://tafkac.org/celebrities/butz_racist_remark.html) Incidentally, he lives in the Lafayette area, and is still active (at 97) in the local chapter of a fraternal organization (I believe it’s Kiwanis, but can’t vouch for that). [/QUOTE] Wow, AFU! They’ve been so eclipsed by Snopes I forgot they were out there! ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/55 "2006-11-17T22:56:56Z")
“By 1990, no Australian child will live in poverty!” - Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke (and the silly bastard only said it in 1986 or so). ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/56 "2006-11-17T23:06:42Z")
“Life wasn’t meant to be easy” - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, in response to complaints from the victims of economic recession- a remark which forever branded him as arrogant, distant and self centered and probably remains more famous than anything he did in 8 odd years of government. ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/57 "2006-11-18T03:20:14Z")
“I’ll tell you what the coloreds want. It’s three things: first, a tight pussy; second, loose shoes; and third, a warm place to shit.” :smack: Earl Butz, Agriculture Secretary for Pres. Gerald Ford ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/58 "2006-11-18T20:01:25Z")
“[EXPLETIVE DELETED”] – Richard M. Nixon Regrettable mainly for frequency of repetition. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/59 "2006-11-18T20:03:00Z")
[QUOTE=AHunter3] Not that she was wrong or anything. [/QUOTE] Of course she was wrong. When did teenagers ever need to be **taught** masturbation? **Monkeys** can work this shit out! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694/60 "2006-11-18T20:43:15Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] [And then we’re going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House!]Byaaah!!! [apparently being referred to as the “I Have a Scream” speech] [/QUOTE] Ya know, I didn’t think much of the guy (them Democrats vying for the White House are all **politicians** ) but I never understood why this scream hurt him so badly. Was it because it was funny? Or because it was emotional? Or something else? [QUOTE=Triskadecamus] “Bitch set me up.” [/QUOTE] Marion Barry, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-words-that-a-politician-lived-to-regret/380694.md?page=4)