Nattering Nabobs of Negativity - VP ever said anything cooler?

Has a Vice-President ever said anything cooler than “nattering nabobs of negativity”?* If yes, what was it?

  • Must have been said while he was VP.

John nance Garner - “This job (the Vice-Presidency) ain’t worth a bucket of warm spit!” :smiley:

Thomas Marshall (Woodrow Wilson’s VP) – “What this country needs is a good five cent cigar.”

Al Gore was a guest voice on ‘Futurama’ in May 2000, I think he was still VP then. (W. Bush’s inauguration was in Jan 2001, right? Not sure…) I bet there was some pretty good quotes from that show.

Spiro Agnew never topped, “An effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.”

And there’s the immortal “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.”

I can’t find any cites right now, but I’m sure I could if I had the time, but I’d be willing to bet good money that Thomas Jefferson said many way cooler things during his Vice Presidency than Dick Cheney. I’m quite sure of it.

The quote in the OP is from Agnew. It was written by William Safire.

Damn. Proofread. It is negativism.

I was told that Pat Buchanan was the author, although he and Safire both were speechwriters for Mr. Agnew. Sorry-no cite.

Kind’a a low bar there, ainnit?

This is like asking, “Has there ever been a superhero movie better than The Wild World of Batwoman?”

I’ll be it would not be too hard to find something that LBJ said that could top it. I also bet it would contain the phrase, “son of a bitch.”

Don’t forget Teddy Roosevelt was VP, too. He’s probably got some good remarks that might make the list.

Roosevelt was VP when he said, “There is a homely adage which runs ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.’”

Gardner, as Roosevelt’s Veep also told the story of an old lady in his home state (TN/ KY?). After one election she told him she want to be convinced to vote Democrat again.

He told her the Democrats started the TVA, pumping acres of money to her community, they established Social Security that gave her money each month and on and on.

The lady replied, ‘But what have you done for me lately?’

On an interview show I watched, Buchanan owned up to writing these gems, but I can’t remember which show it was.

He’s better known for addressing dissenting opinions by wrapping a big bear arm around the man’s shoulders and saying “Come, let us reason together”.

Bully!

The word he used wasn’t exactly “spit”, by some accounts.

“I’m a 10th-level Vice President!”

He also said to a fifth (?) grader (and the world),

“Potato has an “e” on the end.”

(Or close to it.)

Was Nixon Veep when he gave “the Checkers speech?” Even some Nixon-haters call that a masterpiece of public relations. That was spin, before we knew to call it spin.

Yeah, he was VP. Harry Truman probably said some pretty cool things while he was VP.