# Stupid things politicians say. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 26, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209 "2005-12-26T02:29:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lonesome\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@lonesome\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lonesome_loser)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/1 "2005-12-26T02:29:57Z")
Be they democrat or republican. List list the stupid things they say. Let’s keep them to one sentence. Let’s respect the bandwidth. "None of your civil liberties matter much,’’ Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said last week, ``after you’re dead.’’ So giving up my civil liberties will keep us all alive? I’d rather be dead. Freedom ain’t cheap. You gotta fight for your rights. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/2 "2005-12-26T04:58:51Z")
**lonesome loser** Sorry about your bandwidth restriction, but it’s necessary to post _two_ quotes from our Commandable in Cheef George Dubya Bush: “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. **It is our number one priority** and we will not rest until we find him.” — 9/13/2001 “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. **It’s not our priority**.”—3/13/2002 Wow, how things can change so drastically in six months. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/3 "2005-12-26T05:45:03Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > **lonesome loser** > Sorry about your bandwidth restriction, but it’s necessary to post _two_ quotes from our Commandable in Cheef George Dubya Bush: > > “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. **It is our number one priority** and we will not rest until we find him.” — 9/13/2001 > > “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. **It’s not our priority**.”—3/13/2002 > > Wow, how things can change so drastically in six months. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/4 "2005-12-26T06:44:38Z")
_“I do not accept there is underlying racism in this country.”_ - Australian Prime Minister John Howard (12/05), commenting following race riots in Sydney. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/5 "2005-12-26T07:37:50Z")
Sorry **Martin Hyde** - I don’t blame you for requesting a cite - even if this is the Pit. I found those quotes on more than one website. Anyway here is one: [http://supak.com/bush.htm](http://supak.com/bush.htm) I’ll admit it could be everyone expecting something ludicrous from “Dubya” no matter how serious the subject matter. Maybe one person could put that on their website and within days, it’s on a hundred websites. Dubya’s the Presidential equivalent of Yogi Berra. Among other quotes, Yogi supposedly said “I never really said those things I said”. Maybe Yogi said that and maybe he didn’t. Heck - ninety per cent of the time you can’t believe half those things. 😃 Still, I remember watching a Presidential address concerning the recent New Orleans disaster in which Dubya called Katrina a “wasteful hurricane”. (Just thought I’d add another quote for the OP). Oh and a cite for that? The Baptist Press News (scroll halfway down) [http://www.bpnews.net/bpcollectionnews.asp?ID=63](http://www.bpnews.net/bpcollectionnews.asp?ID=63) ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/6 "2005-12-26T07:58:34Z")
**"Who should rebuild New Orleans? New Orleans, and I’ll be there to spearhead the effort come heck or high water."** Ray Nagin, on Meet the Press several weeks after Katrina hit. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/7 "2005-12-26T15:16:05Z")
My favorite: “What a waste it is to lose one’s mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.” – Quayle at a fund-raiser for the United Negro College Fund, 5/9/89 (he was attempting to quote the line “a mind is a terrible thing to waste”). For more Quayle malapropisms, go [here](http://www.comedyontap.com/features/quayle.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/8 "2005-12-26T16:40:05Z")
Reporter: …given the recent surge in violence, do you agree with Dick Cheney’s assessment that the insurgency is in its last throes? George W. Bush: I think about Iraq every day. \*Every single day. \* Prompting Jon Stewart to say: Really? You think about the war you started every day? “Yeah, I tie a little string around my finger. Sometimes I look down at it, I think ‘What’s that doin’ there?’ Then I remember, I think, ‘Oh shit.’ It’s that… Uh… That war.” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/9 "2005-12-26T16:57:50Z")
Oh, sod the bandwidth! ‘Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.’ – Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC. ‘The police are not here to create disorder. They’re here to preserve disorder.’ – Former Chicago mayor Daley during the infamous 1968 convention ‘If you’ve seen one redwood tree, you’ve seen them all.’ – Forestry expert Ronald Reagan ‘I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.’ – Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle ---
**Author:** ![DoperChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@DoperChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoperChic)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/10 "2005-12-26T22:33:57Z")
> [@lonesome loser](#): > > \ > > Freedom ain’t cheap. > > \ Sure isn’t. It costs a buck 'o five. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/11 "2005-12-26T22:41:29Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > ‘I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.’ > – Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle Much as I hate to give him any credit whatsoever, I believe that one is apocryphal. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/12 "2005-12-26T23:05:51Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > ‘I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.’ > – Former U.S. Vice-President Dan Quayle [http://www.snopes.com/quotes/quayle.htm](http://www.snopes.com/quotes/quayle.htm) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/13 "2005-12-26T23:55:19Z")
In light of the wiretapping scandal and lies to fit the Iraq war in the war against terror, these quotes from Bush are the tops: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we,” — “They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” Washington, D.C. 08.05.04 “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” --George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/14 "2005-12-27T02:58:45Z")
I can’t believe nobody has submitted this one: “If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier – just so long I’m the dictator.” –George W. Bush, December 18, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/15 "2005-12-27T03:28:30Z")
“If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate.” : Marion Barry ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/16 "2005-12-27T09:54:15Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > I can’t believe nobody has submitted this one: > > “If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier – just so long I’m the dictator.” > –George W. Bush, December 18, 2000 Disclaimer: I am not Liberty; I am the soon-to-be-Mr.-Liberty. So this has bothered me for a while, because about a score moons ere, some idiot stuck a sticker with this quote on it onto a pole between my office and the student center (lunch locale). CLEARLY, Mr. Bush is joking. OBVIOUSLY, the man is saying that he can’t rule the country with an Iron Fist because we live in a Democracy, and we have checks, balances, etc., and so he will have to compromise or negotiate on whatever issue he is referring to. HOW THICK WOULD ONE HAVE TO BE TO NOT REALIZE THAT he is saying this tounge-in-cheek, and that no matter what one thinks of the then president-elect, he probably did not publicly express sentiments to the effect of, “Would you mind calling me Il Duce?” This seemed clear to me even without any context. I read the sticker, and thought “Is this meant to be an anti-Bush sticker? That seems weird, since he is neatly expressing one of the fundamental values of America, namely, separation of powers. You know, just because he will be our president, that doesn’t mean he will be a dictator. Maybe it is more the limited power of the federal government. Well, clearly anti-Fascist in any case…” ## And just for kicks, here is more of the quote: CHRIS BLACK, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Frank, President- elect George W. Bush came to Capitol Hill today for the first time since the election intending to listen to congressional leaders, the bipartisan congressional leadership. But he also made it clear to them, in more than two and a half hours of meetings, that he intends to stand by his tax cut proposal and other planks in his campaign agenda. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I told all four that there were going to be some times where we don’t agree with each other. But that’s OK. If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator. ## (END VIDEO CLIP) Source: [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html) ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/17 "2005-12-27T10:18:08Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” --George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 I don’t know whether we can classify that one as stupid, though. It’s refreshingly honest. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/18 "2005-12-27T21:28:41Z")
[http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2005/welcome.asp](http://www.mrc.org/notablequotables/bestof/2005/welcome.asp) There’s a ton of great stuff in these quotes. Here’s a couple good ones: > [@](#): > > Andrea Mitchell: "It is an iconic picture: American hostages, hands bound and blindfolded, being paraded outside the U.S. embassy in Tehran by their captors. But has one of those student radicals now become Iran’s newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?..Tonight, U.S. intelligence officials say that they will continue to study this, but may never have definitive proof of what the role was of Iran’s new president, Brian."Brian Williams: “Andrea, what would it all matter if proven true? Someone brought up today the first several U.S. Presidents were certainly revolutionaries and might have been called terrorists at the time by the British Crown, after all.” > Mitchell: “Indeed, Brian.” > [@](#): > > “An Advocate for the Right.” > — Headline over a New York Times “news analysis” of Judge John Roberts’ judicial philosophy, July 28. > > vs. > > “Balanced Jurist at Home in the Middle.” > — Headline over a June 27, 1993 New York Times story on Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg. > [@](#): > > Actress Jane Fonda: “From an historical point of view, they were defending their country. If we had been invaded and an invading force came into this country and divided us in half at the Mississippi River…we would understand why people were fighting…We should never have been there [in Vietnam].” > Chris Matthews: “There were a lot of people, Jane, who…can’t imagine slipping out of their American skin, their American soul and becoming so objective, as you just were a minute ago…How do you step out of being an American to make such an objective judgment?” > — Exchange on MSNBC’s Hardball on April 15. Fonda was promoting her new book, My Life So Far. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/19 "2005-12-27T21:37:46Z")
> [@liberty3701](#): > > CLEARLY, Mr. Bush is joking. I agree entirely. I’ve made comments similar to Bush’s, and in doing so I’m not advocating bloody tyranny; I’m ruefully recognizing that a democracy means not always getting your way, and that even if you think your way is really for the best, you have to do the hard work of muddling through and trying to achieve compromise. I think Bush has shown himself a lot more willing to repress the opposition in the course of his leadership than I would be; that’s just further proof that _I_ need to be the Dictator of the World and not him, since I wouldn’t go around repressing people like that. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-things-politicians-say/337209/20 "2005-12-27T22:01:01Z")
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