Blithering Idiot Quotes

[WolvesInTheThroneRoom]

We all have seen every mispronounced syllable out of W's mouth, but what about all the other politicians and celebrities, it's a shame they go unnoticed by the great media machine- let's help them out!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Al Gore:

"A zebra does not change its spots." - Al Gore, attacking President George Bush in 1992.

*Mammogram...sonogram...
At an event in Las Vegas on Monday, 09/1800, Gore declared potential breast cancer victims faced "a long waiting line before they could get a biopsy or, uh, or a uh, another kind of, what am I looking for, a sonogram or...." People in the crowd shouted "mammogram."
(Source: Fox News 09/18/00; MSNBC 09/21/00 - The News with Brian Williams)



*James who?
In his first appearance in a nationally televised candidates forum, Gore was asked to name a past US president from whom he drew personal inspiration. He replied that he especially admired another "dark horse" candidate, and a product of his home state, the great "president James Knox". The only problem is that the history books show that nobody named Knox ever occupied the White House.


*I thought Santa Claus was badass...
"I certainly learned a great deal from 3,000 town hall meetings across my home state of Tennessee over a 16-year period" in Congress, the vice president told NPR’s Bob Edwards.
Do the math. That’s 187 town hall meetings per year, or a meeting in Tennessee every other day for 16 years, including weekends, holidays, vacations, and time spent running for president in 1988 and for vice president in 1992.

* Back in 1994, Al Gore called Oliver North "the colonel of untruth" and said Mr. North was counting on political contributions from "the extra-chromosome right wing."
(Sources: White House Special Briefing, 10/28/94; Washington Times, September 4, 1997 )
AL APOLOGIZES: Vice President Al Gore sent out a letter apologizing for his embarrassing "extra chromosome" jibe at Oliver North supporters, saying he had "learned an important lession [sic]."

*He can't use a computer?
Pete Talek, a U.S. Steel employee speaking with Al Gore: "I am a few credits shy of earning a master's degree and could use federal funds to help defray tuition costs" because he also is putting a daughter through community college. "I worked with a 14-inch pipe wrench for years and a coal shovel." Adding that he since has added a computer keyboard to the list of tools he can now use.
Gore smiled and admitted that he, too, has trouble turning on a computer - let alone using one."
(Source: "Gore Touts Job-Training Programs at Pittsburgh Factory" Associated Press September 4, 1998)
Which is it Al? Articles paint you as a techie nerdie type with early, and possibly fairly substantive knowledge of computers and networks, but you can't use a computer? You used Arpanet in the 70's but now have trouble turning on a computer?


*Where am I again?
Al Gore visited Minneapolis Minnesota on October 12, 1998 and raised several hundred thousand dollars for DFL gubernatorial nominee Hubert Humphrey III and two Democratic congressmen. Too bad he forgot which state he was in. Gore misspoke when he tried to summarize their commitment to education. "They will be the education team that Missouri needs to move into the 21st century," he said.
(Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune, October 13, 1998)

*Gore loves tobacco.
"Throughout most of my life, I raised tobacco. I want you to know that with my own hands, all of my life, I put it in the plant beds and transferred it. I've hoed it. I've dug in it. I've sprayed it, I've chopped it, I've shredded it, spiked it, put it in the barn and stripped it and sold it.
(Source: [New York] Newsday, 2/26/88

*"Sometimes, you never fully face up to things that you ought to face up to." -- Al Gore, discussing why he accepted checks from his family tobacco farm and contributions from tobacco companies for years after the tragic death of his sister that he spoke about so emotionally at the 1996 Democratic convention.
(Source: "'Numbness' Let Gore Accept Tobacco Help," San Francisco Chronicle, August 30, 1996)

* Rip-Tootin'?
At the opening of the new Gore 2000 HQ, Gore said something about a "rip-tootin'" campaign.
Maybe he meant "rip-roarin'" or "rootin'-tootin'"?
(Source WTVF (TV) News, Nashville, Tenn. 10/6/99)

 

[bstexas]

and all this Gore bashing because? lol

 

[Tattooed Goddess]

Because its nice to hear for a change.

 

[faceking]

Not sure if they are all blithering (if any) by definition. Me thinks 99% of the people who gaff at anyone's mis-quotes (be it GW Bush, Gore, Tony Blair, etc...) couldn't read the ingredient label off a can of soda in front of 10 ppl in public.

Oration is on the bottom half of my list of priorities for leadership.

 

[D_Portelay Porquesword]

Oh for heaven's sake it is not nice to hear. It's just fodder, if we added up all the crap that Bush has said over the past 8 years this would look instructions for a cow patty Frisbee toss.

 

[WolvesInTheThroneRoom]

Not sure if they are all blithering (if any) by definition. Me thinks 99% of the people who gaff at anyone's mis-quotes (be it GW Bush, Gore, Tony Blair, etc...) couldn't read the ingredient label off a can of soda in front of 10 ppl in public.

Oration is on the bottom half of my list of priorities for leadership.

Exactly, couldn't agree more, looks and oratory skills have nothing to with leadership ability. My point with this thread is indirect...

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

Oration is on the bottom half of my list of priorities for leadership.

Finally, someone with some sense.
To be honest, one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to about the end of the Bush era is the end of people accusing our President of being stupid and unfit because of his poor public speaking abilities. No, he's not that great of a President, but for eight years, those who bash him the most incessantly always bring up his dialect and accent.

 

[WolvesInTheThroneRoom]

Finally, someone with some sense.
To be honest, one of the biggest things I'm looking forward to about the end of the Bush era is the end of people accusing our President of being stupid and unfit because of his poor public speaking abilities. No, he's not that great of a President, but for eight years, those who bash him the most incessantly always bring up his dialect and accent.

This is the point I was hoping to have discussed, thank you all!

It is not about making Al Gore look stupid or defending Bush.

Anyone who speaks in front of cameras as much as world leaders do, will no doubt make many speaking gaffes. Al Gore is included in that pardon.
The media at large and a shallow minded public mass turn it into a 'legitimate' issue.
It is no more important than hairline or taste in clothes.

 

[D_Thoraxis_Biggulp]

Of course, Dan Quayle is the exception that proves the rule. Pretty much everything he said was stupid.

 

[Principessa]

So long as we are mentioning the misstatements of people who have no relevance, here are a few more from Dan Quayle.



Dan Quayle, Vice President to George Bush from 1988-1992, is one of the most famous misstatement makers ever. Here is a collection of some of his most notorious flubs.

• "Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here."
• "What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."
• "You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy campers you have been, and, as far as I am concerned, happy campers you will always be."
• "El Salvador is a democracy so it's not surprising that there are many voices to be heard here. Yet in my conversations with Salvadorans, I have heard a single voice."
• "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy -- but that could change."
• "Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."
• "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."
• "We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world."
• "We have a firm commitment to NATO. We are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."
• "I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix."
• "My friends, no matter how rough the road may be, we can and we will, never, never surrender to what is right."
• "I deserve respect for the things I did not do."
• "I feel that this is my first year, that next year is an election year, that the third year is the mid point, and that the fourth year is the last chance I'll have to make a record since the last two years; I'll be a candidate again. Everything I do in those last two years will be posturing for the election. But right now I don't have to do that."
• "This President is going to lead us out of this recovery."
• "We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
• "For NASA, space is still a high priority."
• "[The U.S. victory in Gulf War was a] stirring victory for the forces of aggression."
• "Bank failures are caused by depositors who don't deposit enough money to cover losses due to mismanagement."
• "The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century."
• "Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts."
• "Mars is essentially in the same orbit. Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If there is oxygen, then we can breathe."
• "The future will be better tomorrow."
• "People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have tremendous impact on history."
• "Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it."
• "We're all capable of mistakes, but I do not care to enlighten you on the mistakes we may or may not have made."
• "One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Vice President, and that one word is 'to be prepared.'"
• "Let me just tell you how thrilling it really is, and how, what a challenge it is, because in 1988 the question is whether we're going forward to tomorrow or whether we're going to go past to the -- to the back!"
• "The loss of life will be irreplaceable."
• "Bobby Knight told me this: 'There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.' In other words a good offense wins."
• "It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago."
• "This isn't a man who is leaving with his head between his legs."
• "Unfortunately, the people of Louisiana are not racists."
• "We lead in exporting jobs." -- Committing a Freudian slip while speaking to the Chamber of Commerce of Evansville, Indiana, a city which lost four large companies in the previous four years. He quickly changed the word 'jobs' to 'products.'
• "If you give a person a fish, they'll fish for a day. But if you train a person to fish, they'll fish for a lifetime."
• "We don't want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward."
• "Votes are like trees, if you are trying to build a forest. If you have more trees than you have forests, then at that point the pollsters will probably say you will win."
• "[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system."
• "Clinton cannot possibly win in 2000." -- Referring to Bill Clinton, who had already served two terms as President by 2000.
• "The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle may or may not make."
• "Every once in a while, you let a word or phrase out, and you want to catch it and bring it back. You can't do that. It's gone, gone forever."
• "I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."

 

[D_Ivana Dickenside]

remember the time when jon voight called angelina jolie's daughter "shakira," but her name is actually zahara.

 

[Channelwood]

Anyone who spends their entire working day talking to large groups of people on an incredibly wide range of subjects is likely to make inadvertant verbal slips, gaffes, and flubs. Some politicians have a penchant for doing so. I have no problem with that ... it doesn't mean they're a poor statesman, just that they're not a top-notch orator.

But what does it mean when George W. Bush pronounces the word "nuc-u-lar". He's been made fun of by comedians for it for 8 years. His advisors have doubtless told him it's an issue. The man isn't stupid or adled, or unable to comprehend. He knows now how it's pronounced.

He does it intentionally.

It started out as a common mispronunciation. Many people do it. But once it was pointed out to him that it was an embarassment that the man who controls thousands of nuclear warheads wasn't pronouncing it correctly, what did he do? Correct himself?

This is a man who makes quick decisions, and once he does, that's it. He will not change, because to do so would mean he was wrong, and he can't abide that. Bush has never admitted to an error (even when now starting to admit that global warming may exist, he'll not admit that he's changing his position). He will never admit to an error.

The man will unswervingly and stubbornly stick to a decision he's made, no matter how blindingly stupid it is. As Stephen Colbert mocked him at the White House Correspondents' dinner, with Bush sitting a few feet away, "Events can change; this man's beliefs never will. He believes the same thing Wednesday as he did Monday. No matter what happened Tuesday."

So, the next time you hear Bush say "nuc-u-lar" remember that it is a calculated tactic. He knows it's wrong. But he'll never admit it.

 

[WolvesInTheThroneRoom]

I actually was hoping there would be some hilarious posts from celebrities, I don't want this to be just a political thread. No I don't have any off hand, I don't watch MTV or E

Yeah Dan Quayle is probably the exception to the rule haha

 

[Krusader]

had a good chuckle for a minute

 

[vince]

"Some things I never learned to like. I didn't like to kiss babies, though I didn't mind kissing their mothers."

Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada