Category: Verbatim

Verbatim

Trish

They say it is easier to get people to dislike a politician than to like him or her, but I wonder if automobile makers spent all their time accusing each other of making lousy and dangerous cars, whether anybody would buy one at all. Which maybe is one reason more people don’t vote.

–St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler, commenting on advertising for the midterm election.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

I shaved that off a year ago. Are you blind?

— New York Gov. David Paterson (D), appearing on Saturday Night Live, mocking impersonator Fred Armisen for still having a beard when he portrays the governor. It’s Paterson, of course, who is blind.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

I don’t know, I really don’t know. We don’t have enough information about this president. He was never given a job interview that was complete … But that’s not the issue now. He is president. Right now we need to make sure he doesn’t remain as president, whether he’s American, a Muslim, a Christian, you name it.


— Former Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), who is running against Rep. Mark Schauer (D-MI), responding in a WBCK radio interview about whether he believes President Obama was born the United States.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

The Democrats have 30 days to sort of stand up, embrace the challenge, and offer a worthy alternative. If they lay down and let it be a referendum, our side is going to get whacked.

— Bill Clinton, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, arguing his fellow Democrats should stop “mealy mouthing around” and start taking the fight to Republicans.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

A reason to run is if nobody else were to step up with the solutions that are needed to get the economy back on the right track and to be so committed to our national security that they are going to do all that they can, including fighting those on the extreme left who seem to want to dismantle some of our national security tools that we have in place. If nobody else wanted to step up … I would offer myself up in the name of service to the public.

— Political celebrity Sarah Palin (R), apparently without irony, in an interview on Fox News.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

It’s so obnoxious to once again be using women’s bodies to sell fundamentally unhealthy products.

— National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill, quoted by USA Today, on KFC’s latest marketing ploy to promote its new bunless Double Down sandwich — you know, the one that replaces bread with fried chicken. KFC is paying cute college co-eds $500 to hand out coupons while wearing fitted sweatpants with the sandwich’s name emblazoned across their rear ends. The stunt comes as KFC profits are dropping — 7 percent in the last quarter — and consumers 18 to 25 are failing to recognize Col. Sanders. (KFC’s own research said six out of 10 people in that key demographic couldn’t identify the logo.) KFC marketing chief John Cywinski said the rear-end stunt is an effective way to grab the attention of young men — the “biggest fans” of the Double Down.

Verbatim

Trish

As president, I have said we’re going to reverse it. I got the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and I got the secretary of defense to say that we’re going to reverse it. Think about what happened in Congress two days ago where you got 56 Democrats voting to debate this issue and zero Republicans. And as a consequence, some of those signs should be going up at the other folks’ events. And folks should be hollering at the other folks’ events because the choice in November could not be clearer.

— Pres. Obama, answering protesters who want to overturn the Clinton-era Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy for gays serving in the military.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

Who didn’t do some questionable things in high school, and who doesn’t regret the ’80s, to some extent? I certainly do, and I most certainly regret bringing it up to Bill Maher.

— Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R), in an interview with Fox News, on “dabbling” in witchcraft when she was younger.