December, 2014, Part 1, Politicians Say The Darndest Things: Political Campaign MIsquotes, Democratic Racism Quotes, and Who Needs Statistics

It’s the end of another year so I thought it might be a good idea to go back over the past twelve months and pull out some of the darndest quotes from members of the political class and their supporters. While the myth is that really smart people get involved with government and political office, in reality, based on the quotes of politicians we have brought to light over the past few years, the exact opposite is reality: we are currently served by a set of people that are shallow, selfish, and obviously incapable of having the mentality capacity or will to resolve the major issues facing the country. If they did have those attributes, one would have thought that the major issues facing us all, e.g. poor schools, leaky borders, high health care costs, etc. would have been resolved long ago.

To find previous reference to silly, inane, and stupid political quotes in this blog, just enter the phrase, “politicians say the darndest things,” in the search box above. As you will see, 2014 is not the only year that politicians have been putting their foot in their mouths and showing how incapable they are when it comes to governing and problem resolution.

1) Quote: “…or you might have a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Because if Democrats lose the majority, Chuck Grassley will be the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.” Senate candidate from Iowa, Bruce Braley.

Comments: Bruce Braley ran for Senator from Iowa this past November. You know, Iowa, a big farming state with a lot of farmers and farming interests. Given that reality, one would have thought that a candidate would be a little sensitive to not insult farmers, especially in light of extolling lawyers at farmers’ expense. 

But that is exactly what he did. He told a group of lawyers at an Iowan fundraiser that current Republican Senator Chuck Grassley was just “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school.” Braley added that, unlike Grassley, he was not a simple farmer and was far more worldly because he “went to law school’ and ‘practiced law.’” Needless to say, Mr. Braley is not going to Washington when the new Congress meets next month.

2) Quote: “I'm very excited to be here to support your next senator from Iowa, our friend Bruce Bailey." Michelle Obama, campaigning for the aforementioned Bruce Braley.

Comments: The obvious flub here is that Ms. Obama was campaigning for a candidate named Bruce Bailey, not the real candidate, Bruce Braley. She compounded the error since after introducing Braley incorrectly, she continued to mispronounce his name seven times in total, according to CNN.

One would have thought that the first Lady could at least get the poor man’s name correct since the whole reason she was in Iowa was to campaign for him.

But for Ms. Obama, that was not the only screw-up in her campaign efforts for Democrats last November. She introduced incumbent Colorado Senator Mark Udall as a “fifth-generation Coloradoan.” Which sounds nice on the surface, but was actually a more accurate distribution and reality of Udall’s opponent, Cory Gardner. Gardner was truly a fifth-generation Coloradoan, while Udall was born in Arizona.

3) Quote: "I'm not going to compromise a Constitutional right provided here in Kentucky in order to curry favor on one or (an)other side or members of the media." Alison Grimes, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Kentucky, refusing to say who she voted for President in 2008 and 2012.

Comments: During an interview with the Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board, Grimes “Did you vote for President Obama in 2008 and 2012?” If she had just said yes, assuming that she did not vote for McCain or Romney, the issue would have probably died out in a few days. She is a Democrat, obviously she probably voted for Obama.

Instead, she hedged and she hawed and made an issue out of nothing and eventually lost to the Republican incumbent. Seems idiotic that by not confessing to whom she voted for she would have thought she would have distanced herself from Obama in the November election. 

4) Quote: “I may be a white boy, but I can jump.” Vice President Joe Biden, at an event during Black History Month when Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson challenged him to a basketball game.

Comment: Difficult to take someone seriously, whose boss is trying to smooth racial divisions in this country, when you are dealing in crude stereotypes, “white boy” and “white boys can’t jump.” If a Republican had something like that, he or she would probably have been eviscerated in the press and by Democrats for fomenting racial stereotypes. Biden says it, and nothing happens except for the fact that he continues to speak quotes that have nothing to do with resolving any issue in this country.

5) Quote: "Where are you going to get people to work to clean out hotel rooms or do our landscaping?" Ms. Alex Sink, failed Florida Democratic candidate for Florida governor in 2010.

Comment: Again, if a Republican had something like this the press and Democrats would have killed him or her. But Ms. Sink does show her contempt and low regard for illegal Hispanic immigrants when in her mind they are only good for cleaning up our hotel rooms and watering our shrubs, implying that they would not be able to move into higher paying better jobs and that we needed them in this country to do the jobs Americans would not do. Racist or condescending or both, really bad for any political candidate to be so pompous.

6) Quote: Illegal immigrants “pick our fruit and make our beds.” President Barack Obama

Comment: Maybe Alex Sink got her prejudices from the leader of her party, President Obama. During a speech President Obama gave justifying his right to use Executive Orders to grant amnesty, he actually said illegal immigrants “pick our fruit and make our beds.” As with Ms.Sink, the President asserts these types of people are never going to be anything else than fruit pickers, hotel cleaners, and weed pullers. Talk about elitsit, pompous and condescending.

7) Quote: “Make no mistake, my policies are on the ballot this fall.” President Obama when speaking about the November elections.

Comments: By associating every Democrat running for office in November with the President’s policies, mostly failed policies, he ensured that the Republicans would take control of all of Congress and sweep through state governments across the country. By selfishly making the elections all about him and his failed policies, ranging from Obama Care to anemic economic growth and policies to a bumbling foreign relations performance, his narcissism failed his party dramatically. 

For someone who is supposed to be the consummate political animal, her certainly came up small when insisting it was all about him.

8) Quote: “Frankly, it is irritating that anybody would be distracted by which statistics are accurate.” U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill

Comments: A recent study estimated that one in five women attending an American university is likely to be sexually assaulted during her college years. If true, this is a very serious problem since even one unwanted sexual assault is one too many. This study resulted in Senator McCaskill getting involved and trying to do something about his one in five ratio.

However, a subsequent study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one that had a better construct and much larger sample size, estimated that the true ratio was closer to 50 to 1, not 5 to 1. Again, any sexual assault is not to be taken lightly. But there is a big difference if the chance of sexual assault is ten times less likely than originally thought.

The real insanity of McCaskill’s quote is that like most politicians, why should she let reality enter into any political decision or action? Statistics were good and appropriate when it supported her position, 5 to 1, but should be ignored when it does not support her position and actions, 50 to 1. 

That will do it for today but we will continue our 2014 review of stupid political quotes tomorrow. Today we learned that a Senate candidate will lose an election if he insults his core constituency, that Michelle Obama does not really prepare for campaign rallies before going to them, the Vice President, the President, and a Florida politician continue to deal with and believe in racial stereotypes, and a U.S. Senator uses statistics only when it supports her position. 

And these are supposed to be the leaders of this country? Pathetic leadership, pathetic management skills, pathetic view of others.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w