Some Recent Defining Presidential Campaign Moments, In Order
16. George H.W. Bush's gallon of milk
15. Michael Dukakis' ride in an M1 Abrams tank
14. Ross Perot's claim that Republicans were going to ruin his daughter's wedding
13. George W. Bush's name-that-Pakistani-prime-minister
12. Joe Biden's plagiarism
11. Mondale's promise to raise taxes
10. Bill Clinton's non-inhalation of marijuana
9. Sarah Palin's reading of all the newspapers
8. Al Gore's invention of the internet
7. Bob Dole's falling off a stage
6. Ted Kennedy's inability to tell Roger Mudd why he wanted to be president
5. John Kerry's for-it-before-he-was-against-it
4. John McCain's fundamentally sound economy
3. Rick Perry's "oops"
2. Howard Dean's scream
1. Gary Hart's "Monkey Business"
Matt Langer quit his job in 2002 to run web operations for Gary Hart's aborted third presidential run.
I would rate Dukakis' raped wife thing #1.
@Abe Sauer George Clooney took care of that in his recent film.
I was thinking about that too but it was too, too, too… ugggggghhhh.
@Abe Sauer I don't know what this means and I'm not sure how to google it at work.
@deepomega http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF9gSyku-fc
@Abe Sauer AND I mostly say that b/c the tank thing came a month before the debate rape question and would not have seemed like such a big deal had Dukakis come off as more macho by answering, "Well Bernard, while I personally am against the death penalty, in that case I would cut that fuckers head off with a dull spoon and shit down his throat." He didn't.
There you go again.
@Art Yucko: You're no Jack Kennedy.
They misunderestimated me.
#7 is a personal favorite. Happened in my hometown of Chico, CA. Local pride.
@VeeCee Classic stage dive. Of course, it was right around that time that I moved away, so while I want to make some local reference that only Chicoans will get, I'm afraid I can't remember any.
@VeeCee Whether it's Ford, Dole or Castro falling, it just fucking works.
@VeeCee Too much pre-funking at Duffy's (is that place still there?)
"You forgot Poland."
I'd put Bachmann's vaccination claims pretty high up too. That's what killed her with the right – being seen as wheeling out kids to attack Perry. And it is so, so, so perfectly representative of her.
#5 is bullshit. It wasn't true at the time and it isn't true now. #5 is more of an attack line than a gaffe or goof-up.
@sigerson There's video tape
He did say that but he was, in his particularly painful way, trying to explain why he voted for a bill (military spending on Iraq?) in one version but was against it once the Bushies had added their special crappy sauce to it.
@sigerson A bunch of these really fall into that category. Al Gore, of course, didn't claim he invented the internet. He claimed (correctly) that he sponsored the legislation that created the internet. The "I invented the internet" thing was a line placed in his mouth by his political enemies.
Also, the Howard Dean scream thing was evidently an artifact of the recording – it came across as shockingly weird on TV, but those in person reported not thinking all that much of it at the time.
Not sure any of this invalidates the list, though. True or not, these moments in some ways certainly did come to define the candidates.
"Don't stop…thinkin' about tomorrow…don't stop…it'll soon be here…yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone…"
@hockeymom Yep.
Others –
5. George HW Bush looking at his watch during that 1992 debate
4. All that sighing and eye-rolling by Al in 2000.
3. "You people" by H. Ross Perot in 1992.
2. Admiral Stockdale – "I'm outta ammo on this one."
1. Bob Dole, to Bush, "STOP LYING ABOUT MY RECORD!"
@sigerson Stockdale's "Who am I, why am I here"
@sigerson – also, "potatoe" has to be in the Top Five. Dan Quayle destroyed any chance of a run at the big chair with that goof-up. He would have been the 1996 nominee otherwise but decided to sit it out.
Oh, wait. Is the underlying theme here that they're all Lacanian?
@Art Yucko Let me text Slavoj.
@deepomega ZHE CANDIDAETCHE VEEL FALL IN LUFF VISCHE ZEEMSCHELVESCH
@deepomega I was going to say "Gary Hart & The Monkey Business" would be a good name for a band, but "Let Me Text Slavoj" is in fact THE BEST name for a band, so.
@stuffisthings Or a Tumblr ("Yo, is that Lacanian?"). Does anybody have his number???
Obligatory "Al Gore was misquoted" re: 'Net invention claim grumbling
Is it sad that I remember the SNL take on all these moments more clearly than the actual moments?
@Neopythia Al Gore was never actually IN a hot tub during the presidential campaign. THAT one was only on SNL.
"I HAVE A SECRET PLAN THAT I CAN'T TELL YOU UNLESS YOU ELECT ME!!!" – R. Nixon
Obama, in re bitterness, guns and religion.
@laurel – That doesn't count given that (a) it's obviously true and a penetrating insight of a brilliant mind and (b) Obama won anyway. You have to be a loser to qualify for this list.
Palin's "I can see Russia [from my house]" trumps her "all of them"
@Rick Gary@facebook That's a Tina Fey line, so, disqualified the same way Ale Gore's internet should be… though that doesn't make her crazy proximity to Russia gives me foreign policy cred argument any less dumb. It's a sign of how fucked up her brain is, not a gaffe.
hii
@sanchez01marks
HIIII!
@sanchez01marks wow – #175,879?? that's a seriously high number.
For all the Canadians in the house: "You think it's easy to make priorities?" See also: basically anything Stockwell Day ever did.
@TheRtHonPM
The canadians in the house thank you.
Pat Schroeder's mascara
GHWB's "tried to kick a little ass" remark re Ferraro debate
@dntsqzthchrmn Or when Clinton quoted Prescott at GHWB.
Muskie's Canuck letter
@dntsqzthchrmn Leave Ed out of this.
Also, does 1840 count as recent?
Gary Hart's "Monkey Business" was good, but I liked his first EP better.
Gordon Brown glassing David Cameron in the face?
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