Politicians can say the oddest things

Last time I took up so much space setting up the subject it didn’t leave much room for quotes, so this time I’m going to jump right in. Since this is an election year, I thought it might be interesting to see what politicians have to say about politics, and politicians.

I have to tell you, I had a lot of fun researching this column, and even with more room, there were lots of worthy quotes I couldn’t fit in. I found many politicians are very intelligent and thoughtful, and I can easily understand why we put them in office, while others say some pretty weird and stupid things and still get elected. Go figure.

Just for fun, we’ll start out with some of the stupid ones:

‘ ‘Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.’ ‘ Marion Barry, ex-mayor of Washington, D.C. (Whew! Glad to hear that Mr. Barry. After all, like they say, 80 percent of statistics can be made to mean anything you want them to, 50 percent of the time. But I’ve got a strange feeling that 100 percent of those murder victims are still dead.)

‘ ‘Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours.’ ‘ Grover Cleveland, president. (All I can say about that one is a group with obviously higher intelligence than yours, Mr. Cleveland, eventually won out on that issue. You go girls!)

‘ ‘Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.’ ‘ Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House. (Um, yeah, right. I think there’s probably something wise in there somewhere, but it makes my head hurt trying to figure it out. And how’d this guy get to be speaker?)

‘ ‘There’s always some fig leaf being used.’ ‘ Gary Hart, presidential candidate. (Thank goodness for that Mr. Hart, considering how many times you got caught with your pants down.)

‘ ‘Ninety percent of the politicians give the other 10 percent a bad reputation.’ ‘ Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State. (Now, I can’t really say this is dumb, but it’s just that whole statistics thing again. And I think we can be pretty sure which group Mr. Kissinger figures he’s in.)

And here’s one from the master, in his own defense yet.

‘ ‘I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.’ ‘ Dan Quale, former Vice President. (Hey Dan, might try making a few in the present.)

OK, now for the good ones. Hopefully, these will restore at least some of your faith in politicians.

‘ ‘Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.’ ‘ John Quincy Adams, President. (We should all take this one to heart.)

‘ ‘The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.’ ‘ Ross Perot, presidential candidate. (Ah Ross, would that you had been a bit more photogenic.)

‘ ‘In politics it is necessary either to betray one’s country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.’ ‘ Charles de Gaulle, French military leader and statesman. (I suppose it would be naive to hope our super delegates are hip to that one.)

‘ ‘Oh, that lovely title, ex-president.’ ‘ Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Lately there’s another one I’m ready to see using it.)

Charlie Johnson is news editor of the Standard. He can be reached at 473-2191.