Political Quotes

“Mr. President, this morning I was looking at something I have had on my desk for a long while. I was thinking about words and words that matter because there have been a lot of words recently about the issue of financial reform or Wall Street reform, how it is done, when it is done, whether it is done. I was thinking about the use of words and that words do not mean what they used to mean. I went back, because I have kept this on my desk for a long time, to something that was sent out widely across the country. It was from something called GOPAC. It was kind of the start or at least the genesis of the collapse of comity and the use of good language and so on. This was sent out widely around the country to several thousand people. It said: We have heard all these candidates across the country say: I wish I could speak like Newt--meaning Newt Gingrich. I wish I could speak like Newt. Then it said in the language that it sent out to people: You can speak like Newt Gingrich. It said: We have actually done a lot of work developing polling on contrasting words, and if you would like to speak like Newt Gingrich, here is some help for you. Here are words. Then they sent this out. It says: Apply these words to your opponent, to their record, to their proposals, their party. They have a long list of words: sick, lie, betray, traitors, pathetic, threaten, corruption, punish, corrupt, cheat, steal, abuse of power. Use these words when you describe your opponents.…”