Political Quotes

“Thank you very much: Mr. Vice President and members of the Cabinet, members of the congressional leadership, diplomatic corps, special guests. And on this special Gridiron evening, may I single out the members of the Joint Chiefs and the other members of the military that are with us tonight. May I also single out Messrs. Baker and Strauss. [Laughter] After sitting through their parts in the program, I'll say this: If I'd had a white flag, I'd have waved it. [Laughter] No, I thought they had some very good material. The ground war only took 100 hours. [Laughter] I'm very happy to see Kuwait's Ambassador here--Al-Sabah, the Ambassador from Kuwait. I understand that during his recent travels with Jim Baker, Jim tried out some of tonight's jokes on him. And after hearing them, the Ambassador said, ``Don't you think we've suffered enough?'' [Laughter] No, but Jim put it well. We have been friends. And I have total confidence in him. Remember 1980? He's the guy who told me in New Hampshire, ``Don't worry; let the guy from California pay for the mike.'' [Laughter] And I understand Eppie Lederer is with us tonight over here at table 12. We all know her as Ann Landers. Apparently, Bob Strauss wrote to her recently, and she asked me to read her response: ``Dear Washington Wheeler-Dealer,'' it says--[laughter]--``yes, take the money from both sides.'' [Laughter] But this has been a very special evening with emphasis understandably on the Gulf.…”