The "Democratic Donkey" was originally a political attack twisting President Andrew Jackson's name to "Jackass," but Democrats embraced the symbolism of an animal associated with hard work.
I've covered this topic in the past, but I thought it might be interesting to take a trip down memory lane, especially at the end of the year and in the wake of the 2014 election cycle. The criteria for what qualifies as a "screw up" can be very subjective, but mine is any action or event done by a politician, a campaign or political party that may have:
- Seriously contributed to a politician or party losing an election.
- Seriously damaged a person's ability to move upward and onward in politics.
- Damaged the public image of a person, their political party, or ideology.
Not all gaffes and mistakes are created equal. It can be argued that some are fair, and some aren't. And most of them are creations of media perceptions, or tactics that backfire spectacularly. Mistakes and gaffes usually come from malice, stupidity, or just plain bad luck. And the difference in a campaign can be the side that's better at making mountains out of molehills.
So, which political gaffes stand out as being either the most memorable or the most damaging?
Follow below the fold for more.
In the election cycle that just ended, there were more than a few notable blunders. Many political journalists picked Iowa's Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful, Bruce Braley, as having run the worst campaign of 2014 after losing by 8.5 points to Joni Ernst. A series of gaffes by Braley became fodder for the media, and there was blood in the water. On the other side, Republican Lee Terry of Nebraska's Second District was defeated after making a stupid remark about having "a nice house and a kid in college" while defending his refusal to give back his paycheck from the 16-day government shutdown.
But this year's gaffes seem like small potatoes compared to some from recent memory.
► John McCain—2008—"Fundamentals Of Our Economy Are Strong"
There is an argument that given the state of the country, Bush's job approval numbers, etc., the 2008 election was destined to be a Democratic year. However, McCain kept things close in polls for most of 2008, often outperforming the Republican brand. In fact, he did have that bit after the GOP convention in which he led in most national polls. So what happened?
The turning point seems to have been the advent of the financial crisis. This is Gallup's daily tracking poll from about March to Election Day 2008. The margin of support between each candidate stays pretty close up until the middle of September, when Obama took a lead he would never relinquish. What happened in the middle of September? The stock market and financial services industry went south. It's also around the time people who have 401Ks and investments got statements on their dwindling nest eggs. This had the effect of putting the economy as issue number one in the election.
So, with the economy going in the shitter, John McCain decided to tell people to believe him, not their lying eyes.
This, coupled with the stunt of "suspending" his campaign and trying to postpone the first debate to fly back to Washington and deal with an economy that he had just called fundamentally sound, contributed to doubts about McCain temperament, as well as his ability to deal with a financial crisis.
And if that wasn't enough, while this was happening, voters confidence in John McCain's VP pick was dropping like a stone.
► Sarah Palin—2008—Katie Couric Interview
If you look at the 2008 exit polls, the American public was not impressed by Sarah Palin. Only 38 percent of voters believed she was qualified to be president of the United States. But there were a few weeks where the pick of Palin seemed to offer some wind to John McCain's sails. Palin's performance at the GOP convention and first outings on the campaign trail seemed to bring conservatives home and give McCain the lead in most polls. However, all of it seemed to collapse after a gruesome twosome of McCain botching his response to the financial crisis, and Palin giving disastrous answers under questioning by the media.
The McCain campaign wouldn't let Palin get near a reporter's microphone for weeks after her VP selection. As the media continued to press for access, the McCain campaign ultimately decided to allow a limited number of interviews, after trying to prep her and cramming her head full of briefing books. The first interview was with ABC News and Charlie Gibson, where Palin didn't seem to know what the "Bush Doctrine" is, talked about energy independence when asked about her national security credentials, and sorta threatened World War III with Russia.
However, the pièce de résistance was the absolutely disastrous interview with Katie Couric for CBS News. Palin just seemed out of her league on every level. Palin couldn't name a newspaper or magazine she had read (or make one up). And her answers were the basis for some of the first skits on Saturday Night Live with Tina Fey. You know it's bad when SNL uses the transcript of the interview ... word for word.
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Mitt Romney—2012—"47 Percent"
Here's an interesting historical footnote for those that may not remember. Romney's share of the 2012 presidential popular vote was 47.2 percent.
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That's an entitlement. The government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. And I mean the president starts off with 48, 49 ... he starts off with a huge number. These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. So he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. ... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the 5–10 percent in the center that are independents, that are thoughtful, that look at voting one way or the other depending upon in some cases emotion, whether they like the guy or not."
—Mitt Romney, at a private fundraiser, May 17, 2012
► George W. Bush—2003, 2005, etc.—Pick 'Em
Do I even need to explain these? If you look at the political strength of the Bush Presidency, it has a peak after the September 11th Attacks, where the country rallied to him in the hope he might actually be a leader, and the point where Bush's approval ratings permanently sunk below 50 percent was his handling of Hurricane Katrina. However, in-between those two events there was something else that happened.
The Iraq War, and what was done in the run up to the Iraq War, shattered whatever solidarity existed among Democrats and Republicans in the wake of 9-11. Also, the legacy of the speech above and the entire media spectacle of Bush in a flight suit landing on an aircraft carrier becomes even more chilling when juxtaposed against the current threat of ISIS and other issues in the area.
But the final nail in George W. Bush's presidency, at least in its ability to claim the trust of a majority of the public, was Hurricane Katrina. The appearance of a president diddling while a major American city was under water seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back for many voters. It didn't help that when Bush eventually began to get involved, one of his first soundbites was to tell his FEMA director, who was working at horse shows before being put in charge of emergency management, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."
► Michael Howard—1997—"Did You Threaten To Overrule Him?"
BBC Newsnight anchor Jeremy Paxman's reputation as a tough interviewer started with a notorious Newsnight interview with Conservative MP Michael Howard.
During Howard's time as home secretary, a series of prison escapes occurred. An inquiry was ordered of the prison service. Paxman questions Howard, who at the time was campaigning to become the Tory leader, about a discrepancy between Howard's recollection and that of the director of the Prison Service. Paxman asks the same question not once, not twice, but 14 times in a row and cannot get a straight answer.
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Michael Dukakis—1988—Tank Ride and Debate Question
At one point Michael Dukakis led George H. W. Bush by 17 points in 1988, but it was his decision to go on vacation and campaign events like these that wiped all of that lead away. Dukakis wanted to show his strength on National Security, so his campaign scheduled an event at a General Dynamics plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. They positioned the cameras to catch Dukakis riding up in glory on a M1 Abrams Tank. Margaret Thatcher had done a similar campaign event in 1986, riding in a Challenger tank while wearing a scarf.
However instead of looking like Alexander The Great riding into battle, Dukakis looked awkward and out of place with the tank helmet.The manufactured nature of the event played into making him look small and Snoopy-ish. What was supposed to be a photo-op for the Dukakis Campaign, became a
commercial for the Bush Campaign.
Going into the second debate with Vice President Bush, the national polls were still close. But the second presidential debate of the '88 campaign is remembered for the following question.
At the time, and probably even still today, there are people who will argue the question was unfair and that it was too personal and emotional. On the other hand, the counterargument is that Bernard Shaw had basically offered up a slow moving pitch right over the plate for Dukakis to hit out of the park, but he totally screwed it up with his cool and detached answer.
► Howard Dean—2004—"Byaaah!!!"
Remember how I wrote that not all gaffes and mistakes are alike? Some are because someone said or did something incredibly stupid, and some are because they make good material for cable news to obsess over. After coming in third at the 2004 Iowa Caucus, Howard Dean gave a speech to the crowd, where he said:
The "Dean scream" instantly became fodder for comedians and late night talk shows. The pundit class called it un-presidential, and played it almost nonstop. Dean's lead in New Hampshire evaporated and it was the beginning of the end for the Dean Campaign.
► George H. W. Bush—1988—"Read My Lips"
This is one of those cases where something that helps to get you elected comes back to bite you. At the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans, George Herbert Walker Bush vowed that he wouldn't raise taxes by telling the public:
And I'm the one who will not raise taxes. My opponent now says he'll raise them as a last resort, or a third resort. But when a politician talks like that, you know that's one resort he'll be checking into. My opponent, my opponent won't rule out raising taxes. But I will. And the Congress will push me to raise taxes and I'll say no. And they'll push, and I'll say no, and they'll push again, and I'll say, to them, `Read my lips: no new taxes.'
Bush broke the promise with the 1990 Budget, and this became a club that Bill Clinton used in the 1992 election.
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Walter Mondale—1984—I Will Raise Taxes
There was probably no speech that Walter Mondale could have given at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco that would have won him the election. But the speech is remembered for one particular line.
Trying to show his honesty compared to Ronald Reagan, Mondale decided to say:
While what he said was true, the speech fed the image of "Tax and Spend Liberals" that has been a talking point of Republicans since time and memorial.
► Dan Quayle—1988—"Senator, You Are No Jack Kennedy"
This is probably the clearest example of a politician being severely damaged from a blunder. Quayle would never really be taken seriously again after his encounter with Lloyd Bentsen in the 1988 VP Debate. Quayle already had "stature" problems to begin with. When he was questioned about it during the debate, he walked into a devastating verbal rejoinder.
What arguably makes the whole thing worse is Quayle's reaction. He has a sort of deer in the headlights kind of look during the whole "pwning" that Bentsen puts on him. Bush and Quayle would go on to win, but Quayle's political career was severely damaged. His gaffes as vice president, arguing about
Murphy Brown or misspelling Potato(e), all fed into the image that he was a walking joke. There are some Republicans who believe that if Bush had replaced Quayle with another, more viable VP in the '92 election, he may have had a better shot at winning.
► Edmund Muskie—1972—Crying
Here's one of those things where I wonder about how it might play today as opposed to the 1970s. Edmund Muskie was a senator from Maine who was the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 1972. However, this would all collapse after an incident where he cried in response to attacks on him and his wife by the Manchester Union-Leader.
Prior to the New Hampshire primary, the so-called Canuck Letter was published in conservative New Hampshire newspaper, the Manchester Union-Leader. The letter claimed that Muskie had made disparaging remarks about French-Canadians - a remark likely to injure Muskie's support among the French-Canadian population in northern New England. Subsequently, the paper published an attack on the character of Muskie's wife Jane, reporting that she drank and used off-color language during the campaign.
Muskie decided to give a
speech outside the
Union-Leader's offices defending himself and his wife.
By attacking me, by attacking my wife, he has proved himself to be a gutless coward. And maybe I said all I should on it. It's fortunate for him he's not on this platform beside me. A good woman--
According to reports by the media, he appeared to cry during the speech. Although, Muskie and his campaign claimed the "tears" were from melted snowflakes. The media image in the aftermath was one of weakness. Muskie's candidacy collapsed.
► Anthony Weiner—2011 and 2013—Carlos Danger
The first "sexting" scandal began when Weiner used Twitter to send a link to a sexually suggestive picture. It ended up not being so private of a message and the news media grabbed onto the story. Weiner spent several days denying he had posted the image, claiming his Twitter account had been hacked. However, Weiner was very careful to parse his statements in interviews.
Weiner ultimately confessed to having sent the image, as well as others to many women, leading to his resignation from Congress.
After rehabilitating his image, Weiner ran for mayor of New York City in 2013. After leading in many opinion polls, the bottom fell out of his campaign when new instances of sexting surfaced.
► Todd Akin—2012—"Legitimate Rape"
The 2012 election cycle saw a number of Republican candidates talking about "legitimate rape" as part of their views outlawing abortion. Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock called pregnancy from rape "something God intended." But Todd Akin's view of rape is probably the most remembered.
"Well you know, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, well how do you, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that's really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let's assume that maybe that didn't work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."
—Congressman Todd Akin, August 19 interview with St. Louis television station KTVI
►
Republican National Convention—1992—Culture War
The purpose of a political convention is to reach out to people with a message in order to garner support. It's an infomercial designed to project an ideology and values that people will be comfortable and proud to be part of. However, the 1992 Republican National Convention was a dark harbinger of things to come.
The '92 GOP Convention is most remembered for the
"Culture War" speech given by Pat Buchanan, which Molly Ivins said "probably sounded better in the original German."
The agenda Clinton & Clinton would impose on America -- abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat -- that's change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God's country.
Then you had the vice president's wife, Marilyn Quayle,
saying this:
"Not everyone believes that the family is so oppressive that women can only thrive apart from it ... I sometimes think liberals ... are angry and disappointed because most women do not wish to be liberated from their essential natures as women. Most of us love being mothers and wives, which gives us a richness that few men or women get from professional accomplishment alone... Nor has it made for a better society to liberate men from their obligations as husbands and fathers."
And then the RNC Chairman, Rich Bond,
telling reporters that in comparison to Democrats "We are America. ... These other people are not America."
► John Kerry—2004—Flip Flop
If you're explaining, you're losing. In the early part of 2004, the Senate debated a $87 billion dollar supplemental for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry, had voted for a Democratic alternative that would have paid for the supplemental by reducing some of George W. Bush's tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans. When that measure failed, Kerry voted against final passage of the supplemental. He was then attacked by the Bush Campaign for "not supporting the troops."
While trying to defend himself from the attack, Kerry said:
The Bush campaign and the RNC used this comment over and over again, and in doing so created an image of Kerry as a flip-flopper.
► Gary Hart—1987—Monkey Business
Running for president and having extracurricular activities don't usually mix ... well ... sometimes. This is another incident that may play totally different today then how it did in 1987, especially since we have a senator from Louisiana that likes to see hookers and get in a diaper. One such tale is that of Gary Hart's 1988 Presidential Run.
Hart declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in April of 1987. Rumors began to circulate that Hart was engaged in extramarital affairs. In an interview with The New York Times in May, Hart denied there was anything to the rumors and dared the media to follow him around. Unknown to Hart of his campaign, the Miami Herald had already been following him around, and published a story saying they had seen attractive woman coming out of Hart's Washington, DC, townhouse.
On May 5, the Herald received a further tip that Hart had spent a night in Bimini on a yacht called the Monkey Business with a woman who was not his wife. The Herald obtained photographs of Hart aboard the Monkey Business with then-29-year-old model Donna Rice, sitting in over-50 year-old Hart's lap. The photographs were subsequently published in the National Enquirer. On May 8, 1987, a week after the Donna Rice story broke, Hart dropped out of the race. At a press conference, he lashed out at the media, saying "I said that I bend, but I don't break, and believe me, I'm not broken."
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Bob Dole and Gerald Ford—1976—Debate Problems
In the 1976 presidential election, both Bob Dole and Gerald Ford had flubs in the presidential and vice presidential debates that, given the closeness, might have cost the ticket the election.
Bob Dole is probably known now more as the nice old man that sold Viagra in commercials. However, part of Bob Dole's past reputation as a hatchet man comes from his performance in the vice presidential debate of '76. When asked about the pardon of President Nixon and its use as an issue, Dole responded with one of the most bitter answers ever spoken in a presidential level debate.
However, Dole's remark isn't the one that's remembered from '76. Gerald Ford had been lampooned on
Saturday Night Live as an idiot by Chevy Chase, and the perception of him as a mental lightweight was pervasive. So when he was questioned about the Soviet's sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, Ford responded by saying:
The response, as well as Ford's failure to clean it up following the debate, fed into the image of Ford as a guy who didn't know what he was doing.