Palin and Fey top list of year's memorable quotes

[Neil D]

[ Ok, this is probably democratic slander, left wing political fluf, anti repulican, but interesting never the less. Oh, and in case someone is wondering, I think Obama SHOULD have made this list.... ]

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Sarah Palin lost the election, but she's a winner to a connoisseur of quotations.

The Republican vice presidential candidate and her comedic doppelganger, Tina Fey, took the top two spots in this year's list of most memorable quotes compiled by Fred R. Shapiro.

First place was "I can see Russia from my house!" spoken in satire of Palin's foreign policy credentials by Fey on "Saturday Night Live."

Palin actual quote was: "They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."

Palin also made the third annual list for her inability to name newspapers she reads. When questioned by CBS anchor Katie Couric, Palin said she reads "all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years."

Palin's quotes were pivotal, said Shapiro, associate librarian and lecturer in legal research at the Yale Law School who compiles the list.

"This quote helped shape the election results," he said of the Russia quote. "As it sank in the public realized this was someone really, really inexperienced and perhaps lacking in curiosity about the world."

Shapiro issued his Yale Book of Quotations, with about 13,000 entries, two years ago after six years of research. He expects to release the next edition in about five years, but in the meantime plans to issue annual top 10 lists.

Picking the best quotes this year was especially challenging because the presidential race and financial crisis provided so much material, Shapiro said. Last year's list ranged from "Don't tase me, bro" — shouted by a Florida college student — to a quote from a Miss Teen USA contestant who gave a confused and mangled response to a question about why one-fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a map.

Shapiro said that when he began the list he thought he would select the most profound, eloquent or witty quotes. But the celebrity culture and political discourse led him down a different path.

"What I have come to do is pick some quotes that really say something about our culture and they tend almost exclusively to be quotes that are notable for negative reasons rather than being admirable or eloquent," Shapiro said.

Palin's running mate, Sen. John McCain, also made the list twice, once for his "the fundamentals of America's economy are strong" comment in April and again for saying "maybe 100" when asked last January how many years U.S. troops could remain in Iraq.

Shapiro said the quotes may have been somewhat unfairly construed. "Nonetheless, these quotes cemented his image as someone who was out of touch with economic realities or indifferent to economic realities and being someone who was fanatical about prosecuting the war in Iraq," he said.

Shapiro relies on suggestions from quote-watchers around the world, plus his own choices from songs, the news and movies, and then searches databases and the Internet to determine the popularity of the quotes.

Phil Gramm, a McCain advisor, made the list for saying "We have sort of become a nation of whiners" in July in reference to Americans concerned about the economy.

President-elect Barack Obama didn't make the list, not even for his much-criticized remark in which he said some small-town Americans "cling to guns or religion."

"To me it didn't seem like a very remarkable or very foolish quote," said Shapiro, who describes himself as a liberal Democrat. "Ultimately I decided against it, but it was a close call."

However, a crude remark about Obama by the Rev. Jesse Jackson did make the list. Jackson apologized for the comment during what he thought was a private conversation in July.

"It indicates Republicans do not have a monopoly on quotes that are deplorable," Shapiro said.

While Obama dominated the year and produced memorable quotes, "quotes from people like Palin were more celebrated and said more about our times than anything Obama said."

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

Palin also made the third annual list for her inability to name newspapers she reads. When questioned by CBS anchor Katie Couric, Palin said she reads "all of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years."

It wasn't that she wasn't able to name newspapers she read. It was that she refused to because she felt the question was inappropriate based on the premise that Alaskans are so far away from the mainland that they don't know what is going on.

Yes, the list is obviously partisan. What about the Biden quote that FDR went on TV and leveled with the American people after the stock market crash of 1929? FDR wasn't President in 1929 and TV wasn't invented yet. Worse still is Biden said this right after he said the American people need a President that knows what he is talking about.

[Neil D]

Quote:

What about the Biden quote that FDR went on TV and leveled with the American people after the stock market crash of 1929? FDR wasn't President in 1929 and TV wasn't invented yet.

While I am sure that it was considered, you would have to talk to the man who made the list.... Go talk to the man, Shane....He's the one you have the beef with....

[Dr. Shane]

One has to consider the source when we look at lists like this. This guy thinks Palin saying one can see Russia from an Alaskan island was a memorable quote when it is factually true. But Biden saying FDR leveled with the American people on TV in 1929 was not memorable. Shapiro's opinion is obviously so twisted and bias it isn't worth repeating. I would rather see David Letterman's top 10 list. At least we know that is a joke.

[Neil D]

As I have said, you have to talk to him. It's not my list. It not anyone list that is here on C/A...so your critic is kinda moot...

I put it up here as entertainment...And I can say, it sure has entertained you.....

[Dr. Shane]

Well, if it is entertainment that we are to post I could swamp this board in right-wing stuff from Limbaugh, Beck, Savage and Hannity. But why do that? Why would anyone sensible just post stuff from the fanatical fringes? Why not post stuff actually worth discussing?

[Neil D]

Because this is stuff from main stream press and not from talking heads.

And you're the one who is having the most problem with it. Why is that? In fact, you have turned this thread onto yourself....Why is that?

As one prominent poster has posted, on more than one occassion I might add, this thread is not about you.

If you don't like what is posted, or the thread that is started, may I suggest you do something....go to the next thread....don't post...

[Dr. Shane]

If this is from the mainstream press then I guess the debate about whether the mainstream press has a liberal bias is over. It obviously does. I mean here is Biden saying, The American people need a President that knows what he is talking about. When the stock market crashed in 1929, President Roosevelt went on TV and leveled with the American people. Is that not the most memorable quote of 2008? That is the blooper of all bloopers for goodness sake. And the "mainstream" press thinks Palin's "They're our next-door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." is more memorable?

The thread started with this: "this is probably democratic slander, left wing political fluf, anti repulican..." but now we are being told it is actually "mainstream". If both are true the nation is in big trouble. Is FOXNews our only hope for balanced and fair reporting?

[Neil D]

Quote:

If this is from the mainstream press then I guess the debate about whether the mainstream press has a liberal bias is over. It obviously does.

Not so....the mainstream press as a collective did not do the article...one person did. If you have a problem with it, talk to him. Not me. Not mainstrean press.....I saw it and I placed it here for people's interest. The only person who was interested in it was YOU....And you, obviously, have an opinion about it.

Quote:

The thread started with this: "this is probably democratic slander, left wing political fluf, anti repulican..." but now we are being told it is actually "mainstream". If both are true the nation is in big trouble. Is FOXNews our only hope for balanced and fair reporting?

Again, your logic is, nothing short of astounding. How you arrive at such painful conclusions is beyond me.

First off, I did not say that the article was mainstream. I judged it to be [as you have quoted me] "probably democratic slander, left wing political fluf, anti repulican." If you don't like my form of interest, then do something that you have the power to do....move on. Don't make it into something that is about you. I have done this several time with articles that you have put up. What's wrong with you doing the same with mine? You don't have to make a big todo over this, Shane. It's just something of interest....

[Dr. Shane]

Well,,, it isn't just one man. I write a political commentary for a local paper and can assure all that it is never about one man. A decision has to be made to publish it. Often times the original piece is not published but edited. Unless this was published on an op ed page, it clearly shows a liberal bias of the source.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow that we have FOXNews which we can trust to give both sides. We have four years of Biden as VP and possible four more after that. Time will tell if he gives us another knee-slapping quote like he did this year and if the mainstream media ignores it like they did this year.

[Bravus]

Quote:

This guy thinks Palin saying one can see Russia from an Alaskan island was a memorable quote when it is factually true.

Yes, but that quote was given as an answer - the only answer given, not just a folksy intro to a serious discussion - to a question about her qualifications in foreign affairs. In that context, it's pretty memorable.

[Dr. Shane]

Not as memorable as Biden saying FDR went on TV before he was actually President and before TV was invented and after saying the American people need a President that knows what he is talking about.

Now Palin we understand. The McCain campaign had fed her full of talking points about what she was allowed to say and what she wasn't. When asked a question they hadn't prepped her for, she didn't know how the McCain campaign would want her to answer it and was afraid of giving the wrong answer. Knowing that, her answers don't seem that memorable at all.

[Bravus]

Um, actually, no. She refused to do prep for the Couric interview. That's on the record. Have another try at showing that she was actually qualified.

[Bravus]

Biden's is a gaffe, definitely, but it's an 'I'm speaking from the hip in public and I didn't remember the details right' gaffe. If you've never made one of those yourself, you've never spoken in public.

[Dr. Shane]

Palin has done quite well since she has gotten out of the shadow of the McCain campaign. It became very evident afterward that many in the McCain campaign resented her and leaked all sorts of lies about her.

Excusing Biden's "gaffe" as mis-speaking is very generous. That is like me telling someone I run my car on water and then later saying I mis-spoke. Worse, it is like me telling someone what they really need is someone that knows all about cars. What they need is someone who knows how to change the blinker fluid, tighten the brake belts and fill the fuel tank with water.

The only acceptable explanation for Biden's "gaffe" is that he was high on drugs and thus out of his mind.

[Bravus]

Quote:

Excusing Biden's "gaffe" as mis-speaking is very generous. That is like me telling someone I run my car on water and then later saying I mis-spoke. Worse, it is like me telling someone what they really need is someone that knows all about cars. What they need is someone who knows how to change the blinker fluid, tighten the brake belts and fill the fuel tank with water.

The only acceptable explanation for Biden's "gaffe" is that he was high on drugs and thus out of his mind.

Nope, because he was talking about historical events 80 years ago, not features of his daily life. I won't get the make and model of my motorbike wrong, but in a lecture I may well forget whether Einstein solved the problem of blackbody radiation in 1905 or 1915.

[Tom Wetmore]

Palin has done quite well since she has gotten out of the shadow of the McCain campaign. It became very evident afterward that many in the McCain campaign resented her and leaked all sorts of lies about her...

First of all, Neil is right, Shane. Your responses are telling us more about you than anything else. Your partisan reactions confirm what I have said before, "Your red Republican underwear is showing."

But specifically to your post quoted here - Mcain made a very revealing statement last week about Palin. When asked if he would support Palin if she does make a run for President in the future, he basically responded that he would not.

"McCain: I can't promise to support Palin for president."

Tom

[Woody]

Quoting McCain when you don't agree with McCain is like Quoting Ellen White when you don't agree with 100% of all she says ...

[Neil D]

You are now raising McCain's status to "prophet"? What with that?

[Woody]

Neither of them are infallible.

[Neil D]

Hmmmm.....the way that you were talkin', one would think that at least one of them made prophetic status...

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

he was talking about historical events 80 years ago, not features of his daily life.

That is a pretty feeble excuse for a man that made one of the stupidest remarks in modern politics. Biden has been in the Senate for over 30 years. Government is his life and FDR is the foundation of the modern Democratic Party. I can't think of a single thing Dan Quayle ever said or was even rumored to have said that compares with this stupidest of stupid remarks made by Biden.

[Dr. Shane]

First of all, Neil is right, Shane. Your responses are telling us more about you than anything else. Your partisan reactions confirm what I have said before, "Your red Republican underwear is showing."

[Taylor]

Ya I am not impressed with McCain's response about not saying that he could vote for Palin. Wow if he didn't believe she would be the best USA president, should he suddenly die, then WHY would have have her as his running mate. I am not impressed with that either.

[Woody]

Needless to say .... I am not impressed either .....