The past several days have produced yet another bumper crop of Republican gaffes, goofs and guffaws. The new Woodward book, Mark Foley's predilection for post-pubescent pages, the Congressional codification of torture and the chaos in Iraq helped bring out a bevy of new verbal offenses from many of the usual suspects of the right.
"I'm Mark Foley from Florida's 16th District. I'm co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, and I hope today's bill is a pedophile's worst nightmare and a parent's best hope."
Mark Foley (R-FL), as recalled by ABC News, October 2, 2006.
"I think had they overly aggressively reacted to the initial round [of Foley emails], they would have also been accused of gay bashing."
Newt Gingrich, October 1, 2006.
"We've got to get the [expletive] out [of Iraq]."
General John Abizaid, March 2005.
"We're urging people to buy the book [Woodward's 'Plan of Attack']. What this book does is show a president who was asking the right questions and showing prudence as well as resolve during very difficult times. This book undermines a lot of the critics' charges. "
White House Spokesman Dan Bartlett, April 21, 2004.
"I think as we worked with Bob on this project [Woodward's 'State of Denial'] from the very outset, it was unfortunate that we felt he had already formulated some conclusions even before the interviewing began."
White House Spokesman Dan Bartlett, October 1, 2006.
"The 130 most treacherous people, probably in the world, and they [the Democrats] want to put them and release them out in the public eventually."
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, September 29, 2006.
"Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me."
Trent Lott (R-MS), September 28, 2006.
"The idea of trying to cast blame on President Clinton [for 9/11] is just wrong for many, many reasons, not the least of which is I don't think he deserves it."
Rudy Giuliani, September 28, 2006.
"This battle [to ban same-sex marriage] is the most important issue that we face today."
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO), September 27, 2006.
"When the final history is written on Iraq, it [the growing violence] will look like just a comma."
President Bush, September 24, 2006.
"Nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't."
Reverend Jerry Falwell, September 24, 2006.
"It seems that the President was very sad to have to come out negatively regarding Israel, but that they needed to mollify the Arabs for the upcoming war on Iraq."
Jack Abramoff, March 18, 2002.
For a comprehensive listing of the latest and greatest rhetorical meltdowns of the conservative ascendancy, see "Today's Mantra."