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“And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing”
Marco Rubio with this exact quote four times
(Called out on repeating himself by Christie)
“I just…I just think it’s important to dispel once and for all that…”
Iirc that response was only vaguely relevant to the initial question the first time. It was a stretch to begin with and he was stuck on Repeat.
What was even more hilarious to me was when Rubio accused a different person who will remain nameless of repeating himself, and unsaid person responded "I don't repeat myself. I do *not* repeat myself" and Rubio shot back "you literally just did it right now!"
Thought it was a nice red-meat quote. I was starting to get annoyed with the line. Luckily for me, Cristi got annoyed right around the same time I did and murder-suicided Rubio's campaign.
JFK: I would like to take this opportunity to express my fondness for Duff Beer.
Nixon: I would also like to take this opportunity to express my fondness for that particular beer.
This is actually a correct one here. Nixon entered the debate like you would in a debate team (of which many he was of). He didn’t understand the spectacle of it and thought it was a rational battle of points.
So he lost. Gloriously.
Depends on who you ask. It was reported for decades that the people that only heard the JFK RMN debate on the radio thought Nixon won. Those that saw it on TV thought Kennedy won.
There also wasn't another TV debate until Ford/Carter, so the debate is an outlier even just based on when it occurred because there is a big gap afterwards.
This common narrative was not quite true. Kennedy did win in a poll of TV viewers, and tied with Nixon among radio listeners, but the difference was insignificant and within the margin of error. Kennedy was helped overall by being more attractive and charismatic though.
[The Rick Perry Oops moment.](https://youtu.be/YN8uFJz9gTk?si=hQ-FMxCn_qDZWawc) No modern politics, but Jeb Bush got destroyed in those primary debates.
"The key pillars of my campaign are to get rid of five federal departments ... that were apparently picked so much at random I can't even remember them all"
Yeah, didn't exactly inspire confidence
How has nobody mentioned Ford saying there's no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe? Ford probably would have won the election if he hadn't made that comment.
The whole campaign he pointed out Jimmy Carter's lack of foreign policy experience and his campaign's vagueness on certain policy questions and then made a statement that sounded like he hadn't seen the news in thirty years
I'm not sure he would have won without that comment. The Republican Party was badly damaged by Nixon, people were angry at Ford's pardon, and by this stage many understood that Reagan should have been the nominee.
But regardless, this sealed his fate. Although I honestly believe it wasn't the fact that he so egregiously miscommunicated what he intended to say. Had he been more savvy, he could have acknowledged the error in a self effacing way, turned it into a joke, or simply clarified his belief that the will and spirit of Eastern Europeans remained unbroken. The problem is that when he was called out, he doubled down and spent the remainder of the debate trying to convince everyone of that which was ludicrously stupid. That is what did him in.
The Rick Perry “Oops” moment (forgetting the 3rd executive department he’d abolish, only to be appointed Cabinet Secretary of that very department 4 years later in what can only be described as either an incredible display of irony or master trolling).
Marco Rubio’s malfunction, where Chris Christie wiped the floor with him and effectively ended his presidential campaign.
“Please proceed, Governor” where Mitt Romney levels an accusation at Obama and gets fact checked by the moderator in real time.
As much as I despise the guy (when he's not trying to preserve the republic), I find it difficult to call this a "blunder." In my mind, a "blunder" is a line or action that could have been avoided. What was Pence supposed to do, swat at his own head in the middle of the debate?
What I find absolutely fascinating though is that those tuning in by radio, supposedly, thought Nixon was better prepared and was the victor in those debates. He *sounded* better, but those that saw him in TV thought Kennedy *looked* better. Very interesting analysis.
A huge blunder for sure, this was going to be my pick.
Upon rewatch though, I can’t believe how kind and civil they’re being. How far we have fallen:
https://youtu.be/0CPQMDS_XO0?si=Y39QGb_2FfeEbzKq
Most people who aren't Mormon wouldn't care about that. The real issue is that $10,000 is a lot of money so he really emphasized just how much richer he was than the average American there - a mistake when you're trying to appeal to the masses.
Right. I'm just going to casually bet about a fourth of a middle class American household. lol Plus, it sounds so awkward just shoehorning $10k in there.
Should have bet something like, "I'll buy you a Coke." That's much more relatable to people and it's less likely the opponent would turn it down as not being a betting man or whatever.
Every time I hear “binders full of women”, for some reason I think about a joke Patton Oswalt live-tweeted during that debate:
*”Binders Full of Women is my favorite Mötley Crüe album”*
It's the 4th comment as I'm reading this thread and I also still make those jokes so I'd say yes, it's top ten. That said, it probably didn't cost him the election. He wasn't going to win no matter what.
Al Gore made a number of memorable debate blunders. The most memorable one is where Gore intruded into George W. Bush's personal space. Bush gave him a polite head nod that brought the house down.
What funny I’m retrospect are just so many moments during that cycle that individually cost Gore the election. If he had picked Bob Graham as VP instead of Lieberman, he would have won. If Clinton hadn’t deported Elian Gonzalez, Gore would have won.
Being placed as the head of the department you completely forgot to include in your "I'll get rid of that department" list just proves there is a God, and they have forsaken us...
Seriously, Perry suddenly changed his mind once he discovered the Department of Energy was in charge of maintaining our nuclear bomb stockpile...
Yeah like a lot of these are understandable and perhaps somewhat blown out of proportion. The Dukakis thing was a bad answer but also a stupid loaded question. The watch thing wasn't really that big of a deal. The Quayle thing was less of his own error and more of a nice zinger from Bentsen. Perry however just straight up forgot a very central part of his policy.
Id say Dukakis was both bad, and a missed oppertunity. He couldve seemed bold and actually like a human if he actually challanged the question,instead of doing standard debate procedures
(Rewatching it now too, he does the debate tactic of reorienting it to what he wants, about the drug war, and its insane to watch)
I believe that the Department of Energy was one of the departments Perry said he wanted to abolish. (One of the two departments he remembered that he wanted to abolish, not the third department he wanted to abolish that he couldn’t think of.)
Though I’ve also read that he quickly realized he was in ***way*** over his head, tried to learn something about the job, and otherwise got out of the way of the real experts.
I was happy to have him out of Texas politics. Then the monkey’s paw curled and we entered the era of Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton just refusing to do anything other than have the worst available policies.
“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone – Commerce, Education and the um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see. … The third agency of government I would do away with - the education, the uh, the commerce and let’s see. I can’t the third one. I can’t. Sorry Oops.”
It was Energy he forgot.
Edit: I copy and pasted that from [this article](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/rick-perrys-debate-lapse-oops-cant-remember-department-of-energy), which I’m noticing had a word missing… “remember” or “recall” I assume.
Stockwell got killed by SNL. He was well received during the actual debate.
Quayle had been lampooned for four years and Gore was a stiff, so the writer's unfairly picked on this guy.
They even made fun of his hearing aids which he wore because his hearing was damaged by seven years of beatings in the Hanoi Hilton
The Bush/Dukakis debate is proof, Presidential debates should NOT be moderated by journalists who ask dumbass loaded questions any rational person would immediately call out as a WTF moment.
I think the next rule 3 debate should be moderated by an MLB Umpire with the power to eject candidates
Debates used to have decorum, where people didn’t want to be viewed as a blabbermouth, so cutting off mics wasn’t needed. It slowly got worse and worse until it’s devolved into shouting matches. Cutting off mics when the allotted time is up is a Godsend.
I hate the primary “raise your hand if…” questions. It doesn’t allow nuance on their beliefs. There can be a lot of gray to an answer but the moderators want a black and white answer that will be used by the other party for an attack add later.
"Raise your hand if you don't like ice cream"
\*one candidate doesn't\*
"Governor So So hates Ice Cream which means he hates American"
\*Governor so so is both diabetic and lactose intolerant\*
I would outlaw asking the same question twice. Sometimes the moderator says something like "I didn't like your answer to this question, so I'm going to ask the question again." It is not the moderator's job to express an opinion. It makes the moderator look biased which can cause people to vote for the candidate he is attacking. If the candidate gives the same answer, then the moderator wasted everybody's time.
It has not aged will now in hindsight but at the time was a big mic drop by Obama.
Now it's like cringy as hell and makes Romney look like a time traveler trying to warn us all.
Yeah, but probably only about 5% of people even noticed that debate comment at the time, let alone cared about it. That comment had zero effect on the 2012 presidential election. That's a rare example of a debate comment that became much more famous about a decade later.
God, in hindsight it’s crazy that Bentsen had perhaps the most well known quote of any VP debate ever, thus one of the best performances ever while Dukakis had among the worst. Like his response to the rape question is pretty much used as an example of what not to say when asked questions like that.
I'd say it'd be a blunder to compare yourself to one of the most beloved presidents in modern history, in front of someone who actually worked with said president.
going across the aisle to compare yourself to Jack Kennedy was pretty bold. That would have been bold for a Democrat even in 88. But a Republican?
People aren't as precious about JFK now, but lord they sure were back in the 80s. Especially in the Catholic/Irish cities. And to my knowledge Quayle is neither of those.
Oh, the Dukakis one... still sticks with me because he played into the image of Dems as weak and defensive when Shaw asked "if your wife was raped", which was an insane question in the first place. And I see so many still do the same thing, when I think he needed to go on offense and use it to lay out a policy position - "If someone did that to Kitty, I'd want to throw the switch myself. Anyone who has a family member attacked like that would. But we have a society and courts to handle it, not vigilantism."
"Governor Romney hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. **Well, Governor, we also have few horses and bayonets**..."
seriously why would Romney and his team think making that 1916 statement was a good idea lol. Obama was iconic for this teardown.
I think it’s hard to look past Nixon failing to realise in these debates style can be as important as substance. Whilst there was nothing wrong in the content of his answers, Nixon’s sweaty, unshaven and unimpressive appearance next to Kennedy was in large part avoidable.
In most debates, the blunders don’t really matter in the end. As bad as Rubio may have looked in 2016, or Dukakis in 1988 really neither was going to win their contests anyway. 1960 was different m. It was so close and that opening debate was a huge moment for the Kennedy campaign.
Ford gaffe about the Soviet Union not dominating Eastern Europe may have cost him that election. He could’ve passed it off as a slip of the tongue but the moderator asked him to clarify and he doubled down on it. It made him seem out of touch and delusional. My parents were Republicans but were of course disillusioned by the Nixon years. Unsure of who to vote for in 1976 both decided to vote for Carter after hearing Ford say that
in 1984, When Reagan pulled an uno reverse card on Walter Mondale. Reagan was asked about his age. Reagan famously defused the situation by saying, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
[You sir are no Jack Kennedy](https://youtu.be/QYAZkczhdMs?si=vM8FS6pNVt1Q2WV2&t=11)
It was bad enough how Quayle stumbled over his little statement, and had to reach for an example outside his party. But Bentsen demolished him with that line. And the crowd erupted.
If that had been today Bentsen would have become president on that alone. But it was just a mere Veep debate. So this massive mic drop of a moment may be memorable in pop culture but Bush won that election.
When dukakis was asked would he give the perpetrator the death penalty if his wife was raped and he said no. He should've said he would kill the motherfucker himself.
Most people didn't like the tank picture either but tbh that picture is badass, I bet some woman wanted to suck his dick looking at that photo
Host: Let just say a person breaks into your house, brutally rapes, and the kills your wife while your children are watching. Would you support the death penalty?
Dukakis: Well first of all, shout out to Rittz Crackers for sponsoring this debate.
Well, honestly, if he opposes the death penalty, I'm not sure what other response he could have given there. It actually would have sounded even worse if he had said "yes". That would mean that nobody could be executed except for somebody who rapes or murders Dukakis' wife. That would be the most unpopular political stance to take.
I guess he could have said something like "I'd want to kill the guy myself, but I'd realize that we're a nation of laws." But that's a little easier to think of while typing on Reddit than it is to think of on a debate stage thinking on your feet.
https://youtu.be/Zrap9ljIVWk?t=95
This was literally a West Wing moment.
Yeah, as President you would want to have the guy hung from the Washington Monument. But that's exactly why we don't let family of victims decide sentencing.
It's a little political 101, and an idea that dates back to Hammurabi's code. Shouldn't have been a hard question to answer.
I don’t think the answer was that bad. It was just too Robo-politician: a quick cursory answer of the question- “no, I don’t, because…” while following up with his Stock Issue Answer on the death penalty. Politicians do this all the time about pretty much any question no matter how outlandish it is. Many just basically pivot to talk about something only vaguely related to the question.
I think the bar for what constitutes a gaffe or blunder was so much higher at that time. Dukakis didn’t say anything offensive and his answer was consistent with every other time he was asked. HW Bush got shit on for looking at his watch. Stuff that just seems so trivial today when it’s “I might not accept the results of the election- stay tuned to find out!”
Dukakis actually HAD an answer ready for a death penalty question. He was supposed to talk about how his brother had been killed by a hit and run driver and he understood how people would want to impose the death penalty but then give his reasons for still opposing it. But Mario Cuomo called him just before the debate to give him a ‘pep talk’ and had him in the line until moments before the debate started and Dukakis hadn’t gotten his head back in the game when Bernie Shaw asked him that question.
“You are well known for your lenient stance on crime, but suppose for a second that your house was ransacked by thugs, your family was tied up in the basement with socks in their mouths, you try to open the door but there's too much blood on the knob.... My question is about the budget, Sir.”
Dukakis’ answer to the question about his wife being raped and murdered probably ranks top.
The question was horrible and grossly unfair but instead of using it as a point to express outrage he’d even be asked a question like that, the guy gave a monotone unemotional political speak answer.
Rick Perry not remembering what departments he’d eliminate is close.
Honorable mention to Bush 41 being asked an audience question about how the economic recession has personally impacted him and rambling about how it impacts everyone and he’s trying to fix it etc. It was a double whammy when Clinton took the opportunity to walk right up to the woman and connect with her personally which contrasted Bush sounding like a robotic politician.
Yup - and even though I typically vote GOP, I will always give Clinton credit there for seizing the opportunity. He knew how to connect to people anyway but he saw that as a chance to contrast him as the young good ol' boy Governor who came from nothing and would fight for the little guy to Bush's elitist career politician.
Bush made a huge mistake by how he answered the question and left the door open for Clinton to do exactly what he did and Clinton stuck the landing.
Exactly!
There was a recession going on and people viewed Bush as being an out of touch rich preppy.
And looking at his watch on tv like that made Bush appear that he didn’t care/didnt want to be there.
Meanwhile, Clinton made a point of connecting and emphasizing with that woman in the audience who was upset about the weak economy.
I’m not old enough to remember most of those pictured, but hot dayum did Rick Perry really step in it when he couldn’t remember all the departments he wanted to close. I felt embarrassed just watching it.
Al Gore making huge breathing sounds. In another debate, he came close to Bush’s personal space and Bush was like “what do you want?”, then Gore backed off.
Dukakis should have leapt over the podium and kicked the moderator's ass until they pulled him off and then said, "you don't have to murder someone to get the point across," just loud enough for everyone else to hear.
He tried to be dignified in a room full of pissed off boomers and that just doesn't work
Dukakis's so-called gaffe was badass. If you believe in eliminating the death penalty, you don't want a politician who would flip-flop the second it became personal.
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“And let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He knows exactly what he's doing” Marco Rubio with this exact quote four times
(Called out on repeating himself by Christie) “I just…I just think it’s important to dispel once and for all that…” Iirc that response was only vaguely relevant to the initial question the first time. It was a stretch to begin with and he was stuck on Repeat.
Yeah, Christie’s call-out was savage — and maybe the ‘best’ take-down in any President debate that I can think of (a primary debate, I realize).
(Elizabeth Warren has entered the chat and Michael Bloomberg has left the chat)
Bloomberg got absolutely annihilated
Just watched it again now. Damn, he probably thought "fair enough, I'll leave" https://youtu.be/QD4csGWPo6o?si=ZXb-T8HGDip66bMy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/fakehistoryporn/comments/f6pnci/mike\_bloomberg\_after\_getting\_home\_from\_the/](https://www.reddit.com/r/fakehistoryporn/comments/f6pnci/mike_bloomberg_after_getting_home_from_the/)
He was such a weird candidate, poured a ton of money into it but had zero charisma or plans
She knew she wasn’t winning, but she made sure Bloomberg wasn’t going to win while she had the chance my God he got gutted on live television.
Obama’s “Please proceed, Governor” was great too at the time of delivery, but did not age well at all, with full context.
It’s probably my favorite debate moment ever. It was like tearing down the curtain in the wizard of Oz.
Christie points and says “there he goes again!!”
The least Rubio could’ve done was rephrase his statement to not sound like a broken record. Saying the exact thing over and over again was so dumb.
He probably had a giant glass of water right nearby !
I never liked Christie as a former NYer that worked a couple days a week in Newark. But the boy has some hands. He was not playing at all.
https://preview.redd.it/iq64nvcaq93d1.jpeg?width=737&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eb27c069b454c143e03a2feaf49c179cf7f17e78
Christie really gives zero fucks in debates, one of the few things I admire about him.
What was even more hilarious to me was when Rubio accused a different person who will remain nameless of repeating himself, and unsaid person responded "I don't repeat myself. I do *not* repeat myself" and Rubio shot back "you literally just did it right now!"
Marco Rubio slamming the tiny bottle of water right in the middle of his SOTU rebuttal speech will always be hilarious to me
while make intense eye contact with the camera 😳
And then he had people following him around on the campaign trail dressed up as robots lol
Thought it was a nice red-meat quote. I was starting to get annoyed with the line. Luckily for me, Cristi got annoyed right around the same time I did and murder-suicided Rubio's campaign.
JFK: I would like to take this opportunity to express my fondness for Duff Beer. Nixon: I would also like to take this opportunity to express my fondness for that particular beer.
The man never drank a Duff in his life.
Also Nixon:"i-is whacking day over?" Crowd: "Booooooo" Nixon: "Thank you. Thank you for coming out"
This is actually a correct one here. Nixon entered the debate like you would in a debate team (of which many he was of). He didn’t understand the spectacle of it and thought it was a rational battle of points. So he lost. Gloriously.
Depends on who you ask. It was reported for decades that the people that only heard the JFK RMN debate on the radio thought Nixon won. Those that saw it on TV thought Kennedy won.
Precisely! The TV spectacle Nixon wasn’t prepared for. It’s a fascinating history to go back through.
There also wasn't another TV debate until Ford/Carter, so the debate is an outlier even just based on when it occurred because there is a big gap afterwards.
This common narrative was not quite true. Kennedy did win in a poll of TV viewers, and tied with Nixon among radio listeners, but the difference was insignificant and within the margin of error. Kennedy was helped overall by being more attractive and charismatic though.
[The Rick Perry Oops moment.](https://youtu.be/YN8uFJz9gTk?si=hQ-FMxCn_qDZWawc) No modern politics, but Jeb Bush got destroyed in those primary debates.
"The key pillars of my campaign are to get rid of five federal departments ... that were apparently picked so much at random I can't even remember them all" Yeah, didn't exactly inspire confidence
I believe it was energy which he headed.
Yeah, he couldn't remember that he wanted to get rid of the department that he ultimately led.
He famously learned on the job that the Dept of Interior handles oil things and Energy is over the frightening number of nukes in our arsenal
I did not like the guy but that was painful to watch.
That was absolutely glorious. Now, gaffes don’t hurt you.
Say what you want, but checking your watch during a nationally televised debate is kind of a flex
“Got some Puerto Rican pussy lined up at 8. Get the fuck on.”
Who did that?
Bush 41
How has nobody mentioned Ford saying there's no Soviet domination in Eastern Europe? Ford probably would have won the election if he hadn't made that comment.
The whole campaign he pointed out Jimmy Carter's lack of foreign policy experience and his campaign's vagueness on certain policy questions and then made a statement that sounded like he hadn't seen the news in thirty years
I'm not sure he would have won without that comment. The Republican Party was badly damaged by Nixon, people were angry at Ford's pardon, and by this stage many understood that Reagan should have been the nominee. But regardless, this sealed his fate. Although I honestly believe it wasn't the fact that he so egregiously miscommunicated what he intended to say. Had he been more savvy, he could have acknowledged the error in a self effacing way, turned it into a joke, or simply clarified his belief that the will and spirit of Eastern Europeans remained unbroken. The problem is that when he was called out, he doubled down and spent the remainder of the debate trying to convince everyone of that which was ludicrously stupid. That is what did him in.
The Rick Perry “Oops” moment (forgetting the 3rd executive department he’d abolish, only to be appointed Cabinet Secretary of that very department 4 years later in what can only be described as either an incredible display of irony or master trolling). Marco Rubio’s malfunction, where Chris Christie wiped the floor with him and effectively ended his presidential campaign. “Please proceed, Governor” where Mitt Romney levels an accusation at Obama and gets fact checked by the moderator in real time.
Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake
lol, yeah. I remember thinking, "Ugh, we're all going to be talking about that fly. I hate everything about this."
As much as I despise the guy (when he's not trying to preserve the republic), I find it difficult to call this a "blunder." In my mind, a "blunder" is a line or action that could have been avoided. What was Pence supposed to do, swat at his own head in the middle of the debate?
Yes. It actually makes him look way more relatable than what he is.
How exactly is this a blunder? He did a good job of ignoring the fly and stayed focused on finishing his answer
Nixon showing up to his debate with Kennedy looking like he ate some bad brownies and was trying not to shit his pants has to be up there
It was probably the cottage cheese and pineapple he had for breakfast and washed down with a bottle of gin
Was he a gin man? He strikes me as a very peaty scotch kinda guy
It’s well documented Nixon was a 40oz high life man
He actually only consumed the bling bling berry mad dog 20-20
You joke but that shit is great at making traps if you’re trying to get rid of fruit flies
Probly not true, but is now my personal headcanon
Check out the Podcast, r/behindthebastards , you’ll fit right in
I think he had injured his knee and was in pain and then didn't understand television and opted for no makeup.
I thought he had the flu?
Michael Jordan with the flu enters the comments*
iirc it was even worse than that, he had an evolving septic arthritis from his knee injury
Granted he was suffering from a pretty bad infection if I remember correctly
What I find absolutely fascinating though is that those tuning in by radio, supposedly, thought Nixon was better prepared and was the victor in those debates. He *sounded* better, but those that saw him in TV thought Kennedy *looked* better. Very interesting analysis.
Well tbf Kennedy was always going to look better than him. Nothing Nixon could do about that.
I wonder what wouldve happened if 1953 Nixon (reminder, he was a 40 year old VP) went against Kennedy. Would he have made up that charm gap
I remember watching the Republican debates in 2012 with my then-fiancée and hearing Mitt Romney make a $10,000 bet and just going, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”
What's the difference between an SNL debate and a real one? Not much
A huge blunder for sure, this was going to be my pick. Upon rewatch though, I can’t believe how kind and civil they’re being. How far we have fallen: https://youtu.be/0CPQMDS_XO0?si=Y39QGb_2FfeEbzKq
There was a point in time that we had decorum even when politicians were taking jabs at eachother. We will never have it again
"I tell ya what, 10,000 bucks?"
This is because it is prohibited for Mormons to gamble with money, correct?
Most people who aren't Mormon wouldn't care about that. The real issue is that $10,000 is a lot of money so he really emphasized just how much richer he was than the average American there - a mistake when you're trying to appeal to the masses.
Right. I'm just going to casually bet about a fourth of a middle class American household. lol Plus, it sounds so awkward just shoehorning $10k in there. Should have bet something like, "I'll buy you a Coke." That's much more relatable to people and it's less likely the opponent would turn it down as not being a betting man or whatever.
If you spec into Venture Capitalist, you can choose the gambling perk.
Don’t know if it really ranks in the top 10 but my wife and I still joke about having binders full of women
Every time I hear “binders full of women”, for some reason I think about a joke Patton Oswalt live-tweeted during that debate: *”Binders Full of Women is my favorite Mötley Crüe album”*
It was an unfortunate misstatement of "binders full of women's resumes." If Romney had actually said that, no one would've given it a second thought.
If the entire country were privy to some of my Freudian slips, it would be equally hysterical. For most of us here too, I imagine
It gave us [this meme](https://images.app.goo.gl/EDaxmLaNWNfVkKA27).
Funnily, it was the widespread consensus at the time that Romney absolutely trounced Obama in that debate, despite that unfortunate remark.
I definitely don’t recall it being that he *trounced* him, more that Obama had a surprisingly subpar performance.
It's the 4th comment as I'm reading this thread and I also still make those jokes so I'd say yes, it's top ten. That said, it probably didn't cost him the election. He wasn't going to win no matter what.
Incumbents are hard to beat and the press was giving Obama way too much credit in foreign policy.
"I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!"
"Wouldn't be prudent....not at this juncture....stay the course....1,000 points of light....stay the course..."
All I hear is Dana Carvey
Nah-dah dah, nat ganadewit.
Al Gore made a number of memorable debate blunders. The most memorable one is where Gore intruded into George W. Bush's personal space. Bush gave him a polite head nod that brought the house down.
Gore was terrible in the debates, painful to watch.
lock box
With how close that election was, you can legitimately argue that moment is what cost him victory.
What funny I’m retrospect are just so many moments during that cycle that individually cost Gore the election. If he had picked Bob Graham as VP instead of Lieberman, he would have won. If Clinton hadn’t deported Elian Gonzalez, Gore would have won.
“What about the Dingell-Norwood bill?”
What about Gore’s awkward staged televised kiss with his wife? Etc.
Lock box
Strategery
Not remembering which agencies you want to eliminate is a pretty big mistake
Being placed as the head of the department you completely forgot to include in your "I'll get rid of that department" list just proves there is a God, and they have forsaken us... Seriously, Perry suddenly changed his mind once he discovered the Department of Energy was in charge of maintaining our nuclear bomb stockpile...
https://i.redd.it/7xzlw8oqb83d1.gif
Was that really a blunder though? Kang apparently won, lol.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
"Abortions for some, miniature american flags for others"
I say we must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!
We must go forwards not backwards, up not down, and forever twirling and twirling towards freedom!
I don’t think it’s among the worst, but Hillary bragging about Kissinger’s seal of approval during her primary against Bernie wasn’t a good look.
In certain circles, Kissinger was considered a war criminal. Imagine that. /s
Rick Perry is in a class to himself.
Yeah like a lot of these are understandable and perhaps somewhat blown out of proportion. The Dukakis thing was a bad answer but also a stupid loaded question. The watch thing wasn't really that big of a deal. The Quayle thing was less of his own error and more of a nice zinger from Bentsen. Perry however just straight up forgot a very central part of his policy.
Id say Dukakis was both bad, and a missed oppertunity. He couldve seemed bold and actually like a human if he actually challanged the question,instead of doing standard debate procedures (Rewatching it now too, he does the debate tactic of reorienting it to what he wants, about the drug war, and its insane to watch)
And to top it off he became secretary of energy. You can’t make this shit up.
The Secretary of Ooops?
I believe that the Department of Energy was one of the departments Perry said he wanted to abolish. (One of the two departments he remembered that he wanted to abolish, not the third department he wanted to abolish that he couldn’t think of.)
To add further insult to injury he was flabbergasted that his department oversees the maintenance of our nuclear arsenal and development
Though I’ve also read that he quickly realized he was in ***way*** over his head, tried to learn something about the job, and otherwise got out of the way of the real experts.
Rick Perry is a textbook example of failing upwards
I was happy to have him out of Texas politics. Then the monkey’s paw curled and we entered the era of Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton just refusing to do anything other than have the worst available policies.
“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone – Commerce, Education and the um, what’s the third one there? Let’s see. … The third agency of government I would do away with - the education, the uh, the commerce and let’s see. I can’t the third one. I can’t. Sorry Oops.” It was Energy he forgot. Edit: I copy and pasted that from [this article](https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/rick-perrys-debate-lapse-oops-cant-remember-department-of-energy), which I’m noticing had a word missing… “remember” or “recall” I assume.
More like Sec of Irony lol
“Who am I? Why am I here?”
Stockwell got killed by SNL. He was well received during the actual debate. Quayle had been lampooned for four years and Gore was a stiff, so the writer's unfairly picked on this guy. They even made fun of his hearing aids which he wore because his hearing was damaged by seven years of beatings in the Hanoi Hilton
The Bush/Dukakis debate is proof, Presidential debates should NOT be moderated by journalists who ask dumbass loaded questions any rational person would immediately call out as a WTF moment. I think the next rule 3 debate should be moderated by an MLB Umpire with the power to eject candidates
Angel Hernandez is free this summer.
oh god no please
Unless this has changed the mutually agreed upon rules cut off the mic when time is up. That’s at least progress
Debates used to have decorum, where people didn’t want to be viewed as a blabbermouth, so cutting off mics wasn’t needed. It slowly got worse and worse until it’s devolved into shouting matches. Cutting off mics when the allotted time is up is a Godsend.
I hate the primary “raise your hand if…” questions. It doesn’t allow nuance on their beliefs. There can be a lot of gray to an answer but the moderators want a black and white answer that will be used by the other party for an attack add later.
"Raise your hand if you don't like ice cream" \*one candidate doesn't\* "Governor So So hates Ice Cream which means he hates American" \*Governor so so is both diabetic and lactose intolerant\*
I would outlaw asking the same question twice. Sometimes the moderator says something like "I didn't like your answer to this question, so I'm going to ask the question again." It is not the moderator's job to express an opinion. It makes the moderator look biased which can cause people to vote for the candidate he is attacking. If the candidate gives the same answer, then the moderator wasted everybody's time.
Obama telling Romney the 80s called and want their foreign policy back hasn't aged well.
It has not aged will now in hindsight but at the time was a big mic drop by Obama. Now it's like cringy as hell and makes Romney look like a time traveler trying to warn us all.
This sort of sums up the Obama presidency pretty well. A lot of initial flash and smoothness and not really a lot of substance there.
Yeah, but probably only about 5% of people even noticed that debate comment at the time, let alone cared about it. That comment had zero effect on the 2012 presidential election. That's a rare example of a debate comment that became much more famous about a decade later.
Not a decade later, more like 2 years later. The Russian annexation of Crimea and Donbass War started in 2014.
I dont know - I recall it getting quite alot of media attention at the time
Yeah, I remember the media being like, "oh, Obama dunked on Romney with that zinger!!" And then Russia annexed Crimea two years later.
Please proceed governor was a bigger Romney gaffe imo
Just watched the vid for the first time and have to say he delivered that line like a gentlemen
What blunder did Quayle commit? Bentsen got off a good zinger but that wasn’t anything Quayle did.
He gave Benson the perfect setup to give that response
God, in hindsight it’s crazy that Bentsen had perhaps the most well known quote of any VP debate ever, thus one of the best performances ever while Dukakis had among the worst. Like his response to the rape question is pretty much used as an example of what not to say when asked questions like that.
I'd say it'd be a blunder to compare yourself to one of the most beloved presidents in modern history, in front of someone who actually worked with said president.
going across the aisle to compare yourself to Jack Kennedy was pretty bold. That would have been bold for a Democrat even in 88. But a Republican? People aren't as precious about JFK now, but lord they sure were back in the 80s. Especially in the Catholic/Irish cities. And to my knowledge Quayle is neither of those.
Oh, the Dukakis one... still sticks with me because he played into the image of Dems as weak and defensive when Shaw asked "if your wife was raped", which was an insane question in the first place. And I see so many still do the same thing, when I think he needed to go on offense and use it to lay out a policy position - "If someone did that to Kitty, I'd want to throw the switch myself. Anyone who has a family member attacked like that would. But we have a society and courts to handle it, not vigilantism."
Agreed. Or else chide the moderator for the ridiculous question.
"Governor Romney hasn't spent enough time looking at how our military works. You mentioned the navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. **Well, Governor, we also have few horses and bayonets**..." seriously why would Romney and his team think making that 1916 statement was a good idea lol. Obama was iconic for this teardown.
I think it’s hard to look past Nixon failing to realise in these debates style can be as important as substance. Whilst there was nothing wrong in the content of his answers, Nixon’s sweaty, unshaven and unimpressive appearance next to Kennedy was in large part avoidable. In most debates, the blunders don’t really matter in the end. As bad as Rubio may have looked in 2016, or Dukakis in 1988 really neither was going to win their contests anyway. 1960 was different m. It was so close and that opening debate was a huge moment for the Kennedy campaign.
It was also the first TELEVISED Presidential debate ever.
Ford gaffe about the Soviet Union not dominating Eastern Europe may have cost him that election. He could’ve passed it off as a slip of the tongue but the moderator asked him to clarify and he doubled down on it. It made him seem out of touch and delusional. My parents were Republicans but were of course disillusioned by the Nixon years. Unsure of who to vote for in 1976 both decided to vote for Carter after hearing Ford say that
I’m not going to give opinions so I don’t get sniped by mods, but 2020 was painful to watch.
But watching Rule 3 say Will you shut up man is S Tier debate material.
He really was all of us in that moment.
in 1984, When Reagan pulled an uno reverse card on Walter Mondale. Reagan was asked about his age. Reagan famously defused the situation by saying, "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience."
[You sir are no Jack Kennedy](https://youtu.be/QYAZkczhdMs?si=vM8FS6pNVt1Q2WV2&t=11) It was bad enough how Quayle stumbled over his little statement, and had to reach for an example outside his party. But Bentsen demolished him with that line. And the crowd erupted. If that had been today Bentsen would have become president on that alone. But it was just a mere Veep debate. So this massive mic drop of a moment may be memorable in pop culture but Bush won that election.
"What's Aleppo?" Has got to be pretty high up there.
Pretty sure that was a tv interview on Morning Joe.
When dukakis was asked would he give the perpetrator the death penalty if his wife was raped and he said no. He should've said he would kill the motherfucker himself. Most people didn't like the tank picture either but tbh that picture is badass, I bet some woman wanted to suck his dick looking at that photo
Host: Let just say a person breaks into your house, brutally rapes, and the kills your wife while your children are watching. Would you support the death penalty? Dukakis: Well first of all, shout out to Rittz Crackers for sponsoring this debate.
Well, honestly, if he opposes the death penalty, I'm not sure what other response he could have given there. It actually would have sounded even worse if he had said "yes". That would mean that nobody could be executed except for somebody who rapes or murders Dukakis' wife. That would be the most unpopular political stance to take. I guess he could have said something like "I'd want to kill the guy myself, but I'd realize that we're a nation of laws." But that's a little easier to think of while typing on Reddit than it is to think of on a debate stage thinking on your feet.
https://youtu.be/Zrap9ljIVWk?t=95 This was literally a West Wing moment. Yeah, as President you would want to have the guy hung from the Washington Monument. But that's exactly why we don't let family of victims decide sentencing. It's a little political 101, and an idea that dates back to Hammurabi's code. Shouldn't have been a hard question to answer.
I don’t think the answer was that bad. It was just too Robo-politician: a quick cursory answer of the question- “no, I don’t, because…” while following up with his Stock Issue Answer on the death penalty. Politicians do this all the time about pretty much any question no matter how outlandish it is. Many just basically pivot to talk about something only vaguely related to the question. I think the bar for what constitutes a gaffe or blunder was so much higher at that time. Dukakis didn’t say anything offensive and his answer was consistent with every other time he was asked. HW Bush got shit on for looking at his watch. Stuff that just seems so trivial today when it’s “I might not accept the results of the election- stay tuned to find out!”
Just a friendly reminder to everyone that rule 3 exists. I'm loving this thread and don't want to see it bombed like Syria.
Yeah, and it's such an unfair question.
Dukakis actually HAD an answer ready for a death penalty question. He was supposed to talk about how his brother had been killed by a hit and run driver and he understood how people would want to impose the death penalty but then give his reasons for still opposing it. But Mario Cuomo called him just before the debate to give him a ‘pep talk’ and had him in the line until moments before the debate started and Dukakis hadn’t gotten his head back in the game when Bernie Shaw asked him that question.
Be President or get blowjob? That shouldn’t be a hard choice. No pun intended.
I mean Bill Clinton just said "yes" to both, and it worked great for him.
“You are well known for your lenient stance on crime, but suppose for a second that your house was ransacked by thugs, your family was tied up in the basement with socks in their mouths, you try to open the door but there's too much blood on the knob.... My question is about the budget, Sir.”
The fly on Mike Pence’s face
Gerald Ford and Jummy Carter's debate. Didn't Ford say something about how Russia was NOT a threat to Europe?
He said Poland wasn’t a Soviet satellite state. No Soviet influence. He was correct, just many years early. Saw into the future.
Obama to Romney: We don’t have any horses or bayonets either…. Made Romney look bad on the Defense budget.
Nixon in 1960. I think he could’ve won that election if their debate wasn’t televised.
Nixon needed to work on his bone structure.
I believe those who listened to it on the radio thought he “won” the debate.
Oh yeah. He was that close to winning the presidency. The women loved jfk, as soon as the TV was on they fell over
If you look at the stats, more women voted for Nixon. JFK won the black vote though.
Dukakis’ answer to the question about his wife being raped and murdered probably ranks top. The question was horrible and grossly unfair but instead of using it as a point to express outrage he’d even be asked a question like that, the guy gave a monotone unemotional political speak answer. Rick Perry not remembering what departments he’d eliminate is close. Honorable mention to Bush 41 being asked an audience question about how the economic recession has personally impacted him and rambling about how it impacts everyone and he’s trying to fix it etc. It was a double whammy when Clinton took the opportunity to walk right up to the woman and connect with her personally which contrasted Bush sounding like a robotic politician.
And sounding like an out of touch rich guy from an old money family. Clinton, by contrast, came from nothing.
Yup - and even though I typically vote GOP, I will always give Clinton credit there for seizing the opportunity. He knew how to connect to people anyway but he saw that as a chance to contrast him as the young good ol' boy Governor who came from nothing and would fight for the little guy to Bush's elitist career politician. Bush made a huge mistake by how he answered the question and left the door open for Clinton to do exactly what he did and Clinton stuck the landing.
Exactly! There was a recession going on and people viewed Bush as being an out of touch rich preppy. And looking at his watch on tv like that made Bush appear that he didn’t care/didnt want to be there. Meanwhile, Clinton made a point of connecting and emphasizing with that woman in the audience who was upset about the weak economy.
Al Gore’s huffing and puffing during his debate with W didn’t help. He was acting like a teenager.
And he kept moaning after George W gave a response to a question.
“Binder full of women”
I’m not old enough to remember most of those pictured, but hot dayum did Rick Perry really step in it when he couldn’t remember all the departments he wanted to close. I felt embarrassed just watching it.
Al Gore making huge breathing sounds. In another debate, he came close to Bush’s personal space and Bush was like “what do you want?”, then Gore backed off.
Admiral Stockdale torpedoing Perot's run.
Al Gore’s “sigh”
Dukakis should have leapt over the podium and kicked the moderator's ass until they pulled him off and then said, "you don't have to murder someone to get the point across," just loud enough for everyone else to hear. He tried to be dignified in a room full of pissed off boomers and that just doesn't work
"I didn't know what i was voting for." - Lincoln Chafee
Gerald Ford insisting that the Soviet Union had no influence in Eastern Europe.
Candy Crowley catching Mitt Romney telling a lie. We need more of it.
Oh man. Romney saying he had “Binders of Women”
Jeb Bush will never not be funny to me for that 2016 election
“There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration.” Gerald Ford in 1976.
Dukakis's so-called gaffe was badass. If you believe in eliminating the death penalty, you don't want a politician who would flip-flop the second it became personal.