Punks

Below are quotations from the mouths of the politically powerful and hopelessly dense. Here you'll find innuendo, half-truth, and outright lies. For mindless rantings from the religious right, visit Quacks. For the folly and ignorant mouthings of people in high places, visit Fools.

We have found the weapons of mass destruction.
—George W. Bush 30

It is not like putting burning coals on people’s bodies. The person is in no real danger. The impact is psychological.
—Senator Joe Lieberman on water-boarding torture

Liberalism is not a political philosophy or coherent set of beliefs. It is a psychological strategy to avoid being envied.
—Jack Wheeler SOURCE

I think the lesson of Sept. 11 is that you can't wait until proof after the fact.
—Paul Wolfowitz CITATION

I have looked at the video footage. Based on the footage provided to me, which was part of the facts of the case, she does respond.
—Bill Frist, regarding Terri Schiavo SOURCE

I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger CITATION

I think the Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude.
—George W. Bush 29

It's never been proven that air toxins are hazardous to people.
—Tom DeLay 27

Iraq is free... major combat operations in Iraq have ended.
—George W. Bush 15

I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts.
—Senator Rick Santorum

Look down at me and you see a fool; look up at me and you see a god; look straight at me and you see yourself.
—Charles Manson

We have no king but Jesus.
—John Ashcroft 24

I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every ten are, and I shouldn't inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.
—Theodore Roosevelt, "The Winning of the West"

...to be used in poverty-stricken slums, jungles and among the most ignorant people.
—Margaret Sanger of contraception 74

Democracies do not start wars.
—Robert Perle, American Enterprise Institute 23

You will be home before the leaves have fallen from the trees.
—Kaiser Wilhelm to German troop at onset of WWI

My goodness, were there that many vases? Is it possible that there were that many vases in the whole country?
—Donald Rumsfeld, on post-occupation looting of the Baghdad National Museum

Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.
—Benito Mussolini

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.
—George W. Bush 15

I don't think a woman should be in any government job whatever, mainly because they are erratic.
—Richard Nixon

I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes.
—Winston Churchill 73

Art, in an absolute sense, as liberal democracy knows it, has no right to exist.
—Joseph Goebbels

When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.
--Richard Nixon

What will rank Mussolini among the great men of this earth is his determination not to share Italy with the Marxists, but to destroy internationalism and save the fatherland from it.
—Adolf Hitler 28

Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours.
--Grover Cleveland, 1905

I don't think our troops should be used for what is called nation building.
—Governor George W. Bush

We rule by love and not by the bayonet.
--Dr. Joseph Goebbels

No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.
—George H. W. Bush 31

It's like writing history with lighting and my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.
—Woodrow Wilson, after viewing D. W. Griffith's racist The Birth of a Nation at the White House CITATION

And Hitler had only one ball, and that was why he wanted to conquer the world.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger

Democracy used to be a good thing, but now it has just got into the wrong hands.
—Jesse Helms

I don't like poetry.
—Judge William Callahan
"Scottsboro Boys" trial judge

My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.
—Ann Coulter

Well, you know what I knew, that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God, and his was an idol.
—Lt. Gen Boykin CITATION

Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger 25

I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years.
—Trent Lott

Don't blame anyone else for our actions. This is the way we want to go out.
—Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold

It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of— and the allegations by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble— that means not tell the truth.
—George W. Bush CITATION

I've convicted (of obscenity) enough persons to fill a passenger train of 61 coaches—60 coaches containing 60 passengers and the 61st not quite full.
—Anthony Comstock

A woman can't take care of the family. I takes a man to provide structure.
—Tom DeLay 11

This, the greatest of all wars, is not just another war—it is the last war! 
H. T. Wells

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.
—George W. Bush, signing $471-billion defense-spending bill

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