List of political catch phrases

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The following is a list of political catch phrases, that is, distinctive statements uttered by political figures that have gone on to become well-known or infamous.

They are distinct from political slogans in that they are often not deliberately created sayings, and may become famous for other, unintentional reasons, and thus go on to gain "a life of their own" in popular culture and imagination.

Contents 1 Australia 2 Belgium 3 Brazil 4 Canada 5 India 6 Germany 7 Portugal 8 Spain 9 United Kingdom 10 United States 11 Venezuela 12 References

[edit] Australia

• "For the first time, we have a nation for a continent, and a continent for a nation." Sir Edmund Barton, First Prime Minster of the Commonwealth of Australia.
• "All the way with LBJ!" Harold Holt, displaying support for American President LBJ in 1966.
• "Well may we say 'God Save the Queen', because nothing will save the Governor-General," said by Gough Whitlam after the announcement of the dissolving of Parliament.
• "The recession we had to have", said by Paul Keating regarding the late 1980s recession.
• "Please explain?", said by Pauline Hanson on being asked on 60 Minutes if she was xenophobic.
• "Life wasn't meant to be easy" attributed to Malcolm Fraser, Prime Minister of Australia from November 1975 until March 1983 (this is in fact a quotation from 'Back to Methuselah' by George Bernard Shaw).
• "We will decide who comes to this country, and the circumstances in which they come" - John Howard
• "Mr Howard and his government are just Yes-men to the United States. There they are, a conga line of suckholes on the conservative side of Australian politics." - Mark Latham
• "Ease the squeeze" - Mark Latham
• "Don't you worry about that" Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen
• "I call it feeding the chooks" Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen

[edit] Belgium

in Dutch

• "Voor mij is de grondwet geen vodje papier. Ik ga van deze tribune weg, ik ga naar de Koning en ik bied het ontslag van de regering aan" (For me the constitution is no silly piece of paper. I step off this platform, I will go to the king and I will offer the dismissal of the government.) said by Leo Tindemans - 1978
• "Je moet de problemen alleen oplossen als ze zich stellen" ("You only have to solve problems when they are occurring") said by Jean-Luc Dehaene
• "vijf minuten politieke moed" ("five minutes political courage") - Yves Leterme

[edit] Brazil

• "E se o Pitta não for um bom prefeito, nunca mais vote em mim." ("If Pitta cannot deliver a good job, you must never vote for me again.") - said by Paulo Maluf in the campaign for the 1996 São Paulo city elections , where he supported Celso Pitta.
• "Relaxa e goza." ("Relax and enjoy it.") - said by Marta Suplicy at the peak of the 2006–2007 Brazilian aviation crisis.
• "Bebo-o porque é líquido. Se fosse sólido, comê-lo-ia" ("I drink it because it's liquid. If it was solid, I would eat it.") - said by Jânio Quadros
• "Vagabundo! Vagabundo!" ("[You] Bum! [You] Bum!") - said by Gilberto Kassab while throwing a manifestant out of a public hospital.
• "Nunca antes na história deste país..." ("Never before in the history of this country...") - Said by Lula whenever he praises his own government.

[edit] Canada

• "We shall be Canadians first, foremost, and always, and our policies will be decided in Canada and not dictated by any other country." John G. Diefenbaker.
• "Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet," attributed to the campaign of Ernie Eves in reference to Dalton McGuinty.
• "Let us be English or let us be French . . . and above all let us be Canadians." John A. Macdonald.
• "Fuddle duddle," said by Pierre Trudeau when attempting to explain away his use of profanity in the Canadian House of Commons.
• "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation," Pierre Trudeau, as justice minister, 1967. ^[1]
• "Just watch me," said by Pierre Trudeau in reference to the War Measures Act.
• "You had an option, sir," said by Brian Mulroney to John Turner.
• " A proof is a proof. What kind of a proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof, and when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." said by Jean Chrétien.
• "For me, pepper, I put it on my plate," said by Jean Chrétien in response to a question by Nardwuar the Human Serviette regarding Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers pepper-spraying protestors at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.^[2]

[edit] India

• We need to take India into the 21st Century - by Rajiv Gandhi, ex prime minister of India in 1980s.
• Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan - Lal Bahadur Shastri, ex prime minister of India, means Hail the soldier and Hail the farmer.
• Garibi Hatao - Indira Gandhi, ex prime minister of India in the 1970s.
• Quit India - Mahatma Gandhi in the 1940s
• My heart beats for India - The Congress (I) Party, late 1980s.
• India Shining - The BJP, 2004.

[edit] Germany

• "Was geht mich mein Geschwätz von gestern an. Man wird ja wohl noch hinzulernen dürfen." (What do I care about my yesterday's waffle. It's not illegal to get wiser after all.) Konrad Adenauer
• "Wir wollen mehr Demokratie wagen." (We want to dare towards more democracy.) Willy Brandt on the plans of the social-liberal coalition.
• "Maß halten" (Don't overdo.) Ludwig Erhard's warning against an overheating economy in the 1960's.
• "Wirtschaft ist für die Menschen da, und nicht umgekehrt, und Demokratie gehört bei die Wirtschaft mit bei." (Economy is for the people, and not vice versa, and democracy belongs to economy.) Franz Müntefering
• "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu bauen." (No one intends to build a wall.) Walter Ulbricht a couple of months before the Berlin Wall was built.
• "Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so!" (I am gay, and it's good this way.) Klaus Wowereit, Berlin Mayor phrasing his coming out.

[edit] Portugal

• "Obviamente, demito-o!" (Obviously, I'll sack him!) - answer of the presidential candidate Humberto Delgado, when asked what his relationship with dictator Salazar would be.

[edit] Spain

• "Puedo prometer y prometo" (I can promise, And I promise...) The classical catchphrase of Adolfo Suarez, said in the first general elections in Spain, in 1978

• "Aznar y Anguita son la misma mierda" (Aznar and Anguita are the same shit.) said by Felipe Gonzalez about his opponents in 1996

• "Por consiguiente..." (Then...) The most famous catchphrase of Felipe Gonzalez, used in all his speeches an elevated number of times.

• "España va bien" (Spain's OK) said by the former president Jose Maria Aznar in 1996 three times in a speech talking about economy. The catchphrase become popular because Spain was in a very difficult situation after Felipe Gonzalez's government corruption scandals and the situation of ETA terrorism.

• "Vayase, Sr. Gonzalez" (Go out, Mr Gonzalez) said by Jose Maria Aznar to Felipe Gonzalez in 1996 general elections

• "El poder no me va a cambiar" (Presidency won't change me) said by the President Zapatero in 2004 general elections

Also is popular the Zapatero tendence of use always three adjectives in his speech to descript something.

• "La reina y yo" (Queen and I) are the first words of the traditional every year Christmas Speech of Juan Carlos I

[edit] United Kingdom

• "British jobs for British workers" said by Gordon Brown at the 2007 Labour Party Conference
• "Education, education, education," said by Tony Blair in a speech identifying the priorities of his government.
• "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" said by Tony Blair. (Originally - by Lenin)
• "Now is not the time for sound-bites. We can leave those at home, but...I feel the hand of history on our shoulder" said by Tony Blair after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
• "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears and sweat", said by Winston Churchill about his prospects for the United Kingdom during World War II. This quote is often misquoted as "blood, sweat & tears".
• "...and even if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say... This was their finest hour", said by Winston Churchill about the Battle of Britain. Often just quoted 'Finest Hour'.
• "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender", said by Winston Churchill when he declared that Great Britain would never surrender to a Nazi invasion.
• "Peace for our time", said by Neville Chamberlain in 1938 when he arrived back from the Conference of Munich.
• "He had a choice between war and dishonor. He chose dishonor, and he got war anyway", Winston Churchill's commentary about above words of Neville Chamberlain.
• "I have expressed a degree of regret that could be equated with an apology.” - Des Browne, UK Defence Minister, after a scandal over publication of captured sailors' stories in 2007.
• "If nominated I'll decline. If drafted I'll defer. And if elected I'll resign." - Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party, shortly before doing a U-turn and launching his leadership bid. (This is similar to a quote by American General William Tecumseh Sherman)
• "You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment." Used by the fictional Prime Minister Francis Urquhart in the House of Cards books and BBC mini-series to answer affirmatively to questions about which he cannot make an official statement. Adopted by real British politicians following the television broadcast.
• "You turn if you want to. The Lady's not for turning" said by Margaret Thatcher, 1980 Conservative Party conference.

[edit] United States

• "We are all republicans -- we are all federalists", Thomas Jefferson's First Inaugural.
• "Four score and seven years ago...", Opening of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
• "Show me the spot," Abraham Lincoln challenging the incident the precipitated the Mexican American War.
• "If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve" by General William Tecumseh Sherman in reference to the 1884 Presidential Election; declarations of the type became known as Sherman statements.
• "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Franklin D. Roosevelt.
• "My fellow Americans," said by many presidents at the beginning of major addresses to the nation. John F. Kennedy used it near the end of his inaugural, saying "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."
• "Ich bin ein Berliner," ("I am a Berliner") said by John F. Kennedy in West Berlin.
• "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore," said by Richard Nixon in 1962 when he announced his retirement from politics. He would make a successful run for the presidency in 1968.
• "Only Nixon could go to China," saying that became popular in the wake of Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic of China.
• "I'm not a crook," said by Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
• "Well if the President does it, that means that it is not illegal," said by Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
• "Let me make one thing perfectly clear," said by Richard Nixon
• "There you go again," said by Ronald Reagan to Jimmy Carter during their 1980 presidential debate.
• "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." said by Ronald Reagan.
• "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!," said by Ronald Reagan.
• "Mistakes have been made.", said by Ronald Reagan and many others.
• "Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy," said by Lloyd Bentsen in reference to Dan Quayle.
• "Read my lips: no new taxes," said by George H. W. Bush during the 1988 U.S. presidential election. He would go on to support a bipartisan bill to raise taxes on June 26, 1990.
• "Americans should be more like The Waltons and less like The Simpsons," said by George H. W. Bush.
• "It's the economy, stupid," used by Bill Clinton in his successful 1992 presidential campaign.
• The "Giant sucking sound," first said by H. Ross Perot in reference to NAFTA.
• The "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy," said by Hillary Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal.
• "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," said by Bill Clinton.
• "That depends on what your definition of 'is' is," said by Bill Clinton
• "Well, actually, he forgot Poland," said by George W. Bush during the first 2004 election debate as a response to John Kerry's statement that the coalition of the willing to invade Iraq only consisted of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
• "The Internet is a series of tubes," said by Senator Ted Stevens.
• "I'm the decider," said by George W. Bush.[2]
• "I'm Ross, and you're the Boss" Said by Ross Perot during the '92 presidential election.
• "Let's roll" said by George W. Bush during his 2002 State of the Union Address in reference to what Todd Beamer said aboard the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93 to the others helping him before taking down the hijackers.
• "I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." said by president George W. Bush via megaphone addressing the rescue workers at ground zero of the World Trade Center site in New York, 3 days after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." said by Al Gore.
• "I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it." said by Massachusetts senator John Kerry during his campaign for president in the 2004 presidential election."
• "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." said by Hillary Clinton at a rally in San Francisco in 2004 while criticizing president George W. Bush's tax-cuts.
• "I experimented with marijuana a time or two but I never inhaled." said by Bill Clinton.
• "Not only are we going to New Hampshire, Tom Harkin, we're going to South Carolina and Oklahoma and Arizona and North Dakota and New Mexico, and we're going to California and Texas and New York … And we're going to South Dakota and Oregon and Washington and Michigan, and then we're going to Washington, D.C., to take back the White House! Yeaararh!!!" said by Howard Dean. Also known as the Dean Scream.
• "I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." --Vice President Dick Cheney on the Iraq insurgency, June 20, 2005
• "We found the weapons of mass destruction." –President George W. Bush, in an interview with Polish television, May 29, 2003[3]
• "Too many good doctors are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across the country."--George W. Bush
• "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
• "Politics gives guys so much power that they tend to behave badly around women. And I hope I never get into that." said by Bill Clinton to a woman friend while he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford.
• "I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president." said by Hillary Clinton
• "I tried to walk a line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now realize that I did not fully accomplish that goal." said by Bill Clinton
• "I may not have been the greatest president, but I've had the most fun eight years." said by Bill Clinton
• "The American people are tired of liars and people who pretend to be something they're not." said by Hillary Clinton
• "Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die." said by George W. Bush
• "Families are where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." said by George W. Bush
• "You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test." said by George W. Bush
• "Childrens do learn." said by George W. Bush
• "There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, fool me once, shame on—shame on you. Fool me—you can't get fooled again." said by George W. Bush
• "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." said by John Kerry implying soldiers serving in the Iraq War are unintelligent.
• "You must do it in a way the passes the test, passes the global test." said by John Kerry during a debate with George W. Bush when asked about preemptive military action.
• "God bless the America we are trying to create." said by Hillary Clinton
• "Who is going to find out? These women are trash. Nobody’s going to believe them." said by Hillary Clinton about the women who claimed to have had an affair with husband Bill Clinton.
• "If I didn’t kick his ass every day, he wouldn’t be worth anything." said by Hillary Clinton about husband Bill Clinton.
• "I have said that I'm not running and I'm having a great time being pres—, er, being a first-term senator." said by Hillary Clinton when asked if she would be running for president.

[edit] Venezuela

• "PDVSA ahora es roja, rojita." (PDVSA has become red, very red) said by President of PDVSA (Venezelan National Petroleum Company)
• "¿Por que no te callas?" (Why don't you shut up?) said by king of Spain Juan Carlos de Borbon to Hugo Chavez.
• "Compañeros lamentablemente por ahora los objetivos que nos planteamos no fueron logrados en la ciudad capital" ( "Folks unfortunately, for now, the objectives that we had were not fully accomplished in the capital city (Caracas)") said by Hugo Chavez February the 4th 1992 after the failure of his coup attempt.
• "Por ahora" (For now) is a Venezuelan political catch phrase that alludes to declarations made by Hugo Chavez after the failure of the coup attempt he was leading. The phrase has been used in various occasions after the coup attempt, most notably by Hugo Chavez ater his proposal for constitutional reform had been rejected.
• "Sembrar el petróleo" ('sowing the oil'; phrase coined by Arturo Uslar Pietri when suggesting the use of oil revenue to develop the nation)
• "Calma y cordura" ('Calmness and composure'; frequently used by President Eleazar Lopez Contreras during his turbulent reign)

[edit] References

1. ^ [http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/feature/2005/06/30/canada_same_sex/index.html salon.com, accessed 25 August, 2007
2. ^ Nardwuar vs. Jean Chrétien, [1]. www.nardwuar.com, accessed 20 July, 2007