Best Quotes Of 2012: Mitt Romney’s 47% Comment Named Quote Of The Year
Mitt Romney may have lost the 2012 Presidential election but he did win the top spot on Yale University’s annual Best Quotes Of The Year list. The Republican candidate’s quote about 47% of the population was named the best quote of 2012.
In November, Romney was caught on tape saying that 47% of the population was dependent on government. Romney said:
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what … who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. … These are people who pay no income tax. … and so my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
Fred Shapiro, the Yale librarian who creates the list, said that the quote was a turning point in the election. Romney’s 47% comment helped to create an image of a wealthy businessman who didn’t care about 47% of the population.
“Debate remarks and gaffes actually seemed to play an important role in the ups and downs of the election campaign and may even have affected the ultimate outcome of the election.”
Romney also claimed the second spot on the list with his “binders full of women” comment. Shapiro said that the “binders full of women” comment, which was said during a presidential debate, further defined an image of a person who was out of touch with social issues.
Shapiro said:
“It contributed to an image of him as being somewhat out of touch and maybe particularly out of touch with issues related to women.”
Romney may have nabbed the top two spots on the list (which really isn’t an honor) but President Obama grabbed the next three. Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment came in third on the annual best quotes list, followed by two comments that swung the presidential debates in Obama’s favor.
Todd Akin, PSY and Governor Chris Christie also made the best quotes of 2012 list.
Here are the top 10 quotes of 2012.
1.) Mitt Romney: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what … who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims. … These are people who pay no income tax. … and so my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
2.) Mitt Romney during second Presidential Debate: “We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet (in Massachusetts). I went to a number of women’s groups and said, “Can you help us find folks?” and they brought us whole binders full of women.”
3.) President Obama: “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that.”
4.) President Obama, telling Mitt Romney to continue talking about Libya during the second presidential debate: “Please proceed, Governor.”
5.) President Obama during second Presidential Debate: “You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, Governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines.”
Todd Akin: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
Eric Fehrnstrom, Mitt Romney’s senior campaign adviser: “You hit a reset button for the fall campaign; everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and we start all over again.”
Jill Kelley to a 911 dispatcher after the David Petraeus sex scandal broke: “I’m an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability.”
Rapper PSY: “Oppan Gangnam style.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: “Under current law, on January 1st, 2013, there is going to be a massive fiscal cliff of large spending cuts and tax increases.”
Georgia Sen. Saxy Chambliss on Grover Norquist tax pledge: “I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge.”
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie after Hurricane Sandy: “I have a job to do. … If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don’t know me.”
What was your favorite quote of 2012?
