It seems that hardly a week goes by without more goofs from politicians. They have a terrible habit of putting their foot in it while attempting to say something memorable. Sadly for them, these foot-in-mouth moments soon go viral and spread across the internet. Here are some of the funniest and most unfortunate goofs from politicians …
One of my favorite goofs from politicians comes from Australian Tony Abbott. Many goofs come from mixing words up - we've all done it at times, but not with the nation watching. Hence the world knows that Abbott mixed up the words 'repository' and 'suppository,' thus announcing that "No one, however smart, however well-educated, however experienced, is the suppository of all wisdom." Glad to hear it …
Advice to politicians everywhere: check, check and check again that microphones are OFF before saying things you wouldn't want the public to hear. Erstwhile British Prime Minister Gordon Brown failed to follow this basic safety precaution and was heard calling a supporter of his party a bigot. His insult didn't go down too well and he was forced to issue a grovelling apology.
Sometimes it's not so much what politicians say as what they do that captures the headlines. John 'Two Jags' Prescott, then Deputy Prime Minister of the UK, punched a man who threw an egg at him (one assumes the thrower was even less keen on Prescott's policies). It doesn't seem appropriate for the second most important man in British politics to bop someone on the chin …
Many politicians appear to be somewhat geographically challenged. The US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland confused it with North Korea (easy mistake to make). What with George W. Bush and Sarah Palin thinking Africa is one single country, Barack Obama thinking America consists of 58 states and John McCain thinking that Iraq and Pakistan share a border (Iran gets in the way), politicians really do need to buy an atlas.
Roughly half of the electorate is female, so if you're trying to get elected it's wise not to alienate the female vote. One candidate for the Senate tried to persuade a voter to pick him over a female candidate 'because I do not wear high heels,' thus handing a propaganda coup to his rival.
If you're a dictatorially-minded chap trying to rig an election, you should at least pretend that you've won the election fairly. This is presumably what the President of Azerbaijan meant to do in 2013. This all went a bit pear-shaped when news emerged that he was winning the election - the day before voting even started.
Finally, we come to the Grand Master of the political goof, George 'Dubya' Bush. Bush has come up with so many goofs that you'd need an entire book to list them. His numerous goofs spawned the word Bushism, and a thousand comedy sketches. My two current favorite Bushisms: "I remember meeting a mother of a child who was abducted by the North Koreans right here in the Oval Office," and "Your eminence, you're looking good" (to Pope Benedict). Priceless.
Politicians just keep coming out with gaffes. What is your own favorite political goof?