Politicians and Humor? Seriously?

Why don’t we look at the lighter side of politics?

You may well ask, “Is there a light side?”

Yes, and it’s found in the funny things past Presidents of the United States have said.

Let’s begin with Harry S. Truman who said, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

Abraham Lincoln said this of a fellow politician: “He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.”

Lincoln had quite a sense of humor. He once said, “If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.”

One day first lady Eleanor Roosevelt left the White House to visit a penitentiary. When Franklin D. Roosevelt asked where she was, he was told, “She’s in prison, Mr. President.” To which he replied,  “I’m not surprised, but what for?”

When Calvin Coolidge announced he wouldn’t run for re-election in 1928, a reporter asked, “Why don’t you want to be President any more?” Coolidge replied, “Because there’s no chance for advancement.”

In 1980, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter were running for President. When Reagan heard Carter was supposed to appear on 60 Minutes to talk about his accomplishments, he said, “But that will leave 59 minutes to fill.”Theodore Roosevelt once said, “When they call the roll in the Senate, the senators do not know whether to answer present or not guilty.”

Jimmy Carter said, “I have often wanted to drown my troubles, but I can’t get my wife to go swimming.”

President Carter, proclaimed as one of the worst presidents ever, also said, “My esteem in this country has gone up substantially. It is very nice now that when people wave at me, they use all their fingers.”

“If it were not for the reporters, I would tell you the truth.” —Chester A. Arthur

Since I started with a quote from President Truman, I’ll end with one. He said, “My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician.”

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

Which quote did you like best?

Joan Reeves aka SlingWords: The Word Slinging Adventures of Joan Reeves