"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important
part of your life."
--Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for a federal
anti-smoking campaign.
"I haven't committed a crime. What I did was fail to comply with
the law."
--David Dinkins, New York City Mayor, answering accusations that he failed
to pay his taxes.
"They gave me a book of checks. They didn't ask for any deposits."
--Congressman Joe Early (D-Mass) at a press conference to answer questions
about the House Bank Scandal.
"He didn't say that. He was reading what was given to him in a
speech."
--Richard Darman, director of OMB, explaining why President Bush wasn't
following up on his campaign pledge that there would be no loss of wetlands.
"It depends on your definition of asleep. They were not stretched
out. They had their eyes closed. They were seated at their desks with their
heads in a nodding position."
--John Hogan, Commonwealth Edison Supervisor of News Information, responding
to a charge by a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspector that two Dresden
Nuclear Plant operators were sleeping on the job.
"I didn't accept it. I received it."
--Richard Allen, National Security Advisor to President Reagan, explaining
the $1000 in cash and two watches he was given by two Japanese journalists
after he helped arrange a private interview for them with First Lady Nancy
Reagan.
"I was a pilot flying an airplane and it just so happened that
where I was flying made what I was doing spying."
--Francis Gary Power, U-2 reconnaissance pilot held by the Soviets for
spying, in an interview after he was returned to the US.
"I was under medication when I made the decision not to burn the
tapes."
--President Richard Nixon
"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body."
--Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
"I support efforts to limit the terms of members of Congress, especially
members of the House and members of the Senate."
--Vice-President Dan Quayle
"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime
rates in the country."
--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC
"Sure, it's going to kill a lot of people, but they may be dying
of something else anyway."
--Othal Brand, who was once nominated for a seat on the Texas Agricultural Resources Protection Authority, on chlordane.
"Are you any relation to your brother Marv?"
--Leon Wood, New Jersey Nets guard, to Steve Albert, Nets TV commentator.
"Beginning in February 1976 your assistance benefits will be discontinued
.. Reason: it has been reported to our office that you expired on January
1, 1976."
--Letter from the Illinois Department of Public Aid
"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history...
this century's history.... We all lived in this century. I didn't live
in this century."
--Dan Quayle, then Indiana senator and Republican vice-presidential candidate
during a news conference in which he was asked his opinion of the Holocaust.
"In the early sixties, we were strong, we were virulent..."
--John Connally, Secretary of Treasury under Richard Nixon, in an early
seventies speech, as reported in a contemporary "American Scholar".
"Rotarians, be patriotic! Learn to shoot yourself."
--Chicago Rotary Club journal, "Gyrator".
"The streets are safe in Philadelphia. It's only the people who
make them unsafe."
--Frank Rizzo, ex-police chief and mayor of Philadelphia.
"I've always thought that underpopulated countries in Africa are
vastly underpolluted."
--Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Bank, explaining why we
should export toxic wastes to Third World countries.
"The crime bill passed by the Senate would reinstate the Federal
death penalty for certain violent crimes: assassinating the President;
hijacking an airliner; and murdering a government poultry inspector."
--Knight Ridder News Service dispatch.
"After finding no qualified candidates for the position of principal,
the school board is extremely pleased to announce the appointment of David
Steele to the post."
--Philip Streifer, Superintendent of Schools, Barrington Rhode Island.
"The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing."
--Dizzy Dean explaining how he felt after being hit on the head by a ball
in the 1934 World Series.
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