Top 44 moments from the path to becoming #44

As promised, the following is my highly biased, incomplete, and unfair list of classic moments from the 2008 presidential primaries.

With a few exceptions, I’ve generally given just a quote with a link, but no attribution or names. If you like, you can use this as a test of your campaign knowledge by trying to identify the speaker before clicking the link!

Huge thanks to the Veracifier YouTube channel set up by Talking Points Memo, where I got a lot of these clips from.

Part of me envies those who were blogging when all this stuff was going on, but another part is glad I can just whip this together in one shot, to blatantly mix metaphors.

So, in no particular order, here they are:

1. “We even know how to talk about eating fried squirrel and stuff like that, so we’re on the same wavelength.”
[video]

2. "I'm not doing hand shows today."
[video]

3. "I'm looking forward to you advising me as well. I want to gather up talent from everywhere."
[blog + video]

4. "I was tied up at the time."
[video]

5. the Romney face scrunch
[video at 4:10]

6. "Here's the thing. After a couple minutes, I was feeling kind of fired up. And I was feeling like I was ready to go."
[video]

7. "I like to help old ladies across the street. Sometimes they don't want to be helped. It's terrible!"
[video, 1:20 - 2:20] + [blog]

8. "I ... opposed Iraq from the beginning ..."
[video]

9. "I just don't want to see us fall backwards!"
[video]

10. Huckabee shows the negative ad he's not going to show
[blog]

11. Russert channels an Iraqi nationalist
[video, 3:30 - 4:45]

12. "I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother."
[video at 13:45]

13. "I think that my daughters should probably be treated by any admissions officer as folks who are pretty advantaged."
[video]

14. "a noun, a verb, and 9/11"
[video, first few seconds]

15. "I am honored ... I am honored ... I am absolutely honored ..."
--> "Shame on you!"
[debate] --> [speech 2 days later]

16. “Maybe 100!”
[video]

17. “Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America ... in a way that Bill Clinton did not.”
[video]

18. “He has said in the last week that he really liked the ideas of the Republicans over the last 10 to 15 years.”
[video]

19. Romney debates separation of church and state with radio host during commercial break, and eventually tells him off
[video]

20. “Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself ....”
[story]

21. "I want to make change, but I've already MADE change!!!"
(debate in between Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary)
[video at 0:35]

22. “Well, that hurts my feelings.”
[video]

23. “Who let the dogs out?!”
[video]

24. bug in hair
[video]

25. "We're going to win Florida."
[video]

26. Hillary Clinton on driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants
[video]

27. "She is a monster too. That is off the record."
[article]

28. "It's not surprising that they get bitter. They cling to guns or religion or antipathy towards people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment, as a way to explain their frustrations."
[audio clip at 0:25]

29. "Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice ..."
[video]

30. "I just said some things that ... didn't jibe with what I knew to be the case."
[blog]

31. "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?"
[blog]

32. "We would be able to totally obliterate them."
[video]

33. McCain says he's "pleased" to have endorsement of pastor who said Katrina was retribution for gay pride parade
[video, 3:05 - 4:45]

34. Hillary Clinton endorses McCain and herself for Commander-in-Chief
[video]

35. "It would be OK to repeal [Roe v. Wade]."
[article]

36. "The Bush administration's arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad."
[article]

37. "Well, I'll talk to him later!"
[video]

38. "When I was a kid, I inhaled frequently. That was the point."
[video]

39. "... [he] was doing something in the neighborhood that I won't say what he was doing but he said it in his book ..."
[video, 1:20-2:00]

40. "He said, 'Katrina! Katrina!' So I then gave my answer on Katrina."
[video, 9:20 - 10:45]

41. "It's very important that we have a president who is mindful of the cruelty that is perpetrated on animals."
[article]

42. Hillary Clinton refuses to state a policy on Social Security
[video, 8:15 - 9:10]

43. Edwards says Obama and Clinton have both assured him they'll carry on his fight against poverty
[video at 5:00]

44. “Sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this, a night that years from now ... you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.”
[video at 8:50]