posted 12-22-2003 05:50 PM            

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things they wish they had never said

Sunday December 21, 2003
The Observer

'As Wembley is synonymous with tennis, so snooker is synonymous with Sheffield' - Sports Minister Richard Caborn flaunts his grasp of the new brief
'The French have no word for entrepreneur' - George W Bush fails to resurrect Franco-US relations

'They are all notoriously hideous' - Orlando Fraser, prospective Tory candidate for North Devon (and likely to remain so), when asked if he would marry a local girl

'An extremely disturbed person' - Children's Minister Margaret Hodge's opinion of former abuse victim Demetrious Panton

'I'm England's answer to J-Lo' - is 'schadenfreude' in Martine McCutcheon's lexicon?

'The quiet man is here to stay... and he's turning up the volume' - Iain Duncan Smith. Two weeks later he was out on his ear

'I do not borrow on credit cards, it's too expensive. I have four children. I give them advice not to pile up debt on their cards' - Barclays Bank chief Matt Barrett has a Ratner Moment before a Commons Select Committee

'I'm doing very well. I'm selling a lot of Charlie and I've got three sports cars' - Cocaine dealer Raymond Casling's boast on the Friends Reunited website. The police read it shortly before arresting him

'I have absolutely no doubt that these weapons of mass destruction exist' - Tony Blair cries in the wilderness

'Really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would' - Maryland's 'First Lady', Kendel Ehrlich, in an aside at a domestic violence prevention conference

'Gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman' - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger sets the Californians straight

'Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know' - Donald Rumsfeld scoops the Plain English Campaign's Foot In Mouth trophy

posted 12-22-2003 07:03 PM            

quote:

---

Reports that say something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know' - Donald Rumsfeld scoops the Plain English Campaign's Foot In Mouth trophy

---