10. "You know, I always wondered about that taping equipment but I'm damn glad we have it, aren't you?" ~ President Richard Nixon to Watergate co-conspirator H.R. Haldeman in April 1973, weeks before the U.S. Senate began its nationally televised hearings

9. "The fundamental business of the country, that is, production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis." ~ President Herbert Hoover, Oct. 25, 1929; Four days later, the stock market crashed, and the Great Depression started.

8. "That depends on what the meaning of 'is' is." ~ President Bill Clinton, during his videotaped August 17 testimony in front of a grand jury

7. "We still seek no wider war." ~ President Lyndon Johnson, after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in August, 1964

6. "It's vile. It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction." ~ Rep. Mark Foley, at the height of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal

5. "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times." ~ President Jimmy Carter, in a Playboy nterview

4. "The fundamentals of the economy are strong." ~ Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain; Hours later, investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, significantly adding to the woeful condition of the US economy. (cf. #9)

3. "Read my lips: no new taxes." ~ Republican Presidential candidate
George H.W. Bush, in his acceptance address, written by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, for his party's nomination at the 1988 Republican National Convention

2. "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." ~ President Bill Clinton, at a January press conference. He was later impeached for lying about his affair under oath.

1. "I am not a crook." ~ President Richard Nixon, November 17, 1973
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I really don't think that Foley's remarks belong with the others. I saw him described as a minor league slimeball, a description I find accurate. He never had the importance as the others, and will be forgotten by most in a few years.

Any other contenders?

You might replace Foley's with one of Hillary Clinton's, just as she was gaining momentum in the 2008 primaries, regarding her 1996 visit to Bosnia:

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind, or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."

--Dan Quayle in a speech to United Negro College Fund, whose slogan is "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."

Notable only because it is revealing of the personality of the only president to kill another man in a duel:


"One man with courage makes a majority."
- Andrew Jackson

Good thing this one wasn't taken as seriously as Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds:"

"My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes."
- Ronald Reagan during a radio microphone test, 1984