Category: Best Line of the Day

Clever turns of phrase, special splashes of wit, provocative insight — all in a sentence or two.

Best line of the day, so far

I understand the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is considered something of a sacred cow, our one point of light in an uncertain world. An academic who cannot be questioned by other academics. A smart person who has mastered the Great Depression and therefore “knows” what to do, and is providing the leadership to do it.

I am beginning to question all of these assumptions.

Economist Tim Duy

Best redux line of the day

David Letterman (2005):

“Every election I go to the polling place with my Uncle Earl. He went into the booth first and I was in line behind him. I’m sitting there waiting and waiting and finally I hear, ‘The damn thing won’t flush!?'”

Best line of the day, so far

Mr. King ended his Hawaii speech by quoting a prayer from a preacher who had once been a slave, and it’s an apt description of the idea of America today: “Lord, we ain’t what we want to be; we ain’t what we ought to be; we ain’t what we gonna be, but, thank God, we ain’t what we was.”

Martin Luther King Jr. in 1959 quoted by Nicholas Kristof.

Best line of the day, Obama-style

Atrios had this item from Newsweek’s Special Election Project:

The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, “I don’t consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, ‘You know, this is a stupid question, but let me … answer it.’ So when Brian Williams is asking me about what’s a personal thing that you’ve done [that’s green], and I say, you know, ‘Well, I planted a bunch of trees.’ And he says, ‘I’m talking about personal.’ What I’m thinking in my head is, ‘Well, the truth is, Brian, we can’t solve global warming because I f—ing changed light bulbs in my house. It’s because of something collective’.”

One of what I hope will be many good lines today

I heard no one complain—politeness was breaking out all around, with that cheerfulness between strangers that is generally reserved for religious occasions and sports events. Everyone seemed to be aware that this is a historic day, and even in a state where the results are a foregone conclusion the people in the gym wanted their vote counted, believed their iota of the overall tally matters, which is the absurd and sublime essence of democracy.

George Packer

Best line of late night

“Vote for Stevens, a man of convictions.”

Jay Leno

Runner-up:

“Yesterday, in Washington, the Secret Service arrested a man who climbed over the White House fence. True story, yeah. Yeah, the Secret Service told the man, ‘Get back here, Mr. President. You have two more months.'”

Conan O’Brien