Warm and Witty Side of Attila the Hun by Jeffrey Sackett Page B
Authors: Jeffrey Sackett
Tags: Humor
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not bring himself to do so. He led Wilkens out to the edge of the Rose Garden, where President Eisenhower had installed a putting green a decade earlier. Looking down at the floor, he drew Wilkens's attention to the still visible pock marks that had been left by Ike's golf shoes, and then said, "Look what that son of a bitch Eisenhower did to my floor!" He then smiled and slapped Wilkens on the back. This was the closest he could come to an apology.
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Two slight scientific errors led Ronald Reagan to make a silly comment during the 1980 presidential campaign. First, he confused carbon dioxide with carbon monoxide, and second, he reversed the process of photosynthesis. Put these two errors together and we end up with plants absorbing oxygen and emitting carbon monoxide.
This is why Reagan said that trees were the biggest source of air pollution. This is also why college students at a school where he was going to give a speech put signs up on the trees along the route of his motorcade saying STOP ME BEFORE I KILL AGAIN.
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Slogans have a long and venerable history in American political campaigns. (This writer's personal favorite from the 19 th century: in Lincoln's 1864 reelection bid, referring to his height, LONG ABE LINCOLN A LITTLE LONGER.) But the automobile bumper sticker provided a new and effective method of communicating partisan notions, often in amusing ways. The first bumper stickers appeared in the 1952 campaign, which saw Republican General Dwight D. Eisenhower pitted against Democratic Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. General Eisenhower's nickname, "Ike," inspired a very simple but effective bumper sticker: I LIKE IKE. The Democrats' attempts to match this were, to say the least, uninspiring. The best they could come up with was a grammatically preposterous sticker proclaiming I'M MADLY FOR ADLAI.
In any event, what follows are some bumper stickers from presidential elections, some funny, some stupid, some just mean:
1960: In reference to Kennedy's religion: POPE JOHN FOR PRESIDENT. ELIMINATE THE MIDDLE MAN.
1964: ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ. A subsequent poster was seen around the country showing a photograph of a very unhappy girl who was very, very pregnant, above the words I WENT ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ.
1964: A sticker supporting the Republican candidate Barry Goldwater: IN YOUR HEART YOU KNOW HE'S RIGHT. A Democratic sticker in response: IN YOUR GUTS YOU KNOW HE'S NUTS.
1968: An anti-Hubert Humphrey sticker during the Democratic primaries: DUMP THE HUMP.
1968 and 1972: NIXONâS THE ONE. A popular sticker after Nixon's resignation amid the Watergate scandal: THEY WERE RIGHT! NIXON WAS THE ONE!
1972: Democratic candidate George McGovern's nomination acceptance contained the recurring phrase, "Come home, America." Republican sticker during the campaign: GO HOME GEORGE.
1972: A Republican sticker in reference to McGovern's supposed support of pardoning Vietnam War draft-dodgers, abortion on demand, and a liberal stance on recreational drugs: ACID, ABORTION, AND AMNESTY: McGOVERN IN '72!
1976: Referring to the fact that Gerald Ford granted Richard Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he committed during his presidency, a Democrats sticker read DON'T PARDON FORD.
1980: At the end of the 1979-1980 TV season, the final episode of the popular CBS show Dallas concluded with the main character, J.R. Ewing, being shot by an unidentified assailant. This led to a CBS advertising campaign over the summer with the catch phrase, "Who shot J.R.?", and a Republican bumper sticker proclaiming JIMMY CARTER SHOT J.R.
1984: (Warning: misogynistic humor alert) The Democrats nominated the first female vice-presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, as Walter Mondale's running mate. It is hard to say exactly who was responsible for the bumper sticker that, referring to a popular TV show of the late '50s and early '60s, read VOTE FOR WALLY AND THE BEAVER.
1988: can't think of one.
1992: Sarcastic Republican
Â
Two slight scientific errors led Ronald Reagan to make a silly comment during the 1980 presidential campaign. First, he confused carbon dioxide with carbon monoxide, and second, he reversed the process of photosynthesis. Put these two errors together and we end up with plants absorbing oxygen and emitting carbon monoxide.
This is why Reagan said that trees were the biggest source of air pollution. This is also why college students at a school where he was going to give a speech put signs up on the trees along the route of his motorcade saying STOP ME BEFORE I KILL AGAIN.
Â
Slogans have a long and venerable history in American political campaigns. (This writer's personal favorite from the 19 th century: in Lincoln's 1864 reelection bid, referring to his height, LONG ABE LINCOLN A LITTLE LONGER.) But the automobile bumper sticker provided a new and effective method of communicating partisan notions, often in amusing ways. The first bumper stickers appeared in the 1952 campaign, which saw Republican General Dwight D. Eisenhower pitted against Democratic Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. General Eisenhower's nickname, "Ike," inspired a very simple but effective bumper sticker: I LIKE IKE. The Democrats' attempts to match this were, to say the least, uninspiring. The best they could come up with was a grammatically preposterous sticker proclaiming I'M MADLY FOR ADLAI.
In any event, what follows are some bumper stickers from presidential elections, some funny, some stupid, some just mean:
1960: In reference to Kennedy's religion: POPE JOHN FOR PRESIDENT. ELIMINATE THE MIDDLE MAN.
1964: ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ. A subsequent poster was seen around the country showing a photograph of a very unhappy girl who was very, very pregnant, above the words I WENT ALL THE WAY WITH LBJ.
1964: A sticker supporting the Republican candidate Barry Goldwater: IN YOUR HEART YOU KNOW HE'S RIGHT. A Democratic sticker in response: IN YOUR GUTS YOU KNOW HE'S NUTS.
1968: An anti-Hubert Humphrey sticker during the Democratic primaries: DUMP THE HUMP.
1968 and 1972: NIXONâS THE ONE. A popular sticker after Nixon's resignation amid the Watergate scandal: THEY WERE RIGHT! NIXON WAS THE ONE!
1972: Democratic candidate George McGovern's nomination acceptance contained the recurring phrase, "Come home, America." Republican sticker during the campaign: GO HOME GEORGE.
1972: A Republican sticker in reference to McGovern's supposed support of pardoning Vietnam War draft-dodgers, abortion on demand, and a liberal stance on recreational drugs: ACID, ABORTION, AND AMNESTY: McGOVERN IN '72!
1976: Referring to the fact that Gerald Ford granted Richard Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he committed during his presidency, a Democrats sticker read DON'T PARDON FORD.
1980: At the end of the 1979-1980 TV season, the final episode of the popular CBS show Dallas concluded with the main character, J.R. Ewing, being shot by an unidentified assailant. This led to a CBS advertising campaign over the summer with the catch phrase, "Who shot J.R.?", and a Republican bumper sticker proclaiming JIMMY CARTER SHOT J.R.
1984: (Warning: misogynistic humor alert) The Democrats nominated the first female vice-presidential candidate, Geraldine Ferraro, as Walter Mondale's running mate. It is hard to say exactly who was responsible for the bumper sticker that, referring to a popular TV show of the late '50s and early '60s, read VOTE FOR WALLY AND THE BEAVER.
1988: can't think of one.
1992: Sarcastic Republican
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