[View the story “2012 presidential election: The gaffes that made us wince” on Storify]
2012 presidential election: The gaffes that made us wince
Here’s what the contenders got the wrongest.
Storified by Digital First Media · Sun, Nov 04 2012 05:30:24
Running for president is like signing up for a reality TVshow: Cameras will be trained on you, every day, for more than a year. It’sinevitable that candidates will slip up from time to time. Below, some of thegoofier things that candidates said this year. We’ve rated them on a scale ofone to five potatoes, after the time Vice President Dan Quayle incorrectlyspelled the word during a visit to an elementary school.
Five Potatoes:
It wasn’t Elvis’ birthday. It was the anniversary of the day he died.
Barack Obama: “Three proud words: Made in the U.S.A.”
Mitt Romney: “Iran’s only ally in the Arab world. It’s theirroute to the sea.”
We’ll admit it: We had to look that one up. But here’s a quick geography lesson, courtesy of the Internet:
Four Potatoes:
Rick Perry: Turkey is ruled by “whatmany would perceive to be Islamic terrorists.”
Rick Perry: “I trust those independent school districts tomake those decisions better than eight unelected, and frankly, unaccountablejudges.”
Thereare nine Supreme Court justices. Bonus: There’s no Justice “Montemayor.”
Barack Obama: “When I meet with world leaders whether it’sin Europe, or here in Asia.”
Obama was in Hawaii, which is either part of the United States (politically) or Polynesia (geographically) but not Asia. As someone who grew up in Hawaii, you’d think Obama would know that.
Three Potatoes:
Joe Biden: “Where’s it written we can’t lead the world inthe 20th century in making automobiles?
Maybe we did. But we’re in the 21st century now…
Michele Bachmann: “If you lookat one of the founding fathers, John Quincy Adams he tirelessly worked throughouthis life to make sure that we eradicated slavery.”
Two Potatoes:
Joe Biden: “We can win North Carolina!”
Biden wasin Virginia at the time. He also earned an extra demerit because he seems to have a lack ofspecial awareness.
One Potatoe:
Rick Perry: “”I want to say it was over $500 million that went to the country Solyndra.”