Political gaffe

A political gaffe is an error made by a politician that is reported to the public. When made by a politician who is campaigning for office or party leadership, gaffes can affect standings in polls. While in office the opposition can refer to them in governmental debates over policy. Gaffes can be classified in different types.

Gaffes can be overplayed by the media as side stories to more important issues at the time.

Gaffe is of French origin, originally a 'boat hook' as in 'gaff rig' where the relation is apparent, but the sense association to a blundering remark is obscure.

Kinsley gaffe

A Kinsley gaffe occurs when a political gaffe reveals some truth that a politician did not intend to admit. The term comes from journalist Michael Kinsley, who said, "A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn't supposed to say."

The term gaffe may be used to describe an inadvertent statement by a politician that the politician believes is true while the politician has not fully analyzed the consequences of publicly stating it. Another definition is a statement made when the politician privately believes it to be true, realizes the dire consequences of saying it, and yet inadvertently utters, in public, the unutterable. Another definition is a politician's statement of what is on his or her mind—this may or may not be inadvertent—thereby leading to a ritualized 'gaffe dance' between candidates. While exhibiting umbrage or shock, and playing on the mistake, the 'offended candidate' must not exhibit anything resembling glee. A propensity to concentrate on so-called 'gaffes' in campaigns has been criticized as a journalistic device that can lead to distraction from real issues. The Kinsley gaffe is said to be a species of the general 'political gaffe.'

Kinsley himself posed the question: "Why should something a politician says by accident automatically be taken as a better sign of his or her real thinking than something he or she says on purpose?"

Steven Pinker says that politicians use vague and indirect language to avoid making concrete statements, and that lazy journalists base political coverage around "gaffe spotting" rather than analysis of political platforms.

The rise of Internet activism has created a new generation of negative campaigning where a political campaign can create attack ads within an hour of a politician making a gaffe.

Notable gaffes by country

Australia

• On August 12, 2013, at a Liberal Party function in Melbourne as part of the 2013 Federal Election campaign, Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, criticising Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, said "No one, however smart, however well-educated, however experienced, is the suppository of all wisdom." The word he meant was "repository". It did not take long for the clip of Mr Abbott's gaffe to be featured on the websites of some of the world's biggest news organisations.

Azerbaijan

• The Central Election Commission showed Ilham Aliyev to be winning with 72.76% of the vote via the Commission's official smartphone app a day before voting had even started for the 2013 elections.

Canada

• "Air pollution is the smell of money" – Philip Gaglardi.
• Pierre Trudeau and the fuddle duddle incident, 1971
• Jacques Parizeau's 'money and the ethnic vote' speech, 1995
• Peter MacKay calling his ex-girlfriend Belinda Stronach a dog after she joined the opposition party.
• "Evil reptilian kitten eater from another planet" – Ontario general election, 2003

Portugal

• "Everyone will give their best for a poorer country" – Prime Minister José Sócrates.

The United Kingdom

• Winston Churchill's election broadcast in the campaign for the 1945 general election in which he suggested that the Labour Party would create "some form of a Gestapo" to implement their reforms.
• John Major calling some of his cabinet ministers bastards.
• Gordon Brown referring to a member of the public as a "bigoted woman" during an election campaign.
• Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh has become famous for making remarks that were often construed as being offensive or stereotypical in nature.

The United States

• The Gerald Ford Soviet Domination answer.
• "I see nothing wrong with ethnic purity being maintained" – Jimmy Carter
• The Jimmy Carter "Lust in the Heart" interview
• We begin bombing in five minutes. – A joke by Ronald Reagan in a sound check prior to his weekly radio address that was later leaked.
• "Oh, the vision thing." – George H. W. Bush
• "Potatoe" - Dan Quayle
• "You forgot Poland" and numerous others -George W. Bush
• "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American, who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man!" – Joe Biden
• Legitimate rape, Todd Akin, United States Senate election in Missouri, 2012
• Rick Perry's "Oops moment"
• Joe Biden's declaration of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act being a "big fucking deal"
• 47% speech by Mitt Romney
• Farmer from Iowa comment, Bruce Braley, United States Senate election in Iowa, 2014
• "I’ve now been in 57 states — I think one left to go." - Barack Obama, During a campaign event in Beaverton, Oregon.
• Joe Biden's remarks that: "No matter how deeply involved you are in the U.S. … there’s only one guarantee ... and that's the state of Israel"
• United States House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy — favored as successor to Speaker of the House John Boehner — "made Kinsley proud" as he bragged on Fox News Sean Hannity show, that the House GOP's investigation was all politically motivated, was a 'tempest-in-a-teapot' and 'much ado about nothing' but had been effective in eroding Hillary Clinton's popularity.
• Hillary Clinton linking her Wall Street donors to 9/11
• John Kasich's response to a question as about why District of Columbia is unrepresented in the United States Congress: i.e., purposefully, so as to disenfranchise as many Democrats as possible.
• Maine governor Paul LePage vetoed a bill that would have made Narcan available to save addicts from overdoses.
• "Because I was down there and I watched our police and our firemen down at 7/11, down at the World Trade Center right after it came down." -Donald Trump

See also

• Freudian slip
• Howler
• Microphone gaffe

Further reading

• Michael Kinsley quotations at Brainy Quote.