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Fey, Palin Top List Of Memorable Quotes

The Associated Press

Comedian Tina Fey made news by spoofing Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on 'Saturday Night Live' during the 2008 campaign.

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The Associated Press

Published: December 14, 2008

Updated: 12/14/2008 12:07 am

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Sarah Palin lost the election, but for a connoisseur of quotations, she's a winner.

The Republican vice presidential candidate and her comedic doppelganger, Tina Fey, took the top two spots in this year's list of most memorable quotes compiled by Fred R. Shapiro.

Shapiro said that when he began the list he thought he would select the most profound, eloquent or witty quotes. But the celebrity culture and political discourse led him down a different path.

"What I have come to do is pick some quotes that really say something about our culture and they tend almost exclusively to be quotes that are notable for negative reasons rather than being admirable or eloquent," Shapiro said.

1. "I can see Russia from my house!"
COMEDIAN TINA FEY, while impersonating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live," broadcast Sept. 13

2. "All of them, any of them that have been in front of me over all these years."
SARAH PALIN, responding to a request by CBS anchor Katie Couric to name the newspapers or magazines she reads, broadcast Oct. 1

3. "We have sort of become a nation of whiners."
PHIL GRAMM, an economic adviser to Sen. John McCain, quoted in The Washington Times, July 10

4. "It's not based on any particular data point, we just wanted to choose a really large number."
TREASURY DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN, explaining how the $700billion number was chosen for the initial bailout, quoted on Forbes.com Sept. 23

5. "The fundamentals of America's economy are strong."
JOHN McCAIN, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, April 17

6. "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
TREASURY DEPARTMENT'S proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, September 2008

7. "Maybe 100."
McCAIN, discussing in a town hall meeting in Derry, N.H., how many years U.S. troops could remain in Iraq, Jan. 3

8. "I'll see you at the debates, b------."
PARIS HILTON, in a video responding to a McCain television ad, August 2008

9. "Barack, he's talking down to black people. … I want to cut his … off."
THE REV. JESSE JACKSON, overheard over a live microphone before a Fox News interview, July 6

10. (tie) "Cash for trash."
PAUL KRUGMAN discussing the financial bailout, New York Times, Sept. 22.

10. (tie) "There are no atheists in foxholes and there are no libertarians in financial crises."
KRUGMAN, in an interview with Bill Maher on HBO's "Real Time," broadcast Sept. 19

10. (tie) "Anyone who says we're in a recession, or heading into one — especially the worst one since the Great Depression — is making up his own private definition of "recession."
DONALD LUSKIN, a commentator, the day before Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, The Washington Post, Sept. 14

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