My review of Double Down: Game Change 2012 is up now; I twinned it with a review of The Gamble, a political science tome based on steady polling of the election that offers everything the buzzy book does not. The truth lies between them—but come on, the buzzy book is more fun.
Here, I’ve assembled 10 of the trash-talking quotes reported out by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. You can guess—multiple choice!—the source and context. Tally your answers and, being honest, say in the comment section how many you got right.
1) “It’s not that we don’t like each other. I just think he’s an idiot.”
a) GOP strategist Mike Murphy describing Romney strategist Stu Stevens
b) Barack Obama describing Joe Biden
c) A Texas GOP strategist describing Rick Perry
2) “What you’re saying is the Tenth Amendment guarantees that the federal government can’t fuck up the country, but give us the right to fuck up Massachusetts.”
a) Rick Perry to Mitt Romney after the Oakland, Michigan debate
b) Karl Rove advising Mitt Romney on messaging
c) Rick Santorum’s campaign manager making fun of Romney’s messaging
3) “He didn’t just touch the third rail. He hugged the motherfucker.”
a) Stu Stevens gloating about the Social Security chapter of Rick Perry’s book
b) A Haley Barbour aide on his boss’s old quotes about race
c) Chris Matthews being impressed by Paul Ryan’s bold budgets
4) “This is a pretty shitty way to treat someone who gave you the opportunity of a lifetime.”
a) Jim Messina browbeating Joe Biden after he blurted out his support of gay marriage
b) Newt Gingrich’s chief of staff to the staffers who quit his campaign
c) Bill Daley to Jon Huntsman upon learning that Huntsman would run against the president
5) “You can’t say George Washington was the first president unless we Google that shit first.”
a) Lucas Bachmann telling his mom to stop making gaffes
b) Ron Klain telling Joe Biden not to make up numbers on the campaign trail
c) Jay Carney berating a reporter for getting a story wrong
6) “You can’t take [Rick] Perry seriously. He’s a chicken-shit guy.”
a) Ted Cruz, then a Senate candidate, advising Romney
b) Former president George W. Bush to a Romney donor
c) David Plouffe telling Obama not to worry about the Texas governor becoming the nominee
7) “What the fuck is this?”
a) David Axelrod reacting to Barack Obama’s first debate performance
b) Romney strategist Stu Stevens on the night Rick Santorum swept the Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri contests
c) Romney strategist Eric Fehrnstrom as he listened to Clint Eastwood’s RNC speech
8) “Are you out of your fucking mind? You think I had something to do with this?”
a) John Kerry refusing to be blamed for Obama’s bad first debate
b) Robert Gibbs denying that he leaked a story about him cursing at Valerie Jarrett about Michelle Obama
c) Chris Christie denying, to Romney staffers, a story about him passing on the VP nod because he thought Romney would lose
9) “Ohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuckohfuck—oh, fuck!”
a) David Plouffe reading tracking polls from Ohio and Florida after the first debate
b) Bill Kenyon, author of a Super PAC memo on a possible Jeremiah Wright ad, after the New York Times reported on it
c) Herman Cain after Politico broke the news of his sexual harrassment settlements
10) “What am I supposed to do when he starts spewing his bullshit?”
a) Ron Paul prepping for an interview where he expected to be asked about his old newsletters
b) Newt Gingrich grimacing about a joint appearance with Mitt Romney
c) President Obama whining about how Mitt Romney would debate him
Now, I will place the answers below this Lou Reed video, so you can’t accidentally see them.
OK: Ready?
The answers are: 1a, 2b, 3b, 4c, 5a, 6b, 7c, 8c, 9b, 10c
