Chris Lamb

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The Art of the Political Putdown: The Greatest Comebacks, Ripostes, and Retorts in History by Chris Lamb & Will Moredock collects many verbal banter of famous politicians over the last two hundred years or so. Mr. Lamb is an author, historian, columnist, and satirist working as professor of journalism at Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis. Mr. Moredock is a published author and freelance writer.

I was always jealous at people who can quickly think on their feet and come up with a noteworthy retort to an insult, or a verbal sting. Some of the best were, of course, politicians whose oratory skills were far beyond those of other men and women. In The Art of the Political Putdown: The Greatest Comebacks, Ripostes, and Retorts in History by Chris Lamb & Will Moredock those sayings are collected into a gem of a book which is both funny and amusing.

The quality of the sayings vary, some are witty, some are just OK, and others really shouldn’t have made it into the book. Most of these gems are well known, but I think the authors would have done well if they were more discreet, anyone can say a comeback, but there is an art in doing it like Churchill or Lincoln. Unfortunately many of today’s politicians that are quoted in this book are not anymore witty than the average middle school student, and some are less.
They simply have no place in this book.

There is some repetition in this book, I got an advanced reader’s e-copy which was not formatted as well as it could have been, so I don’t know if it’s final copy, out of order copy, or was I reading a passage which simply seemed to me as part of the book.

The book mostly concentrates on politicians from English speaking countries. This is understandable as it is difficult to translate simple stories, and quite impossible to translate putdowns and puns. The authors do include several passages from ancient times, including those made by Cicero, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and even King Henry VIII.

I don’t understand, however, to put in the putdowns from today’s political climate. Those comebacks and put downs are juvenile, as I said before, not witty and are meant to provide a bullet point for the never-ending news cycle, and sadly, “owning” the other side to the cheers of the uninformed masses.

The authors did a great job putting the passages in context, these are little stories and not a bunch of quotes out of context. This, for me, was the strength of the book and made it more enjoyable than other books of quotes.

This is an enjoyable, quick read which lets one appreciate the power and art of a good retort. It’s a fun read for any history lover, or just those who love a quick and witty reply told with a healthy sense of humor and context.… (meer)

The Art of the Political Putdown: The Greatest Comebacks, Ripostes, and Retorts in History by Chris Lamb and Will Moredock is a fun and interesting look at some quotes. I expected something more but this was good for what it is.

Don't expect a lot of discussion about what makes a good political retort or much in the way of true categorization of these responses. There is a difference between a response given after the fact versus one given during a debate or discussion. There is a difference between one that attacks the idea a person put forward and one that simply attacks the person. They are not all created equal and they do not represent the same level of intelligence or wit.

On the flip side, these quotes are nicely contextualized so even if you're unfamiliar with the quote or even with the speaker, you are given enough information to still appreciate the retort. Well, if you're going to appreciate it. A few really just represented the worst of politics and governance, a childish name-calling disguised, loosely, as a witty comeback.

So I would recommend this to readers who just want to have a book of quotes, with some contextualization, but don't want any analysis of what makes a good retort, political or otherwise.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (meer)

Growing up in Canada, with a lot of British influence, I became accustomed to the impressive verbal fencing that parliamentary systems seem to promote. The idea is to skewer the opponent while leaving them standing and while everyone else gets a good laugh. Think Oscar Wilde in the House of Commons. There are several tactics to achieve this, including reversals, wrong choice, self-deprecation, and damning with faint praise (my own favorite).

The Art of the Political Putdown is a small collection of gems of varying quality, employing these tactics, usually without naming them. So it is not prescriptive or educational. It is merely enjoyable. And mostly American, though Winston Churchill features repeatedly. On the American side, Abraham Lincoln is the most quotable. If not for finding humor in everything, he said he would die. Chris Lamb and Will Moredock have collected some good ones, but they aren’t really about the Art of it as the title suggests. There is no “You see what he did there?”

The trick, which the authors don’t go into, is listening. By carefully listening, a politician can flip a word, phrase or idea back on its speaker, using associations learned over years of on the job practice. Comedians do this when they work an audience. Politicians can stop someone else’s career with a well-structured rejoinder, so that they are only ever remembered for the remark at that one encounter. A mild example (not in the book) of foolishly offering a choice is George Bernard Shaw’s conversation with a fawning woman who marveled at what a wonderful being she and Shaw could have produced together, what with his brains and her looks. Shaw shot back: But what if it had your brains and my looks?

There are numerous famous quips, such as Pablo Picasso’s confrontation with the Gestapo in Paris. They discovered his gigantic Guernica – too big to move or store - and confronted him over it. “You did this?’ the officer accused him. “No, you did,” he was supposed to have replied.

In reading them, I noticed several I recognized from the likes of WC Fields several decades earlier. They are nonetheless attributed to more recent politicians. Can’t change that. If the internet has taught anything, it is that theft is acceptable.

A couple of things I did not like are 1) repetition. There are several stories repeated twice, and one three times, in a book with just 300 examples of great repartee. 2), the book degenerates into modern American politics – the Trump era of no sense of humor – where attacks are not so much artful as crude. There is no art in calling a senator Lyin’ Ted Cruz, utter garbage, a puppet, or any of the other innumerable, forgettable accusations that pass for creative putdowns today.

I leave you with a classic I first heard from John McCain (also not in the book) to the effect that politicians are like diapers. Both need to be changed often, and for precisely the same reason.

David Wineberg… (meer)