I was going to do my top 10 reasons for leaving the GOP but thought that might get out of hand. Instead, here is my list of the 10 dumbest things (and it was hard narrowing it to just 10. I wrestled with doing a Top 20 Tuesday.) things said during this campaign year. (HT: About)
It’s interesting how idiotic people can be when they hold a microphone. And people who speak for a living, no less.

11. “You know, education — if you make the most of it — you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” –Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) (Note: I put this here for equal time. I still think it’s much ado about nothing.

10. “Now I’ve seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture. It was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from (Maryland) who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn’t torture.” –Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT)

9. “We’re not going to tell you what our plan is, Jon, because you’re just going to go out and blow it.” –Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), on the secret plan he and President Bush have to win the Iraq war, in a debate with his Democratic challenger, John Tester

8. “Having said that, I don’t want to hug the tar baby of trying to comment on the program.” –Tony Snow, on the NSA phone database

7. “These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by griefparrazies. I have never seen people enjoying their husband’s death so much.” –Ann Coulter, on 9/11 widows who have been critical of the Bush administration

6. “You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent…. I’m not joking.” –Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.)

5 . “Nothing will motivate conservative evangelical Christians to vote Republican in the 2008 presidential election more than a Democratic nominee named Hillary Rodham Clinton – not even a run by the devil himself … I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate. She has $300 million so far. But I hope she’s the candidate. Because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn’t.” –Rev. Jerry Falwell

4 . “Why do they hate each other? Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me.” –Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS)

3. “This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is. He’s with my opponent. He’s following us around everywhere. And it’s just great. … Let’s give a welcome to macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.” –Sen. George Allen (R-VA)

2. “As it turns out, Mr. Foley has had illicit sex with no one that we know of, and the whole thing turned out to be what some people are now saying was a — sort of a joke by the boy and some of the other pages. ” –James Dobson

1. “He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He’s moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an act. … This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn’t take his medication or he’s acting.” –Rush Limbaugh

What do you think?

*****Updated********
In the pursuit of true bipartisanship, I’ll give you a smattering of Dem quotes:

“He has “a career of slavishly supporting the Republican Party.” – House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, (D-MD) on Maryland Lt.Gov. Michael Steele, an African-American Republican running for Senate

“We all know what GOP means now. It means grope our pages.” –Former Democratic Sen. Max Cleland

“That’s alright. You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair.” –New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, responding to charges that the Hurricane Katrina cleanup is taking too long

Oh, and if you doubt that political ads have gone too far, watch this: