(LIN) - With the economy in dire straits, the number of applicants and possible applicants for President Barack Obama’s job shaped into a field of not-so-shy GOP candidates.
Here are some memorable quotes from 2011.
"I'm not stupid. I see the opportunity. I see it. That's not the reason to run."--Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., on his refusal to consider running against Obama in 2012. February, 2011
"Today I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that no one else has been able to accomplish...Our president has finally released a birth certificate."--Potential 2012 GOP candidate Donald Trump, taking credit for prompting the White House to release Obama's birth certificate. April, 2011
"We're so politically correct, nobody wants to say the word, but isn't another word for that torture? You know what? The people I watched jump off the World Trade Center, that was torture…In terms of torture, in terms of enhanced interrogation, we wouldn't have caught bin Laden without it."--Trump, addressing America’s enhanced interrogation practices. May, 2011
"All I know is 90 percent of the scientists say climate change is occurring...If 90 percent of the oncological community said something was causing cancer, we'd listen to them."-- 2012 presidential candidate and former Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah, on climate change. May 2011
"At that moment, we didn't think of ourselves as overly career-minded or overly materialistic, but when we lost that child it changed us, and it changed us forever."--2012 presidential candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., at a campaign stop in South Carolina. Bachmann revealed to the crowd a miscarriage prompted her and her husband to look after foster children. June, 2011
"Well, let me say, first of all, Chris, that I took seriously Bret's injunction to put aside the talking points, and I wish you would put aside the gotcha questions…I'd love to see the rest of tonight's debate asking us about what we would do to lead an America whose president has failed to lead, instead of playing Mickey Mouse games." --2012 presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., to Fox’s Chris Wallace, in regards to a question about the viability of Gingrich’s campaign at a GOP presidential debate. August, 2011
"Corporations are people, my friend... of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings my friend." --2012 candidate and former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., to a heckler in Iowa. August, 2011
“Before we all get started, let’s all say, ‘Happy Birthday’ to Elvis Presley today.”--Bachmann, at a campaign stop in South Carolina on Aug. 16. Presley was born Jan. 8, 1935 and died Aug. 15, 1977. August, 2011
"I've forgotten more about Israel than Rick Perry knows about Israel." --2012 presidential candidate and former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., in a comment towards fellow candidate, Gov. Rick Perry, R-Texas. September, 2011
"You get the sense with Mitt Romney that if he thought it was good to say the sky was green and the grass was blue to win an election, he'd say it."--Senior Obama campaign adviser David Plouffe, in a barb towards Romney. October, 2011
“When they ask me, ‘Who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan,’…I’m going to say you know, ‘I don’t know. Do you know?’”--2012 then-Republican presidential candidate and former businessman Herman Cain, in an interview about a foreign policy question. October, 2011
"It's a catchy phrase. In fact, I thought it was the price of a pizza."--Huntsman, to Cain about Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan. October, 2011
"I'm just trying to occupy the White House." --Romney, on his take of the Wall St. protests. October, 2011
"Tutti-frutti…I know I'm going to get in trouble!"--Cain, on what kind of ice cream Rep. Bachmann most closely resembles. November, 2011
"The third agency of government I would - I would do away with Education, the Commerce, and, let's see. I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops."--Perry, in a GOP debate, on what federal agencies he would cut if he were elected president. November, 2011
"The higher a monkey climbs on the pole the more you can see his butt."--Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod, of Gingrich’s rise in the polls. December, 2011
"I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school." --Perry, in a television campaign ad that created quite stir for its boldness. December, 2011
"She doesn’t like Muslims, she hates Muslims, she wants to go get them."--2012 candidate and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, of Bachmann’s Middle East foreign policy. December, 2011
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