“They have medicaments. They have hot food. They have shelter for the night. Of course, their current lodgings are a bit temporary. But they should see it like a weekend of camping."— Silvio Berlusconi, on the 17,000 Italians left homeless by Monday’s earthquake
Andrew Medichini / AP Photo
“So many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this—this [chuckles] is working very well for them.”— Barbara Bush, suggesting Hurricane Katrina refugees would enjoy living in the Houston Astrodome, 2005
Scott Olson / Getty Images
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners. You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline. You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession.”—former Sen. Phil Gramm, then a John McCain adviser, on the flagging economy, 2008
Douglas Healey / AP Photo
“Now, tell me the truth, boys, is this kind of fun?”— Tom DeLay, to a group of evacuees after Hurricane Katrina, 2005
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
"I think you will see a great deal more restraint and a better-policed code of ethics [in pursuing paparazzi photos]. … It would be a major cost-saving if we can see this through."— Rupert Murdoch, shortly after Princess Diana died in a chase with paparazzi photographers
"Then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma? When you’re not nice, that the bad things happen to you?"— Sharon Stone, after the Chinese earthquake, 2008
Dave Hogan / Getty Images
"This shuttle thing will cost us ten cents a share this year." — Charles Locke, CEO of the aerospace company Morton-Thiokol, the maker of the faulty rocket boosters on the Space Shuttle Challenger, 1986
Bruce Weaver / AP Photo
“Stuff happens.”— Donald Rumsfeld, on the looting that followed the American invasion of Iraq, 2003
Larry Marano / Retna
