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An anecdote about Benjamin Disraeli has been in circulation for decades.
It's probably too good to be true, which means that it meets the standard of proof for the internet.
Anyway, I read it a while back, and it is worth repeating now.
Half of the Town Councilors Are Not Fools
Swedish Councilor? Benjamin Disraeli? Australian Alderman? Casey Motsisi? Dennis Skinner? Apocryphal?
Dear Quote Investigator: Recently on twitter I saw a joke about the limits placed on unparliamentary language in Britain. A photo depicted an unhappy contemporary politician in the House of Commons with a caption similar to the following:
In the past, I heard an anecdote that followed the same outline and finished with the punch line:
These words were attributed to the prominent British statesman Benjamin Disraeli. However, I haven’t been able to find a good citation. Would you please examine this topic?
....
In 1958 “An Encyclopaedia of Parliament” by Norman Wilding and Philip Laundy was published, and the authors attributed a version of the quip to Benjamin Disraeli while asserting that the event was famous:
QI has searched the Parliamentary transcripts in the Hansard database and has not yet found evidence of this humorous retraction. The word “asses” may have been censored. QI has also searched for variant expressions using words such as “fools, “knaves”, and “idiots”. If the remark was spoken then its phrasing has proved elusive.
Swedish Councilor? Benjamin Disraeli? Australian Alderman? Casey Motsisi? Dennis Skinner? Apocryphal?
Dear Quote Investigator: Recently on twitter I saw a joke about the limits placed on unparliamentary language in Britain. A photo depicted an unhappy contemporary politician in the House of Commons with a caption similar to the following:
Politician: Half the members of the opposition are crooks.
House of Commons Speaker: Please retract.
Politician: OK. Half the members of the opposition are not crooks.
House of Commons Speaker: Please retract.
Politician: OK. Half the members of the opposition are not crooks.
In the past, I heard an anecdote that followed the same outline and finished with the punch line:
Half the Cabinet members are not asses.
These words were attributed to the prominent British statesman Benjamin Disraeli. However, I haven’t been able to find a good citation. Would you please examine this topic?
....
In 1958 “An Encyclopaedia of Parliament” by Norman Wilding and Philip Laundy was published, and the authors attributed a version of the quip to Benjamin Disraeli while asserting that the event was famous:
One of the most famous concerns the occasion when Disraeli was called to order for declaring that half the Cabinet were asses. ‘Mr. Speaker, I withdraw,’ he apologized, ‘half the Cabinet are not asses!’Many an anecdote can be related involving the use of an unparliamentary expression.
QI has searched the Parliamentary transcripts in the Hansard database and has not yet found evidence of this humorous retraction. The word “asses” may have been censored. QI has also searched for variant expressions using words such as “fools, “knaves”, and “idiots”. If the remark was spoken then its phrasing has proved elusive.
The point of all this, and I do have one, is that, had Hillary had this anecdote in mind, she could have apologized by saying that half of all Trump supports are not deplorable.
