Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

This Week: Phil Gramm

The Republican Senator (and 1996 presidential candidate) from Texas mixes economic conservatism with homespun rhetoric. Gramm’s folksy vernacular endorses budget cuts and decreased government spending by pointing to Dicky Flatt, a print shop owner from Mexia, Tex., as a symbolic everyman. In the same hard-nosed spirit, Gramm urges welfare recipients to “get out of the wagon and help the rest of us pull.”

Gramm’s plain spoken, conservative politics have made him one of the most visible players in the G.O.P., despite the fact that he served his first three terms in Congress as a Democrat. Test your knowledge of his one-liners below.

Gramm once described himself as:
“The pit bull of the American Right.”
“Strom Thurmond without the orange hair.”
“The skunk at the garden party.”
“Dickey Flatt’s second cousin.”
“A foot soldier for the Bush Revolution.”
Gramm earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Georgia, but his early educational experiences were rocky, to say the least. Which of the following grades did Gramm not fail?
3rd
4th
7th
9th
In 1974, Gramm sent investment money to the producer of which two movies?
“Truck Stop Women” and “Beauty Queens”
“The Candidate” and “All the President’s Men”
“Debbie Does Dallas” and “Saturday Night Fever”
“Night of the Living Dead” and “Nightmare on Elm Street”
“The Story of O” and “The Hatchet Murders”
When asked if he would consider a woman as his vice-presidential running mate, how did Gramm respond?
“Like who — some witch like Bella Abzug?”
“I can’t imagine a woman saying yes.”
“Elizabeth Dole says she’s sticking with Bob.”
“We need brains, not boobs.”
“Sophia Loren is not a citizen.”
According to Gramm, “I own more _____________ than I need. But not as many as I want.”
porno magazines
pictures of myself
web pages
copies of Newt’s novel
shotguns