In an election year, it should not be surprising so many opportunities were made available as "Quote of the Year".   In fact, my "winner" does come from a political person.

There were numerous things Joe Biden said that could have been declared the "Quote of the Year", including his comment at the Center for American Progress Action Fund with a largely black audience...

"Romney wants to let the—he said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules–unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains."

If Biden were a republican, his career would have been over.   But, because he's a democrat, and he was just being Joe, no big deal.   We know it was no big deal because the "mainstream media" never made it one.   So, that doesn't win.

Mitt Romney could have won for a couple of quotes, including when he made a passing reference to earning a "little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away".   His little bit of income from the book was $347,327.62!   At least he gave it all away.

Or, who could forget his famous "47%" comment.   We couldn't forget it because democrats used it as campaign fodder which was fine.   But there was also a willing "mainstream media" that kept it alive above and beyond its shelf life, unlike Biden's comment which expired quickly in the media pantry.

Romney also received scrutiny for his late-in-the-campaign ad suggesting President Obama "sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China".   When the company you reference, in this case Chrysler, disputes what is said, you should probably stop saying it.   Romney's campaign didn't.   And again, a willing "mainstream media" made sure it was analyzed, over-analyzed, and analyzed some more, unlike Biden's comment which was (almost) never analyzed at all.

There were other politicians and their comments on women that could easily have been a “Quote of the Year”, but they all suffered appropriate backlash, some losing elections.  

What about Rush Limbaugh and what he said about Sandra Fluke?   I thought Rush was right on the point of his comment, just horribly wrong in the way he said it.   Rush had to apologize and actually lost some advertising sponsors.   Thankfully, Joe Biden didn't make any comments about women, though it wouldn't have mattered if he did.   And he didn’t lose anything after making the “chains” comment.      

Completely out of the political arena was when actor Mark Wahlberg suggested in a magazine article that if he had been aboard one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on 9/11, he could have taken action to thwart the attack and land the aircraft safely.  His quote was, "If I was on that plane with my kids, it wouldn't have went down like it did.   There would have been a lot of blood in that first class cabin and then me saying - OK, we're going to land somewhere safely, don't worry".   He couldn't apologize fast enough, unlike Joe Biden.

I could go on and on and on and on.   I won't.

So, here it is, my "Quote of the Year" from 2012...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for this comment about Mitt Romney:

"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years!  Now, do I know that that's true?  Well, I'm not  certain."

Harry thought his accusation was so good, he made it not once, not twice, but at least three (if not more) separate times, including on the floor of the senate when he said "So the word is out that he has not paid any taxes for 10 years. Let him prove he has paid taxes, because he has not."

Many liberals and left-leaning commentators had a tough time defending Reid.   Most said it was wrong for him to make such an unsubstantiated accusation.

Even Joe Biden couldn't top that!   However, like Joe, Reid's comment wasn't a "mainstream media" focus.

That meant that Reid never had to back down.   Reid never had to apologize.

Auditors at Price Waterhouse Cooper later released a letter stating Romney did pay taxes every year between 1990-2009.

And still, no acknowledgement from Harry Reid.  

Congratulations on being my 2012 "Quote of the Year"!

I wonder if Harry will acknowledge this?