Politics & Power Quote by Michael Kinsley

Kinsley’s line lands because it flips the entire etiquette of political speech into a deadpan punchline: the “gaffe” isn’t the clumsy misstatement, it’s the accidental moment of clarity. The joke is surgical. It assumes everyone already knows the basic choreography of politics - evasions, euphemisms, strategic vagueness - and then treats that choreography as so normal that honesty becomes the true breach of protocol.

The intent is not just to dunk on politicians for lying; it’s to expose how the media and the public participate in the fiction. Calling something a “gaffe” frames it as a technical error, a PR mishap, an avoidable slip. Kinsley’s subtext is that the real problem isn’t the slip, it’s the system that requires constant non-truths to function smoothly. The politician who blurts out an unvarnished motive (“we’re cutting taxes to reward our donors,” “we can’t afford that promise,” “this war is about leverage”) has violated the unwritten rule: you may pursue power, but you must narrate it as virtue.

Context matters: Kinsley, a journalist steeped in the late-20th-century press ecosystem, is taking aim at the “gotcha” culture that treats honesty as scandal and polish as competence. The line also explains why “authenticity” is so valuable - and so easily faked. If truth is a gaffe, then sincerity becomes a weapon, and the public is left choosing between performers, not policies.