Politics & Power Quote by Harry Reasoner

Reasoner’s punchline lands like a deadpan news sign-off: the numbers matter less than the diagnosis. He sets up a tidy, pseudo-scientific comparison between two beliefs - impeachment and UFOs - then twists the knife by suggesting the real problem isn’t leadership but the electorate’s cognitive equipment. It’s a classic journalist’s provocation: not “both sides,” but “both are symptoms.”

The intent is to mock what he sees as a public that treats politics like rumor and spectacle, where serious constitutional questions compete on the same mental shelf as flying saucers. That “may or may not” clause is doing sly work. It pretends to stay neutral about impeaching the President while quietly implying the debate itself has been degraded into another consumer preference, another pollable opinion. The harsher certainty arrives in the second half: “definitely need a new population.” It’s hyperbole, but calibrated hyperbole - a way of shaming credulity without having to litigate the specifics of any administration.

Subtext: democracy is only as functional as its attention span. By framing public opinion as the punchline, Reasoner redirects outrage away from Washington and toward the culture that rewards conspiratorial thinking, simplistic narratives, and entertainment-first engagement. The joke is also a warning about media ecology: when institutions can’t keep UFOs and impeachment in separate categories of evidence and seriousness, the republic becomes governable by vibes.

Contextually, it fits the late-20th-century American stew of Watergate-aftershocks, rising distrust, and tabloidized politics. Reasoner isn’t just dunking on “dumb voters”; he’s exposing how fragile civic judgment looks when belief becomes a lifestyle choice.