History Main / OneTractMind

* Cato the Elder, ancient Roman senator, made a habit of inserting the phrase "Carthago delenda est" ("Carthage must be destroyed") or "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" ("Moreover, I am of the opinion that Carthage be destroyed") into all his speeches, even on completely unrelated matters.

Compare AuthorTract and WriterOnBoard, which is when the people at the keyboards are prone to this.

* Walter Sobchak from ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' will take ''any'' excuse to bring up the Vietnam War and the problems veterans of said war face, [[SingleIssueWonk focusing on that issue above all others]]. He even brings it up ''during a funeral'', earning the Dude’s ire. Made even sillier by a deleted scene which reveals [[spoiler:[[PhonyVeteran he’s not even a real veteran]].]]

[[folder: Literature]]
* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': Many of Napoleon's speeches end with the dire warning that "Jones will come back" if the animals do not obey whatever his latest diktat is.

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* Parodied in ''Film/LastActionHero''; Ah-nuld uses a mention of Hollywood to plug his restaurant, right after his wife told him not to. "It was a good opportunity."
* Walter Sobchak from ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' will take ''any'' excuse to bring up the Vietnam War and the problems veterans of said war face, [[SingleIssueWonk focusing on that issue above all others]]. He even brings it up ''during a funeral'', earning the Dude’s ire. Made even sillier by a deleted scene which reveals [[spoiler:[[PhonyVeteran he’s not even a real veteran]].]]

[[folder: Magazines ]]

* One issue of ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' featured a comic strip depicting then-recent then-President George W. Bush as a superhero. His power was that as long as he kept saying "9/11!", he was invincible.

[[folder: Newspaper Comics ]]

* A ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' cartoon just before the 2004 election has UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's press secretary answer every single question with "9/11". The punch line:
-->"Uh, Scott, is 9-11 the answer to every question now?"\\
"Yes, it's 9-11, 24-7."\\
"Until when?"\\
"11-2." [Election day]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* ''Website/TheOnion'' articles [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27684 "Bush on Economy: 'Saddam Must Be Overthrown'"]] and [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27599 "Bush on North Korea: 'We Must Invade Iraq.'"]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One," Brian advises Lois, in her campaign for mayor, to pander to undecided voters by giving them short, simple answers. She tests out a few phrases, and when she gets the most applause with "9/11 was bad," she decides to make "9/11" the answer to all remaining questions.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* Cato the Elder, ancient Roman senator, made a habit of inserting the phrase "Carthago delenda est" ("Carthage must be destroyed") or "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" ("Moreover, I am of the opinion that Carthage be destroyed") into all his speeches, even on completely unrelated matters.
* Polish politician [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Lepper Andrzej Lepper,]] for some time, ended all his speeches with "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek_Balcerowicz Balcerowicz]] has to leave." [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcerowicz_Plan (For a reason.)]]


[[/folder]]

** Different accounts put it as "It is for these reasons that I am of the opinion that Carthage be destroyed", which he would say at the end of a speech. Those listening must have been pretty confused after hearing that Carthage should be destroyed for totally unrelated events.
*** But he got his wish, although he didn't live to see the end of the third Punic War - the outcome was never in doubt, so he probably died satisfied. And the war itself was provoked by Roman request. Carthage couldn't hurt a fly at the time, and had even proven herself to be a faithful ally of Rome's. The excuse they used for war was that Carthage was defending its southern borders from barbarian[[note]]Numidians, whom the Romans actively encouraged to harass the Carthaginians[[/note]] incursions...

* Creator/DavidLetterman has a recurring bit where he shows a clip from "the new UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden tape" where he talks about his Oscar picks, the SuperBowl, etc. He finishes, starts to lower the mic, then raises it again to say, "Oh, and Death to America."

* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': Many of Napoleon's speeches end with the dire warning that "Snowball will come back" if the animals do not obey whatever his latest diktat is.

* Polish politician [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Lepper Andrzej Lepper]], for some time, ended all his speeches with "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek_Balcerowicz Balcerowicz]] has to leave." (For [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcerowicz_Plan a reason]].)

* ''Website/TheOnion'' articles [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27684 "Bush on Economy: 'Saddam Must Be Overthrown'"]] and [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27599 "Bush on North Korea: 'We Must Invade Iraq'"]].

* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': Many of Napoleon's speeches end with the dire that "Snowball will come back" if the animals do not obey whatever his latest diktat is.

* Parodied in 'Film/LastActionHero''; Ah-nuld uses a mention of Hollywood to plug his restaurant, right after his wife told him not to. "It was a good opportunity."

* UsefulNotes/JoeBiden said of Rudy Giuliani that "all his sentences contain three things. A noun, a verb, and 9/11."

* A ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' cartoon just before the 2004 election has GeorgeWBush's press secretary answer every single question with "9/11". The punch line:

* Cato the Elder, ancient Roman senator, made a habit of inserting the phrase "Carthago delenda est" ("Carthage must be destroyed") or "Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam" ("Moreover, I am of the opinion that Carthage be destroyed") into all his speeches.

When a politician or other public figure has a message so important that he has to insert it into all his speeches, no matter how irrelevant to what they're supposed to be about.

* A ''{{Doonesbury}}'' cartoon just before the 2004 election has GeorgeWBush's press secretary answer every single question with "9/11". The punch line:

* ''TheOnion'' articles [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27684 "Bush on Economy: 'Saddam Must Be Overthrown'"]] and [[http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27599 "Bush on North Korea: 'We Must Invade Iraq'"]].

* In the ''FamilyGuy'' episode "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One," Brian advises Lois, in her campaign for mayor, to pander to undecided voters by giving them short, simple answers. She tests out a few phrases, and when she gets the most applause with "9/11 was bad," she decides to make "9/11" the answer to all remaining questions.

* Polish politican [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Lepper Andrzej Lepper]], for some time, ended all his speeches with "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek_Balcerowicz Balcerowicz]] has to leave." (For [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balcerowicz_Plan a reason]].)

* DavidLetterman has a recurring bit where he shows a clip from "the new OsamaBinLaden tape" where he talks about his Oscar picks, the SuperBowl, etc. He finishes, starts to lower the mic, then raises it again to say, "Oh, and Death to America."

* Inevitably came up a few times on ''TheWestWing'', such as in one episode where the Democrats were about to come out with their tax plan and Will, the new deputy communications director, was working with a staff of only four inexperienced interns to write tax policy into every measly statement the president or the White House was going to make in the coming days.

* JoeBiden said of Rudy Giuliani that "all his sentences contain three things. A noun, a verb, and 9/11."

*** But he got his wish, although he didn't live to see the end of the third Punic War - the outcome was never in doubt, so he probably died satisfied. And the war itself was provoked by Roman request. Carthage couldn't hurt a fly at the time, and had even proven herself to be a faithful ally of Rome's. The excuse they used for war was that Carthage was defending its southern borders from barbarian incursions ...

*** But he got his wish, although he didn't live to see the end of the third Punic War - the outcome was never in doubt, so he probably died satisfied. And the war itself was provoked by Roman request. Carthage couldn't hurt a fly at the time, and had even proven herself to be a faithful ally of Rome's.

* It was said of Rudy Giuliani by an opponent that "all his sentences contain three things. A noun, a verb, and 9/11."

When a politician or other public figure has a message so important that he has to insert it into all his speeches, no matter how irrelevant to what they're supposed to be about.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:Film]]

[[AC:Magazines]]

[[AC:NewspaperComics]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

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* Parodied in LastActionHero; Ah-nuld uses a mention of Hollywood to plug his restaurant, right after his wife told him not to. "It was a good opportunity."

* One issue of ''MADMagazine'' featured a comic strip depicting then-recent then-President George W. Bush as a superhero. His power was that as long as he kept saying "9/11!", he was invincible.

* Charlie Brooker's ''{{Newswipe}}'' - The time: February 2010, the man: David Cameron. The overriding compulsion: to use the phrase "Broken politics" at any and every opportunity. Even worse, this is a spin-off of his next favorite meme, "Broken Britain".