History Main / WindbagPolitician

* Creator/DaveBarry once mentioned the real reason Cuban troops were found all over the world in the seventies and eighties was that it was preferable to stay in Cuba, where they have to listen to extremely long speeches.

A kid-friendlier version of the SleazyPolitician, where the main purpose of elected officials is to [[NapInducingSpeak bore the audience half to death]] with rhetoric. Frequently involves {{malaproper}}s, [[UnaccustomedAsIAmToPublicSpeaking apologies for their lack of expertise in speaking]], and (broken) promises of being short and to the point.

Subtrope of TheBore. Sister trope of OldWindbag. Compare CharacterFilibuster. Often a popular trait of TheGeneralissimo.

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* RussianHumor: "Is it possible to wrap an elephant in one single Pravda newspaper?" - "Yes, if there's the full text of one of [[UsefulNotes/LeonidBrezhnev Brezhnev]]'s speeches in it." The spoken version of such a speech would be even longer and more boring, since Brezhnev was an old man and spoke very slowly.

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* Creator/DaveBarry once mentioned the real reason Cuban troops were found all over the world in the seventies and eighties was because it was preferable to staying in Cuba, where they have to listen to extremely long speeches.

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* The "Young Tory of the Year" sketch from ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'' plays on the same idea, with competitors simply rattling off Conservative buzzwords of the Thatcher era for as long as the competition will let them. They're time-limited, because it's a Serious Competition, but the clear expectation is that the Young Tory of the Year will be fully expected to be able to hold forth in that manner indefinitely.

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** Later, in series 4, Pip travels to the most boring place in all Britain, the House of Lords, as part of a plot to have a near-death experience so he can rescue his wife from the underworld. He's in luck, as Baron Arid Words is giving a lecture on evaporation. Pip soon finds himself being bored to death.

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* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure [=OA6=] ''Ronin Challenge''. During the opening ceremonies of the Kumite tournament the contestants march onto a field and take martial arts stances. A series of long-winded dignitaries then begin to give lengthy welcoming speeches. This is actually a SecretTest: the authorities are trying to weed out unqualified participants. Any of the contestants who moves even slightly during the speeches is immediately disqualified.

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-->'''Burr:''' [Hamilton] talks for six hours! The convention is listless!

--> '''Hamilton:''' Gentlemen of the jury, I’m curious, bear with me \\

* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'': Polonius, King Claudius' counselor, is prone to being long winded. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when he says "[[HypocriticalHumor Brevity is the soul of wit]]," at the end of one of his rambling speeches.

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* In ''VisualNovel/MarcoAndTheGalaxyDragon'', the Mayor is introduced giving a speech about how she wants to make Gold Cord into the kind of town where you can feel comfortable eating ice cream even in a crowded city, and starts going off on a tangent about the ice cream parlor where she bought the ice cream cone that she was eating during the speech. The press then interrupt to ask her what the hell she’s talking about.

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* V. K. Krishna Menon's 1957 speech defending India's actions in Kashmir is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest speech delivered at the United Nations, Menon almost made it to the eight hour mark when he collapsed on the podium (it served as both a sincere defense and a filibuster to prevent the Security Council from passing a resolution condemning India's actions). The longest speech at the general assembly was given by Fidel Castro (who else) in 1960, clocking in at 4 hours and 29 minutes. It was said that instead of listening, the delegates spent most of the speeches' run time carefully planning out everyone's lunch schedule so that too many people didn't accidentally leave at once and break quorum.

* As a bit of subversion, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin generally gave brief speeches (except for the Central Committee reports, which are by tradition quite detailed). Unfortunately, the speeches are liberally sprinkled with applause cues. As everyone's too afraid to be the first person to stop applauding, each round of ovations can last a good ten minutes.[[note]]This got so out of hand that they eventually installed a bell to ring and call for quiet.[[/note]] Stalin also knew about his own voice being rather high-pitched and hence not particularly "dangerous"/authoritive sounding or anything, which is one of the reasons he comparatively rarely gave speeches, kept them short and generally demanded them not to be recorded.
* In OlderThanRadio days, live speeches and debates were a form of public entertainment. In the Lincoln/Douglas debates each candidate spoke for 90 minutes. Also, the now stereotypically [[LargeHam bombastic oration]] was necessary before the invention of loudspeakers. That began to change with UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln making such an impression with his Gettysburg Address [[SimpleYetAwesome taking just two minutes]] that the featured speaker of the occasion, former Secretary of State and noted orator Edward Everett, praised him in writing for an eloquently concise speech. Incidentally, Everett spoke for a little more than two hours.

** Clinton was first brought in to deliver the keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention; where he was supposed to officially place Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis' name in nomination. Instead, Clinton went on a 32 minute speech; well past the 20 minute time limit; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvTRvTII40o resulting in many of the delegates showing their boredom as Clinton droned on.]] In the end, the only applause Clinton would get was when he said "In closing".
** The 1992 Democratic convention saw then-nominee Clinton's speech run for 53 minutes.[[note]]When the speech began, Clinton joked that he wanted to finish the speech he started in 1988. After the speech; during [[Creator/{{NBC}} NBC News]] coverage NBC commentator John Chancellor referenced a joke Clinton had made the previous day about how he didn't want his acceptance speech to be his finest hour and a half.[[/note]]

* Former Tennessee Governor Frank G. Clement[[note]]who was the youngest Governor in the state's history when he was first elected in 1952 at just 32 years of age[[/note]] had been invited to deliver the keynote address at the 1956 Democratic Convention in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} (where Clement was also considered a possible Vice-Presidential candidate). Clement, who had been known for delivering fiery stump speeches in his previous campaigns, delivered a strident speech that included jabs at [[UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]] of "staring down the green fairways of indifference" (a poke at Ike's love of golf); called [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Vice-President Nixon]] the "vice hatchet man" and pledged not to crucify the American farmer on a "Republican cross of gold" (alluding to UsefulNotes/WilliamJenningsBryan and his famous "Cross of Gold" speech 60 years earlier), punctuated by frequent intonations of "How long, America? O, how long?" The speech, relatively well received at the time, has since [[LoveItOrHateIt appeared in lists of both the best and worst convention speeches of the television age]]; with Clement being passed over by Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson and the Democratic delegates in favor of fellow Tennessee Democrat Estes Kefauver, a Senator who had challenged Stevenson in the primaries. However, among those who thought well of the speech included the aforementioned UsefulNotes/BillClinton (mentioned above[[note]]Clinton in his memoir "My Life", noted watching the speech as a 9-year-old and described it as a rousing speech[[/note]]) as well as future Georgia Governor and Senator Zell Miller[[note]]Miller, who later spoke at both the 1992 Democratic and 2004 Republican conventions, was so caught up watching the speech that he missed the birth of his first child[[/note]]

** Clinton was first brought in to deliver the keynote speech at the 1988 Democratic National Convention; where he was supposed to officially place Democratic Presidential nominee Michael Dukakis' name in nomination. Instead, Clinton went on a 32 minute speech; well past the 20 minute time limit; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvTRvTII40o resulting in many of the delegates showing their boredom as Clinton droned on]]. In the end, the only applause Clinton would get was when he said "In closing".
** The 1992 Democratic convention saw then-nominee Clinton's speech run for 53 minutes[[note]]When the speech began, Clinton joked that he wanted to finish the speech he started in 1988. After the speech; during [[Creator/{{NBC}} NBC News]] coverage NBC commentator John Chancellor referenced a joke Clinton had made the previous day about how he didn't want his acceptance speech to be his finest hour and a half.[[/note]]

* RussianHumor: "Is it possible to wrap an elephant in one single Pravda newspaper?" - "Yes, if there's the full text of one of Brezhnev's speeches in it." The spoken version of such a speech would be even longer and more boring, since Brezhnev was an old man and spoke very slowly.

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': The Helvetian assembly consists of one chieftain making a speech and every other one sleeping deeply. When they switch out, the new one even says "I will be brief..."

'''Burr:''' Why do you assume you’re the smartest in the room?]]

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', the titular character eventually becomes prone to longwinded speeches once given a political position following the revolution. Lampshaded.

** In another joke, Brezhnev is on the third hour of his speech when the KGB identify and arrest a CIA agent. When Brezhnev asks how they were able to SpotTheImposter, the KGB reply, "Comrade General Secretary, as you yourself have often stated, [[NapInducingSpeak the enemy never sleeps]]."

[[quoteright:350:[[{{ComicBook/Asterix}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/politic2.png]]]]

* As a bit of subversion, UsefulNotes/JosefStalin generally gave brief speeches (except for the Central Committee reports, which are by tradition quite detailed). Unfortunately, the speeches are liberally sprinkled with applause cues. As everyone's too afraid to be the first person to stop applauding, each round of ovations can last a good ten minutes. Stalin also knew about his own voice being rather high-pitched and hence not particularly "dangerous"/authoritive sounding or anything, which is one of the reasons he comparatively rarely gave speeches, kept them short and generally demanded them not to be recorded.

* Former Tennessee Governor Frank G. Clement[[note]]who was the youngest Governor in the state's history when he was first elected in 1952 at just 32 years of age[[/note]] had been invited to deliver the keynote address at the 1956 Democratic Convention in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} (where Clement was also considered a possible Vice-Presidential candidate). Clement, who had been known for delivering fiery stump speeches in his previous campaigns, delivered a strident speech that included jabs at [[UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower President Eisenhower]] of "staring down the green fairways of indifference" (a poke at Ike's love of golf); called [[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Vice-President Nixon]] the "vice hatchet man" and pledged not to crucify the American farmer on a "Republican cross of gold" (alluding to UsefulNotes/WilliamJenningsBryan and his famous "Cross of Gold" speech 60 years earlier), punctuated by frequent intonations of "How long, America? O, how long?" The speech, relatively well received at the time, has since [[YourMileageMayVary appeared in lists of both the best and worst convention speeches of the television age]]; with Clement being passed over by Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson and the Democratic delegates in favor of fellow Tennessee Democrat Estes Kefauver, a Senator who had challenged Stevenson in the primaries. However, among those who thought well of the speech included the aforementioned UsefulNotes/BillClinton (mentioned above[[note]]Clinton in his memoir "My Life", noted watching the speech as a 9-year-old and described it as a rousing speech[[/note]]) as well as future Georgia Governor and Senator Zell Miller[[note]]Miller, who later spoke at both the 1992 Democratic and 2004 Republican conventions, was so caught up watching the speech that he missed the birth of his first child[[/note]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/politic2.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:{{ComicBook/Asterix}}]]