The Fear Variations

Franklin Delano Roosevelt:

"Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself - nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Sarah Palin:

"We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you patriotic, hard-working, God-fearing, Muslim-fearing, socialist-fearing, black-person-fearing, um, pro-fear areas of this great nation."

John McCain:

"The only thing we have is fear."

Joe Biden:

"Back in the old neighborhood, in Scranton, when fear would come along and knock me down, my mom - and this is the God's truth - my mom wouldn't let me in the house. She'd say, Joey, I'm not letting you in until you go out there and bloody fear's nose, so you can walk down that street the next day. Ladies and gentlemen, when I take the train home to Wilmington every night and I see families sitting around the tables in the cafe car, I hear them asking questions as profound as they are ordinary. Can we afford to buy that microwaved, shrinkwrapped single-serving pizza for little Susie? Or that tiny bottle of Dewar's for Grandpa? Ten bucks for the Garden Lasagna? Hey, was that our stop?"

Barack Obama:

"I'm not just asking you not to be afraid of me. I'm not even asking you not to be afraid of Michelle. I'm asking you not to be afraid of yourselves."