Who Talks Like That? The 22 Most Incredible Sentences from 'Game Change'

by Ana Marie Cox

John Heilemann and Mark Halperin’s ‘Game Change’ was many things, Ana Marie Cox discovered upon actually reading as one does with a book. It is a source of astounding sentences, for one thing!

But Hillary feared that her war vote would get her hooted off any campus where she spoke. (page 153)

The political gamble here was evident, but the upside was huge: If Clinton carried the caucuses, the nomination would be in the bag. (153)

They liked him and they didn’t like her, and there would be no changing that-her negatives were just too deeply cooked into the casserole. (156)

But she still had plenty of surrogates ready to sink their canines into Obama’s keister. (162)

Edwards had invited Ginsberg and Rubey to supper after seeing them at one of his events. He seemed touched that they were in Iowa, in light of the circumstances, about which he knew they were better versed than most. (169)

After Hillary left, Wolfson trundled in, bearing data from the first wave of exit polls. (188)

The next day, she resurfaced and began talks with Williams about finding a workable modus Vivendi for their jointly running the campaign. (195)

Seemingly out of nowhere, the race had suddenly turned racial with both Bill and Hillary being accused of insensitivity at best and perniciousness at worst. (197)

He’s causing agita for us, she said. It’s not good. (212)

Months later one of them shook his head and said in wonder, “It would take ten Freudians to explain what Bill Clinton did to Hillary in South Carolina.” (213)

Barack didn’t generally give a fig about endorsements. But the backing of Edward Moore Kennedy was an entirely different matter. (215)

Her Midwestern frugality made her a highly nervous Nellie about debt. (221)

Even when things had been going reasonably well, Clinton had never exactly been a buoyant Hubert Humphrey on the stump. But now her unhappy warriorhood was painfully evident. (224)

For than a month since South Carolina, Obama had been in the catbird seat. Now he braced for his turn in the barrel. (234)

And not just some ideas vomited verbally; he wanted to see paper. (244)

From Texas and Ohio onward, with a loaded gun pressed against her temple, she finally got with the program. (255)

Soon enough, the story was bannered on Drudge Report and being jibbered about on cable news. (257)

The unfolding scene was a semiotician’s fantasia. (259)

The path to peace between the Obamans and the Clintonites would not be strewn with primrose. (262)

But the truth was, dangling over his head was a sword of Damocles invisible to almost everyone, if no less menacing for that. The blade was in the form of a newspaper article that was threatening to drop any day. McCain thought it might kill more than his shot at the nomination. He thought it might destroy his career and his reputation — even though the woman at the heart of the story insisted that she’d never even been alone with him. (304)

Once again, Grisolano legged it over to the Brown Palace to take a gander. (348)

Schmidt wanted to get them on the horn and have the history of her AIP registration checked immediately. (367)

Ana Marie Cox is the Washington correspondent for GQ.