After a video surfaced where it appeared Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka (R) was caught on a hot microphone making a brazen clout request to Gov. Pat Quinn (R), we figured now’s a good time to take a look back at other politicians who have been burned with a hot mic.
Some of these are classics, but we also have on gem you’ve probably never heard of.
Here are great hot mic incidents, ranked:
5. Joe Biden, “Big F-in deal”
The Vice President just couldn’t contain his excitement in 2010 after passage of health care reform.
4. President George W. Bush on that New York Times reporter
How do you really feel?
3. President Ronald Reagan, on the Soviet Union
“We begin bombing in five minutes,” Reagan said in 1984, moments before delivering his weekly radio address.
2. Jesse Jackson, on President Barack Obama
“I want to cut his nuts off.”
1. California state assemblyman Mike Duvall on his sex life
Lesser-known nationally, but still a gem. Duvall was caught bragging about his sexual escapdes, in very graphic terms. “I like spanking her,” he can be heard saying … and that was one of the more tame comments.
This one gets the No. 1 spot due to not only the subject matter, but for the length of the hot mic incident.
