Jason Alexander, Romney Feud: Politician Misquotes Seinfeld
It is not unusual for politicians to refer famous and powerful quotes while giving political speeches. However it did seem strange when Mitt Romney misquoted a Seinfeld character- again.
In an opening statement during Wednesday night's CNN debate, Romney was midway through a sentence when he was overtaken by applause. The hopeful Republican candidate decided to stop mid-sentence and use the moment to fit in a joke.
"I want to restore America's promise, and I'm going to do that," Romney said before he was overtaken. "As George Costanza would say, when they're applauding, stop," Romney then added in the joke.
The joke may have been better received if he hadn't already used it in a similar way before, and Romney became the one to be laughed at when the actor who plays Costanza, Jason Alexander, actually responded.
The joke sounded far too similar to another CNN debate that Romney participated in during December of last year. Romney used the comment to woo his crowd while speaking at a South Carolina Town Hall.
The comment is in reference to a 1998 Seinfeld episode where Costanza makes an attempt to end all of his conversations on the high note. It also appears that the reference may be better attributed to another character, Jerry.
"I lost them. I can usually come up with one good comment during a meeting but by the end it's buried under a pile of gaffs and bad puns," George said to Jerry in the episode.
"Showmanship, George. When you hit that high note, you say goodnight and walk off," Jerry responded.
Jason Alexander, the actor who played George, took to Twitter to throw out some more "Seinfeld" humor.
"Thrilled Gov. Romney enjoys my old character. I enjoyed the character he used 2 b 2. If he'd embrace that again, he'd b a great candidate," Alexander wrote on Twitter.
The problem however, is that Alexander doesn't seem to be kidding, and some fans have taken the actor's side and joked about Romney messing up the line.
"Does NOBODY realize that JERRY SEINFELD said the line that Mitt constantly refers to, not George. But looking at that transcript, Mitt does resemble George's character with the 'gaffes and bad puns,'" Big Head Tod wrote on The Huffington Post blog.
