Post turtle explained

Post turtle is a phrase that has been used in political discourse of various countries based on an old joke about the leader of a group being comparable to a turtle balanced on top of a fence post.[1]

On Good Morning America in 1998, Hillary Clinton said "if you find a turtle on a fence post, it didn't get there by accident and I just look at the landscape around here and I see just lots of big old turtles sitting on lots of fence posts and I think we need to find out how those old turtles got on those fence posts."[2]

Describing a person who is a post turtle, "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with."[3]

Notes and References

  1. News: Kennedy, William . The New York Times . March 24, 2002 . The Turtle on the Fence Post . February 18, 2017 . December 2, 2007 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071202135819/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E4D91039F937A15750C0A9649C8B63 . live .
  2. Web site: Hillary Clinton talks about turtles on fence posts . . 21 August 2013 .
  3. Web site: October 19, 2016 . Donald Trump's campaign in two words a picture. . July 21, 2024 . Daily Kos.