Horses and bayonets
-
Barack Obamas flippant reponse to [Mitt Romneys] complaint during their third televised debate (October 22, 2012) that the U.S. Navy had fewer [battleships] than at any time since 1917. Obamas remark that the military has fewer horses and bayonets, too makes an analogy that measuring battleships (as opposed to [aircraft carriers]) is an archaic metric of military power, in much the same way that measuring horses and bayonets would no longer indicate an armys might. (NB: Marines are still issued bayonets.)
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register LoginExplore More Definitions
Browse our collection of 300,000+ community-written definitions