Nevada GOP senate nominee Sharron Angle made the least coherent debate of this midterm season briefly watchable last week when she yelled "Man up, Harry Reid!" at the 70-year-old majority leader of the United States Senate. Angle's comment kept people buzzing for days--specifically about the quote's rightful place alongside Madison's "Conscience is the most sacred property of all" and Franklin Roosevelt's "A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough" in the annals of simple and stirring American political quotations. But she was hardly the first politician to go to the "man up" well. Scouring the Internet, we managed to piece together a rich, comprehensive history of the 2010 election cycle's hottest talking point, tracing it all the way back to the bygone days of 2008. It will possibly be the most important piece of historical research you read all day.

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Ray Gustini