On August 18, 1988, George H. W. Bush accepted the Republican nomination in New Orleans. “And the Congress will push me to raise taxes and I’ll say no. And they’ll push, and I’ll say no, and they’ll push again, and I’ll say, to them, “Read my lips: no new taxes.”” The speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote the passage.
In 1990 Bush agreed to a budget compromise that increased several existing taxes. The New York Post ran the headline “Read my Lips: I Lied.” In 1992 Pat Buchanan and Bill Clinton both used the pledge against him. Bush lost the election, and the broken promise is counted among the important reasons.