LOL! I said last night that he'd sunk his own campaign when he uttered those words.... ;^)
POTTERY BARN RULE: Allegedly--"if you break it, you buy it."
From the Washington Pravda--Bob Woodward's book, "Plan of Attack" indicated that Sec'y Powell said something akin to the Pottery Barn Rule to the President before Iraq: "If you break it, you own it."
That exchange never occurred. The Pottery Barn doesn't have such a rule.
[Research credit to the Washington Pravda.]