-
Grandfather Abraham
April 17, 2009 | 8 comments
-
Executive Vacancy
April 10, 2009 | 16 comments
-
After Allard
August 8, 2008 | 0 comments
-
Map Quest
June 9, 2008 | 1 comment
-
Deja Do-Over
April 16, 2008 | 0 comments
Political Hay
Quayle Takes Flight
An intriguing political turnaround for the former vice president.
The 2000s were a quiet decade politically for former Vice President Dan Quayle. After flaming out early in his bid for the 2000 GOP presidential nomination the oft-ridiculed former veep repaired to a lucrative private business career and generally stayed out of the political limelight.
Now Quayle is sticking his toe back in the political waters again if not diving in headfirst. In recent months he made a couple of eyebrow-raising political contributions to Republican candidates. Then in March he announced on Fox News that his oldest son, Ben Quayle, will seek the Republican nomination for an open House seat in Arizona.
It’s an intriguing turnaround for President George H.W. Bush’s understudy. It’s been nearly a full generation since the then-Indiana senator was thrust onto the national stage at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans. At the time Capitol Hill colleagues knew Quayle as a serious policy wonk and expert on arms control and welfare policy. Quayle had also demonstrated serious political acumen, having knocked off an incumbent Democratic member of Congress before he was 30 and four years later taken down Democratic Sen. Birch Bayh, a Hoosier State political titan.
But Quayle’s boyishly grinning performance upon being introduced as Bush’s running mate in front of a Mississippi steamboat on a hot summer’s day cemented his image as a political lightweight. Questions over draft avoidance in Vietnam and a spotty academic record didn’t help his cause. Nor did they a prove much of a liability, as the Bush-Quayle ticket coasted to a 40-state rout.
Quayle’s early years as vice president weren’t much better as critics repeatedly blasted him for verbal malapropisms. Behind the scenes Quayle was given serious policy responsibilities overseeing the space program and reviewing business regulations.
Arguably his finest moment came in the 1992 vice presidential debate against then-Sen. Al Gore, a former House and Senate colleague. Quayle threw a series of verbal jabs that threw Bill Clinton’s running mate off-guard, and he arguably won the debate.
After the 1992 Clinton victory Quayle tried to position himself for a future presidential run. He wrote a well-received memoir and moved his family to Arizona. Citing health reasons he passed up a 1996 bid, but as the decade wound down he set his sights on 2000. As a former vice president Quayle figured he would seem the natural choice for Republican primary voters. It didn’t turn out that way as Texas Gov. George W. Bush — son of Quayle’s old boss — sucked up the GOP establishment oxygen. Quayle never made it to the starting gate of primary season.
At that point Quayle largely fell off the political radar, turning his attention toward profitable business ventures. He became head of the international division at Cerberus Capital Management, traveling the globe to drum up business, with political contacts no doubt proving helpful.
For the past decade Quayle has distanced himself from politics to a remarkable degree for a former vice president. During an October 2008 interview in Cerberus’ New York offices Quayle greeted a reporter getting up from his own computer terminal where he had been doing email. A subsequent interview took place one-on-one, with no press aides present. The former vice president said he had not even watched the previous night’s presidential debate and allowed that he skipped the Republican National Convention a month earlier. His walls did feature photos of the 1989 presidential inaugural and a few other political mementos but otherwise there were few suggestions that the businessman in the corner office had once been privy to national security secrets.
Now Quayle is getting back into the political game, sort of. In December 2009 he contributed $1,000 to the campaign of New Hampshire GOP Senate candidate Ovide Lamontagne. A month earlier he gave $1,000 to Rep. Dan Burton, the long-time Indiana Republican who is facing a spirited primary challenge.
Then in February Dan Quayle announced that his son Ben, a lawyer and venture capitalist, is running for the GOP nod in Arizona’s Third Congressional District. Conservative stalwart John Shadegg is retiring after 16 years and Ben Quayle faces tough Republican primary competition from a pair of former state representatives and several local officials.
The race will offer an intriguing test about how much a famous last name, albeit one from 20 years ago, helps in a fast-growing state like Arizona where many younger voters may not remember the Quayle vice presidency.
Whatever the outcome it’s a sign that Dan Quayle, though retired from politics himself, is not just a political figure from the past. Since he was only 46 when he exited the understudy’s role in 1993 it’s possible that he will spend four decades or more as an ex-vice president. Not many can make that claim.
David Mark is author of Going Dirty: The Art of Negative Campaigning.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (38) | Leave a comment
More Articles by David Mark
More Articles From Political Hay
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/04/20/quayle-takes-flight
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Alan Brooks| 4.20.10 @ 8:18AM
Quayle is too good a person to be in the dirty, brawling, business of politics. Palin, a woman, is much tougher.
Want to be good? be a clergyman.
Or clergywoman.
Edo| 4.20.10 @ 9:04AM
Dan Quayle is more the elder statesman and less the egomaniac, so he has been able to get on with his life after being VP. Too bad Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have chosen the other path: egomaniacs both!
Ned| 4.20.10 @ 10:56AM
Clinton or Carter? Wannabes, both! Just imagine how much cleaner the environment would be if Algore behaved as Dan Q has done! Good old Al provides a perfect caricature of a pig at the trough... even in appearance!
BTW - I've come to the conclusion that BHO is really just an unwitting dupe in a conspiracy, perpetrated on us all so that Carter will no longer be the worst president in US history, and even moving Clinton up a notch. So far, it's working well.
Edo| 4.20.10 @ 11:27AM
Major oversight on my part to leave Al Gore off the list...
SchnauChef| 4.21.10 @ 2:49PM
You know, Ned, I have wondered now and again, if a group (some might say a cabal) didn't recruit BHO. At a younger age tell him, "Look you and your kin can ride in the big pretty plane, move into the biggest house, and strike that Il Duce pose with your chin... all you have to do is read what we write on the TelePrompTer."
maverick muse| 4.20.10 @ 9:57AM
Quayle moved to AZ to get away from the spotlight and take advantage of opportunism there precisely so that given time his son could claim to represent AZ at some point. Problem is, no Quayle would represent AZ any more than McCain has represented AZ. These are strictly politicians representing themselves and their own political careers and fortunes, abusing their constituents/serfs with blithe disregard. There's no guess where squishy Quayle stands on enforcing current law vs. the progressive legislation of more "new, improved" comprehensive reforms, whether IMMIGRATION and massive amnesty for illegal alien criminals and open borders for organized crime to thrive, or the "need" for more government intervention via more tax funded bureaucracies to run the Marxist federal government with neoconservatives at the helm to bail-out the biggest international globalist thieves of all in order to absolutely crush liberty.
NO MORE SOCIALIST NEOCONSERVATIVE SNOWBIRDS PRESUMING TO BE "ARIZONANS" NEED APPLY. Been there; done that. Tea Party interests, beware.
Go Noble. NO BAIL-OUTS!
maverick muse| 4.20.10 @ 9:59AM
"Want to be good? be a clergyman."
AS IF.
steve purtell| 4.20.10 @ 10:15AM
Quayle could have been a great President, but needed to overcome his lightweight image. He should have run for the Senate or Governor of Indiana or Arizona. Palin needs to decide if her goal is to make money or be President. If the latter, she should be making plans for a Senate bid.
Matt Morehouse| 4.20.10 @ 10:45AM
Very well said. Palin should run for at least the Senate from some, any, state before running for higher office.
Anthony| 4.20.10 @ 10:19AM
The entire Dan Quayle episode demonstrated how seriously unprepared the Republican establishment was for the scorched earth political wars conducted by the Left.
Compared to the real resume challenged Obama, Quayle was light years ahead of The One, yet the template set by the leftist media stuck. The R establishment, once again, sat around with its collective thumb up its butt.
If Quayle had ever said children need a breathilizer, as opposed to an inhalator, Matthews and company would still be chortling about it to this day.
Yes, the leftist establishment is formidable, and still the R establishment remains passive and clueless.
Except Sarah Palin, she knows how to take it to the left and Obama. Lots of lessons to be learned from that spirited woman, but first, the Rs have to come out from behind mommies skirt.
Mimi| 4.20.10 @ 11:00AM
CLICK?????? ...... Do you think it'spossible that Sarah Palin.... Could run against Charles Schumer in NEW YORK????? OMG that would be heaven!!!
Anthony| 4.20.10 @ 4:17PM
Mimi, (Goodness, I just love that name, from my favorite opera, brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it) why go small game hunting when sister Sarah can bag the truly big game prize?
Sister Sarah's going to Pennsylvania.... avenue that is.
Ken| 4.20.10 @ 11:30AM
I agree with the comment made that if Quayle wanted to be taken seriously as a candidate for Prfesident in 2000 he should have first run for governor of Indiana or Arizona (or ran for the Senate again) and spend a few years rebuilding the doofus image he had been (albeit only partially I have to say...) labelled with by the press core. That he didn't may provide a clue as to how perhaps how unimportant becoming prez ultimately was to his sense of self, since he has since appeared to have made a seamless and contented transistion to private life for which we should all wish him well.
Northern Rebel| 4.20.10 @ 11:36AM
Dan Quayle is that rare breed of politician:
A Reagan conservative! Nothing he has ever said or done in his life has betrayed that foundation.
I have learned that liberals tell you who they are afraid of, by the way they treat people they perceive to be a threat to their evil agenda.
They went out of their way to destroy Quayle's reputation for a reason: he was the real thing.
I don't know if he can overcome the alphabet media's distortions of his record or character, but he thinks like me, and is a constitutional conservative in every way shape, and manner, and I would gladly cast my vote for this great American.
Margie| 4.20.10 @ 9:57PM
I like him, too. He's a good man. Like you said a Reagan conservative. He's got the Reagan temperament!
Albert| 4.20.10 @ 11:39AM
The contrast between former VP's Quayle and Gore could not be more dramatic. Quayle has made a successful and prosperous life for himself and his family. Gore is ripping people off with his Global Warming hoax and his pollution credits fraud. Quayle has class. Gore does not.
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.20.10 @ 11:39AM
RE Sarah
I am going to watching her VERY carefully over the next seven months. I am guessing she is going to make a WHOLE lot of friends in congress stumping for them.
Grab your popcorn, folks, it might be a reeeeealy good shew. (That was Ed Sullivan, youngsters)
GreyLion| 4.20.10 @ 4:39PM
Ken,
They have no idea who he was. Heck, its been so long I am having trouble remembering who he was.
Margie| 4.20.10 @ 10:01PM
Ed Sullivan's reeeeally big "shoe" meant banana splits and gathering around the t.v. with Mom & Dad and the family.
Sarah Palin is a force to be reckoned with. Like Reagan, she is unstoppable. She's got the Reagan temperamnet too.
Go Sarah!
yuwei| 4.20.10 @ 1:38PM
The Left then realized that Dan Quayle was a rising star, so they did everything to sack him. If there were more conservative news media back then, the outcome would be much different. The Left is trying to do the same to Sarah Palin, also a rising star. Fortunately this time around Fox News and other conservative news media are available to defend her.
Jim| 4.20.10 @ 3:17PM
Mr. Quayle should think about running himself for the governorship of Arizona. He has a lot to offer.
David | 4.20.10 @ 4:09PM
I always liked Quayle. A class act compared to recent dem VP's and prez's.
Yep, the leftist media after 20+ years still brings up the fact that he misspelled potato. But Obama can say "I have campaigned in 57 states with 2 more to go" and he gets a complete pass. Not to mention all of the other ridiculous things he has said.
Bruce | 4.20.10 @ 5:35PM
How does misspelling [arguably] "potato" compare to pronouncing Corpsman as "corpse man"? Apparently the left works from a completely different perspective.
Dave| 4.20.10 @ 7:40PM
Remember Quayle had to quit the campaign trail because of blood clots in the leg. He was much brighter than many of those running (not talking about Bush). Also, I believe when I was in school we we're taught to spell "potato (potatoe) also with an "e". Some folks can't spell potato.
Dave| 4.20.10 @ 7:44PM
I could support Quayle or Palin. Beware of whoever the lib press starts talking up-like Romney.
J.R. Mc Grath| 4.20.10 @ 10:38PM
The Left went after Dan Quayle because they didn't want him around. The were afraid of him. Remember he was one who told Pres. Bush at the time to stick to, "Read My Lips." Bush didn't listen to him but listen to the Left and when he passed the tax increase the Left was on him like a wet suit. Quayle had the enemy figure out and he paid for it dearly. When are the Republicans going to come out swinging. The Left fear Palin also. It is as clear as glass.
Robert| 4.20.10 @ 11:55PM
Dan Quayle's humility is rare in politics.
gearjammer| 4.21.10 @ 5:33AM
The media that defined the world and all who played upon it is not what it used to be in power,scope,and credibility. Thank goodness. Some things do change for the good. By the way, Mrs. Quayle was the kind of street fighter we needed to unleash back then. In some ways, she was a precursor to Palin. She was quite brainy, too. A Palin-Marilyn Quayle Hybrid might be a GOP dream candidate. Sorry, to those of you who think Palin is perfect already. Being smarter and more experienced and having more integrity than Obama is not perfect. It is a rather low bar to get over.
supra tk society | 4.30.10 @ 11:21PM
Supra Shoes are very popular in the world.supra skytop shoes Many infantile people are possible to buy 2010 Supra Shoes.
jfksd| 7.1.10 @ 1:26AM
beijing massage shanghai girl