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Originally posted by patcon
Dan Quayle is a former Vice President of the US, under Georege H. W. Bush. He achieved a level of noteriety based on a perceived lack of intelligence, a perception to which he regularly contributed. He was villified by the press for this, and also for his avoidance of combat duty during Vietnam as a result of his getting into the Indiana National Guard because of his family connections. (Any of this sound familiar?)
One of his "blunders" was to rail against the title character in the TV sitcom "Murphy Brown" for her choice to become a mother without the assistance of a husband, or even a significant male in her life to help raise the child. He said she was setting a bad example for the women of America by making it appear that single motherhood was perfectly OK, because everything would be OK for her, as a wealthy TV reporter who could afford good help and take time off to be with her chld as needed. He was ridiculed for not realizing that "Murphy Brown" was a fictional character. (In fairness, his comments made it seem like he thought she was a real person.) However the argument "It's only a TV show and doesn't influence society" that the press used to attack Quayle is faulty. If TV doesn't influence society then why do advertisers spend so much money on commercials and product placement?
His most famous blunder was when he did a photo-op at an elementary school spelling bee. He was asked to be a celebrity word-reader/judge and was given a list of words to give to the children. One word was "potato", the child said "p-o-t-a-t-o" and Quayle said nothing, but instead gave hand motions to continue (he was trying to "help" the child), the child looked confused then said "e?", to which Quayle said "correct". With cameras filming this staged event, it of course hit the national news that evening with the implication that the Vice President can't even spell a simple word like "potato". What was not reported was that the cards he was given with the words (and pronunciation, definition, sentence, and origin) had the word spelled "potatoe". So, if he thought that tjhe cards were correct (as one might reasonably expect in a spelling bee) and not a mistake (or an attempt to make him look foolish) then he was simply trying to elicit the response he was told was correct. Of course that means he was cheating by intentionally helping a child in a spelling bee look smart on national TV.
Was he a good VP? I don't think so.
Was he a Vietnam draft dodger? Absolutely.
Was he as stupid as the press made him out to be? ???
Dan Quayle is a former Vice President of the US, under Georege H. W. Bush. He achieved a level of noteriety based on a perceived lack of intelligence, a perception to which he regularly contributed. He was villified by the press for this, and also for his avoidance of combat duty during Vietnam as a result of his getting into the Indiana National Guard because of his family connections. (Any of this sound familiar?)
One of his "blunders" was to rail against the title character in the TV sitcom "Murphy Brown" for her choice to become a mother without the assistance of a husband, or even a significant male in her life to help raise the child. He said she was setting a bad example for the women of America by making it appear that single motherhood was perfectly OK, because everything would be OK for her, as a wealthy TV reporter who could afford good help and take time off to be with her chld as needed. He was ridiculed for not realizing that "Murphy Brown" was a fictional character. (In fairness, his comments made it seem like he thought she was a real person.) However the argument "It's only a TV show and doesn't influence society" that the press used to attack Quayle is faulty. If TV doesn't influence society then why do advertisers spend so much money on commercials and product placement?
His most famous blunder was when he did a photo-op at an elementary school spelling bee. He was asked to be a celebrity word-reader/judge and was given a list of words to give to the children. One word was "potato", the child said "p-o-t-a-t-o" and Quayle said nothing, but instead gave hand motions to continue (he was trying to "help" the child), the child looked confused then said "e?", to which Quayle said "correct". With cameras filming this staged event, it of course hit the national news that evening with the implication that the Vice President can't even spell a simple word like "potato". What was not reported was that the cards he was given with the words (and pronunciation, definition, sentence, and origin) had the word spelled "potatoe". So, if he thought that tjhe cards were correct (as one might reasonably expect in a spelling bee) and not a mistake (or an attempt to make him look foolish) then he was simply trying to elicit the response he was told was correct. Of course that means he was cheating by intentionally helping a child in a spelling bee look smart on national TV.
Was he a good VP? I don't think so.
Was he a Vietnam draft dodger? Absolutely.
Was he as stupid as the press made him out to be? ???
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