Can someone explain to me how exactly Quayle got such a bad reputation.
The only gaffe I remember was the ‘potatoe’ incident which was blown way out of proportion. He won the election as VP, had a good service as a legislator, no major faux-pax as VP, what exactly did he do wrong. Other then being on the losing ticket in 1992. That loss was not his fault, Bush Sr has plenty of mea culpas on that one.
For me, I remember Quayle as a good man and if I was to be compared to him I would take it as a compliment.
He is more famous for what Lloyd Bentsen said. The idea had been floating around that women would vote for Quayle because he was handsome (the same had been said about J F Kennedy).
When they asked Quayle about his relative inexperience, he compared himself to Kennedy. Then Bentsen replied (probably a prepared remark):
Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy: I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.
Although I agreed with Quayle on issues, I thought Bentsen came out on top on that point.
OK, back to the title of this thread, Palin = Quayle?
Are some voters pretty stupid? I think so, but I would not say that publicly in a political campaign. Voters are stupid, but they don't want anyone to remind them of that fact.
Maybe some voters would vote for Quayle because of his looks or Palin because of her gender. For what it's worth, I think both Qualyle and Palin should have been more subtle about that. It's obvious Palin is a woman. Let it sink in naturally instead of obvious hints like using Hillary's "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" in her very first speech as nominee.