Long before there were bloggers I remember the HUGE BREAKING NEWS that Gerald Ford tripped or Dan Quayle misspelled “potato”.
It all depends on whose ox is being gored, doesn't it?
Dan Quayle misspelled “potato”
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When Dan Quayle ‘reportedly” misspelled ‘potato’. The true story is a child at the blackboard was asked to spell potato, and the card in Quayle’s hand, given to him by the New Jersey public school teacher, had the word spelled with an ‘e’ at the end. When the child did not write the ‘e’, Quayle asked him if he had forgotten anything, not wanting to offend the teacher, in front of TV cameras.
From that tiny incident, came the entire reputation of vp Quayle. Thanks old media.