The standard for Republican politicians making themselves look foolish used to be much lower. And much less harmful to others.
June 15, 1992: Vice President Dan Quayle, helping President George H.W. Bush run for re-election, was visiting Muñoz Rivera Elementary School in Trenton, New Jersey. His coming to New Jersey was not a surprise at the time: The Republican nominee for President had won the State in every election but 1 since 1944.
But... Something happened. And it took Quayle's reputation for not being very smart, and deepened it.
Quayle had said dumb things before. Once, he misquoted the United Negro College Fund's slogan, "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," as "What was waste it is to lose one's mind." Reflecting the fact that he was from Huntington, Indiana, but had spent a good deal of time with family in Scottsdale, Arizona, he once visited California, and said, "I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix."
He seemed to be channeling baseball legend Yogi Berra with this one: "I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy, but that could change." Discussing the Holocaust, he said, "The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history." He tried to correct himself, but made things worse: "No, not our nation's. But in World War II. I mean, we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century, but in this century's history." Summing up, he said, "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."
And, of course, during his 1988 Vice Presidential debate with Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, he addressed questions about his youth and experience by saying, "I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of Vice President of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the Presidency." To which Bentsen said, "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
But on his visit to the school in Trenton, where a spelling bee was going on, 12-year-old student William Figueroa was given a word to write on the board: "Potato." He wrote it correctly. Except Quayle "corrected" him, adding an E on the end: "Potatoe."
It wasn't all Quayle's fault: The flash card he read the word from had it spelled wrong: "Potatoe." However, he did accept that spelling as correct, instead of, as he said in his memoir, trusting his own judgment.
The mockery was overwhelming. People wondered how he spelled other words. People started writing his name without an E on the end: "Dan Quayl." During his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention, Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas compared Vice Presidential nominees, saying of Bush, "He doesn't have Al Gore, and I do! Just in case you didn't notice, that's 'Gore," with an E on the end!" It got his biggest laugh of the night.
The incident didn't cost Bush the election: He was going to lose anyway, and, despite this incident and the Murphy Brown mess the previous month, Quayle ran a better campaign than Bush did.
But Quayle didn't run for President in 1996, memories of his stupidity killed his campaign in 2000, and he's never tried again.
The elder Bush, in 1988, remains the last Republican nominee to have won New Jersey. None has even come close since, despite the State having had Republican Governors for 15 of the 25 years since this incident. However, this incident had nothing to do with it.
And the kid? By the time he was 17, William Figueroa had become exactly what Quayle railed against in his "Murphy Brown speech": A son of a drug addict, and a high school dropout who'd fathered a child of his own out of wedlock. But he bounced back. Tracked down in 2019, Buzzfeed found that he was managing a Verizon store. He was married with 4 children. He said that, except for the baby, all his kids were on the honor roll -- and good at spelling. They even learned about the incident in social studies, before he had a chance to tell them.
He said that, at the time, "I just thought it was, you know, some fun thing. I didn’t know it had some political ramifications." He said Quayle had never contacted him, but that, if he did, there would be no hard feelings."
*
June 15, 1992 was a Monday. Egyptian soccer star Mohamed Salah was born. And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Yes, a 1-0 Yanks-Sox game at Fenway. Scott Sanderson went the distance for the Yankees, allowing 3 hits, but 1 was a home run by Phil Plantier in the 5th inning.
John Dopson allowed 5 hits over 8 innings, with Jeff Reardon completing the 6-hit shutout. It was the 342nd save of Reardon's career, making him the all-time leader, breaking the record set by Rollie Fingers. Given how many times the career saves record has changed hands, I decided not to make this breaking of it a separate entry.
* The New York Mets lost to the Montreal Expos, 4-1 at Shea Stadium.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Steve Avery pitched a 5-hit shutout.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Dave Hollins hit a home run. Barry Bonds did not play.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Cal Ripken went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Francisco Giants, 7-5 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 7-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Mike Magnante allowed 4 hits over 6 2/3rds innings, and Rusty Meacham and Jeff Montgomery finished the 4-hit shutout. George Brett went 3-for-5 with an RBI.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros, 7-1 at the Astrodome in Houston. Tony Gwynn went 1-for-4 with a walk.
* The Texas Rangers beat the California Angels, 5-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).
* The Oakland Athletics beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum. Jerry Browne singled Mike Bordick home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Robin Yount went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Paul Molitor went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* The Seattle Mariners beat the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. did not play.
* And the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays were not scheduled.
No comments:
Post a Comment