October 5, 1988: The Omaha Civic Auditorium is home to the Vice Presidential Debate. The Republican Party's nominee, Dan Quayle, is just 41, but has been in the Senate for 8 years, and represented an Indiana district in the House of Representatives for 4 years before that. That's 12 years in the Congress, compared to the 14 years that John F. Kennedy had when he was elected President in 1960.
So when he's asked about his qualifications for the Presidency, in the event his running mate, the incumbent Vice President, George H.W. Bush, should win but die in office, or resign, or be impeached and removed, Quayle says, "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."
The Democratic Party's nominee, Senator Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, was 67 years old, was first elected to Congress in 1948 and to the Senate in 1970. He had run for President in 1976, but hadn't done well. He had been told by those preparing for this debate to expect this comparison.
He points out the flaw in Quayle's reasoning: "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
It had been just 25 years since JFK was assassinated, and his time in office was still fresh in many people's memories. Quayle's comparison had left many of them offended, and they cheered Bentsen's rejoinder.
Instead of saying, "I didn't say I was, Senator. I was comparing our experiences," as an intelligent man might have, Quayle got hissy and, incorrectly, said, "That was really uncalled for, Senator." Bentsen replied, "You are the one that was making the comparison, Senator. And I'm one who knew him well. And, frankly, I think you are so far apart in the objectives you choose for your country that I did not think the comparison was well-taken."
Before this debate, Quayle looked like, as Saturday Night Live would say, a "Not Ready for Prime Time Player." After it, he looked like a naive idiot. Ron Brown, chairman of Jesse Jackson's Presidential campaign and soon to be elected Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, used an old expression, saying that Quayle "looked like a deer caught in the headlights." Had these been the Presidential nominees, Bentsen would have won in a landslide.
But this debate turned out to be little more than an entertaining footnote in the campaign. Bush won in a landslide, defeating Governor Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, winning 40 States for 411 Electoral Votes. No nominee of either party has come close to those totals since.
Quayle proved to be so bad at the job of Vice President, he's never been seriously considered for the Republican nomination for President, despite being younger than the Party's nominees in 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016, and mere days older than their 2012 nominee.
Once, he was talking about how important role models are. Turns out, he was a role model -- for the stupidity, ignorance and extremism that the Republican Party has since embraced wholesale.
The Omaha Civic Auditorium opened in 1954, and was demolished in 2016. It was also famous for being the site of Elvis Presley's concert on June 19, 1977, taped for a CBS special, intended for the Christmas season. But the performance was so bad that CBS was going to shelve it permanently -- until he died, and then they showed it on October 3 of that year.
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October 5, 1988 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. The NHL season began the next day; the NBA season, not until November 4.
Game 2 of the National League Championship Series was played at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The New York Daily News had hired New York Mets pitcher David Cone to write a postseason diary. After the Mets' win last night in Game 1, he unfavorably compared Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jay Howell with Met closer Randy Myers: "We saw Howell throwing curveball after curveball and we were thinking: This is the Dodgers' idea of a stopper? Our idea is Randy, a guy who can blow you away with his heat. Seeing Howell and his curveball reminded us of a high school pitcher."
That got the Dodgers mad, and they take it out on the Mets' Game 2 starter -- who happens to be Cone. They Dodgers score a run in the 1st and 4 in the 2nd, and win, 6-3. The series is tied.
Big mistake, Coney. It's worth mentioning that he was not yet with the Mets when they won the 1986 World Series. It's also worth mentioning that, from this day forward, the Mets have never won another World Series. Cone would go on to win 5 World Series, including 4 with the Yankees.
Game 1 of the American League Championship Series was also played, at Fenway Park in Boston. Rick Honeycutt outpitched Bruce Hurst, and was backed by a home run from José Canseco, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 1-0. The A's went on to sweep this series, and were heavily favored to beat the Dodgers in the World Series. But the Dodgers won the Series in 5 game.
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