Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, left, had one thing to have fun after the 1988 vice presidential debate. Quayle not a lot. Bettmann by way of Getty

If you happen to assume that vice presidential debates – just like the one on Oct. 7 between Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris – haven’t any political impression, I’ve two phrases for you:

Dan Quayle.

After George H.W. Bush chosen the little-known 41-year-old Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his operating mate, the youthful-looking Quayle tried to deflect issues about his age and inexperience by evaluating himself to John F. Kennedy, who additionally had served as a congressman and senator earlier than operating for president in 1960.

Quayle’s handlers instructed him to not convey up the comparability throughout his solely debate with the Democratic vice presidential candidate, Lloyd Bentsen. In contrast to Quayle, Kennedy was a struggle hero throughout World Warfare II, had gained a Pulitzer Prize and had a nationwide status when he entered the presidential race.

Nonetheless, when on Oct. 5, 1988, debate moderator Tom Brokaw questioned whether or not Quayle was certified to be vice chairman, Quayle answered, “I’ve as a lot expertise … as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency.”

Bentsen, a longtime Texas senator, was ready.

“Senator,” he famously drawled. “I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a good friend of thoughts. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

Quayle’s expression is frozen in time, the chastened look of a boy despatched to his room.

The mic drop second of the 1988 vice presidential debate.

A cautionary story

The Bentsen-Quayle trade, which options prominently in my new e book, “The Artwork of the Political Putdown,” stays maybe probably the most well-known second within the historical past of American political debates.

The Bentsen-Quayle debate was considered by 50 million folks in 1988. The Kennedy bit continues to be obtainable on-line, billed because the “Lloyd Bentsen’s mic drop second.” That clip will little question be mentioned and considered earlier than the Pence-Harris debate, as it’s each 4 years.

The disastrous debate second didn’t truly damage Bush, who simply beat out Michael Dukakis. Nevertheless it dogged Quayle, who throughout Bush’s time period was the punchline of many jokes. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts instructed one which went, “The Secret Service is underneath orders that if President Bush is shot, they’re to shoot Dan Quayle, too.”

Quayle’s legacy is the cautionary story of how he let himself be outlined by that debate mistake.

Bush and Quayle on the 1988 Republican Nationwide Conference.

Shepard Sherbell/CORBIS SABA/Corbis by way of Getty Picture

Quayle by no means recovered

One of many classes of the Quayle-Bentsen trade is take heed to your advisers. Quayle didn’t. Bentsen did.

Secondly, Quayle made the worst of a foul second on nationwide tv. He may have restricted the harm of Bentsen’s comeback with self-deprecating humor – like President Ronald Reagan as soon as did.

When Doonesbury sketch artist Garry Trudeau wrote a strip that took readers on a tour of President Reagan’s mind and located solely marbles, Reagan responded by saying, “Cartoonists occupy a particular place in my coronary heart. I hope Garry Trudeau will do not forget that. It’s coronary heart, Garry, not mind, coronary heart.”

When Doonesbury poked enjoyable of Quayle, nevertheless, Quayle complained.

“It’s well-known that Garry Trudeau has a private vendetta towards me,” he stated.

Late-night comic Johnny Carson then joked, “That’s the way in which to get via to Quayle – make enjoyable of him on the comics web page.”

When Bush ran for reelection in 1992, Quayle stated he was going to be the marketing campaign’s “pit bull” towards Democrat Invoice Clinton. When requested about this, Clinton laughed and stated, “That’s acquired each hearth hydrant in America nervous.”

You say ‘potato,’ he says ‘potatoe’

Quayle himself perpetuated his status as a dour light-weight.

In 1992 he attacked tv character Murphy Brown, an single information anchor, for having a toddler out of wedlock.

In response, late-night comedian David Letterman regarded straight into the digital camera and instructed Quayle to concentrate. “I’m solely going to say this as soon as. Murphy Brown is a fictional character!”

Then, in June 1992, throughout a visit to an elementary college, Quayle corrected a 12-year-old boy who had accurately spelled “potato,” including an “e” to the phrase.

American comedians had a discipline day.

“Possibly the vice chairman ought to stop watching ‘Murphy Brown’ and begin watching ‘Sesame Avenue,” joked the late-night TV host Jay Leno.

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“It was greater than a gaffe,” Quayle wrote of the p-o-t-a-t-o-e second in his 1994 memoir, “Standing Agency.” “It was a ‘defining second’ of the worst possible variety. I can’t overstate how discouraging and exasperating the entire occasion was.”

Quayle thought the incident acquired a lot play as a result of “it appeared like an ideal illustration of what folks thought of me.”

Dan Quayle was a one-term vice chairman whose best contribution to politics got here in a VP debate. Within the dog-eat-dog world of politics, no politician since has needed to finish up on the Quayle finish of the hearth hydrant.

Chris Lamb doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or group that will profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their educational appointment.