From: madhaus@netcom.com (Maddi Hausmann)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.dan-quayle
Subject: The Veep Debate
Date: 14 Oct 92 02:11:50 GMT
Organization: Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things

We took an off-site meeting from work to watch the Vice-Presidential
Debate.  Our Boy has definitely taken some lessons from Pat Buchanan
in Pitbull Politics.  For fear of appearing unprepared or callow, he
compensated by going on the attack from start to finish.

Peter Jennings, the ABC network commentator, mentioned that several
of the charges made in the debate were inaccurate, and to check your
newspapers tomorrow.  Here are a few items that Quayle and Gore did
not see eye to eye on; let's see how many of these were bad calls by
Our Boy.

Gore: Money is being spent to transfer jobs out of the United States
      to foreign countries.  There is a plant in Decaturville, Tennessee,
      where US tax dollars were spent in soliciting by foreign countries,
      in training the foreign workers, and in exporting the goods back
      to the US.
Quayle: We have no such program.  It does not exist.

Q: [later, same topic} Did you tell those folks in Nashville about
    your $150 billion tax increase?
G:  There is not a $150 billion tax increase.
Q:  Yes there is.

Q:  Now, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which, by the way, you voted
    for, Senator Gore...
G:  I did not.  I voted against it.
Q:  You voted for it.
G:  I did not.

Q:  Now, in your book, on page 304, you ask for a program that will
    require $100 billion in foreign aid for environmental programs.
G:  That is not in my book.
Q:  Yes it is.  I was going to bring a copy here, and now I see why
    I should have.
G:  There is nothing in my book about our paying for other countries'
    environmental projects...that refers to joint efforts.

Q:  Now why did you change your mind on this...You used to say you
    were pro-life...in 1987 you voted against abortion funding...
G:  I never said I was pro-life...Are you willing to say you're in
    favor of a woman's right to choose?
Q:  Are you in favor of a 24-hour waiting period?

G:  I am in favor of enterprise zones...George Bush vetoed the legislation
    that would have set them up, because it contained a tax increase on
    people earning over $200,000.
Q:  He did not cut enterprise zones.

G:  Why did it take George Bush three and half years to propose a health
    care plan, which he still hasn't fully introduced as legislation?
Q:  That's not true.  He introduced <mumble>
G:  He has yet to introduce ANY health care legislation to Congress.
Q:  What about malpractice tort reform?

---------------------------------------

Other charges Quayle made that I think bear further scrutiny:

   A claim that Bush's health care plan would not require a welfare
   mother to choose between Medicare and starting a job.

Other observations:

   The candidates were asked how they felt about the sleaze level
   of the campaign.  Gore said he abhored it, and gave an example
   of a sleaze tactic Bush pulled (the Moscow trip).  Quayle responded
   by bashing Clinton for not telling the truth about a lot of things.

Q: [when disagreeing with Gore]  "Take a breath, Al.  Inhale.

Q:  Don't believe everything you hear from the media.

*All* comments above are paraphrases; I claim all responsibility if
the later transcript shows I blew it.

There were few instances of Quayle looking out of it.  While he was
unwilling to answer any of Gore's questions, and blatant about changing
the subject on a number of issues, only once or twice did he lose
track of what he saying to correct himself:

    "We did not win...uh, we won the Cold War..."

However, very little of what he said was in support of either himself
or the top of the ticket.  His opening statement, in its entirity, was
an attack on Clinton.  So was most of his closing.  The only accomplishment
he mentioned was in negotiating with President Aquino during the coup 
attempt in the Phillipines.  

Gore responded to that asking when he and Bush were going to concentrate
on what was going on at home.

Now, Gore did not come across all that well himself.  Almost every
statement he made began with "Bill Clinton and I..."  He seemed overly
rehearsed; he knows his stuff cold, though.  Gore did change the subject
a couple of times himself; he ducked Quayle's question on whether he
supported a 24-hour waiting period on abortions.  But Quayle definitely
gets the Avoidance Award; turning a question on abortion into how Bill
Clinton doesn't tell the truth about his stands on education.  Most of
Quayle's evasions turned into a lecture on how Clinton wants to have
it both ways.  It got tiresome.

Stockdale was mostly a nonentity.  At times he chose to skip the
free-form disagreements; once even asking for a question to be 
repeated because he had turned off his hearing aid.  He more often
supported Quayle over Gore during the debate, which I had not expected.
When asked about the campaign sleaze issue, he said that character
mattered more than issues, which hastens to a B/Q theme.

Since Quayle was hoping to set low expectations, he came off very well
against them.  His stated intent was to stir up doubts about Bill
Clinton and he was able to deliver his message.  I'd say Gore won the
debate, in terms of articulating his solutions and staying on point,
but Quayle succeeded in doing the job he was sent to do.


-- 
Maddi Hausmann                madhaus@netcom.com
Humorist, Satirist, Tech Writer.  Take your pick.

Centigram Communications Corp, San Jose California  408/428-3553