Quayle 2004 CAMPAIGN PAGE

"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things."
-- Vice President Dan Quayle, 11/30/88.

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is."
-- Quayle at a fund-raiser for the United Negro College Fund, 5/9/89 (he was attempting to quote the line "a mind is a terrible thing to waste").

"If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure."
-- Quayle to the Phoenix Republican Forum, 3/23/90.

"I don't watch it, but I know enough to comment on it."
-- Quayle defending his opinions about the TV show 'Murphy Brown' (Las Vegas, May '92)

"I hope there's some respect and dignity for things I did not do."
-- Quayle defending himself against allegations of an affair with Paula Parkinson (pictured at right), 8/23/88.

"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child."
-- "US News and World Report" (10/10/88).

"The President scores much better than Bill Clinton."
-- Quayle comparing President Bush's record of marital infidelity to Clinton's during a televised interview with David Frost, 10/92.

"A very positive message."
-- Quayle after listening to a sermon in which a Georgia minister condemned homosexuality as 'satanic' (Newsweek, 11/92).

"I could take this home, Marilyn. This is something teenage boys might find of interest."
-- Quayle purchasing a South American Indian Doll that, when lifted, displays an erection, 3/11/90.

"The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle may or may not make."

"It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago."
-- Quayle in Illinois, 4/30/91.

"I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix."

"We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe."

"I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people."

"Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here."

"May our nation continue to be the beakon (sic) of hope to the world."
-- The Quayles' 1989 Christmas card.

"For NASA, space is still a high priority."
-- 9/5/90

"[It's] time for the human race to enter the solar system."

"Welcome to President Bush, Mrs. Bush, and my fellow astronauts."

"Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe."

"People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have a tremendous impact on history."

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change."

"We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."

"I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."

"The future will be better tomorrow."

"The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century."
-- Vice President Dan Quayle, 9/15/88

"Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children."
-- 9/18/90

"We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world."
-- 9/21/88.

"Add one little bit on the end... Think of 'potato', how's it spelled? You're right phonetically, but what else...? There ya' go... all right!"
-- Quayle "correcting" a student's correct spelling of the word 'potato' during a spelling bee at an elementary school in Trenton (he told the student to add an "e" at the end).

"I should have caught the mistake on that spelling bee card. But as Mark Twain once said, 'You should never trust a man who has only one way to spell a word'."
-- Quayle actually quoting from President Andrew Jackson.

"I should have remembered that was Andrew Jackson who said that, since he got his nickname 'Stonewall' by vetoing bills passed by Congress."
-- Quayle confusing Andrew Jackson with Confederate General Thomas J. 'Stonewall' Jackson.

"This president is going to lead us out of this recovery. It will happen."
-- Quayle at a campaign stop at CA State University, Fresno, 1/17/92.

"It's not to keep him from running off our property. It's to protect my putting green."
-- Quayle on why his dog, Breezy, wears a special collar that emits a painful jolt of electricity should the dog try to run away. (reported in the NY Daily News, 6/30/92.

"My grandfather... saw where inherited wealth ruined people. And my grandfather was right."
-- Quayle on owning a half-million dollars worth of his family's newspaper stock holdings (ABC's 'Prime Time Live', August 10, 1992).

"A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls."

"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."

"Public speaking is very easy."
-- Quayle to reporters in 10/88

"I stand by all the misstatements that I've made."
-- Quayle to Sam Donaldson, 8/17/89