Until very recently, there probably has not been a more maligned holder of high public office in this country than the 44th Vice President of the United States, J. Danforth Quayle.
From the get go, Quayle was lambasted as a lightweight, both intellectually and for his lack of political experience leading up to his election to the second highest office in the country, "a heartbeat away from the presidency" as they like to say. To this day, he is probably most famous for an exchange during a nationally televised debate with his rival, Texas senator Lloyd Bentsen. During the debate Quayle was asked if his lack of experience would be a hindrance, especially if he for one reason or other had to take over in the role of Chief Executive. Quayle correctly responded that he had the same amount of experience in Congress as John F. Kennedy had when he ran for president (not vice president) in 1960.
To which Bentsen replied:
Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.
Quayle, clearly shaken, responded that the remark was uncalled for.
Which honestly, it was.
But in politics, decorum is thrown out the window, there was nothing new about it then and as we can see thirty plus years later, it has only gotten worse.
It was a pithy line that brought the house down and has stuck in the annals of political discourse ever since and probably will, rightly or wrongly for eternity.
Called for or not, in truth, Quayle had no one to blame but himself as he had been making the comparison with Kennedy for quite some time, and the team preparing Bentsen for the debate was ready for it. With that in mind, if you watch Bentsen as Quayle is making his remarks, you can see from the look of satisfaction and mock indignation on his face, that he's ready to move in for the kill.
As the commentators in the linked clip suggest, that one remark would define Quayle in the minds of the American public forever, and set the tone for the coverage of him during the next four years. Every gaffe or malapropism, and there were several of them, were magnified tenfold by the press, pundits and late night talk show hosts. Despite winning that particular election with his running mate, George H.W. Bush, his one term as Vice President would mark the pinnacle of Quayle's political career. He would make a couple attempts at running in the Republican primary for president, but never received more than a handful of votes.
Quayle eventually entered the private sector and disappeared from the public spotlight, save for appearances at official events such as presidential inaugurations and funerals. Quite honestly if you asked me before this week if Dan Quayle were still alive, I'm not sure if I'd have been able to tell you.
Boy has that changed.
Dan Quayle's name has surfaced again thanks to a new book by Bob Woodward (his third on the Trump presidency) and Robert Costa. The book, Peril, scheduled to be released next week, chronicles the closing days of the Trump administration and opening days of the Biden administration.
Peril describes the exPOTUS's reaction to his election loss to his successor as nearly hysterical, leaving him bent on retribution and revenge. The part of the book that has been drawing the most attention deals with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and his profound concern for the stability and sanity of the Chief Executive. Kind of like a General Jack D. Ripper in reverse, Milley trying to lessen the damage of a "rouge" president, inserts himself into the chain of strategic command, and personally contacts his counterpart in China to assure him that the United States had no intention of attacking that country with nuclear (or other) weapons. He also made it clear to the military brass beneath him that they were to answer directly to him and not the president. I must point out that there is no evidence that the former president actually had any inclination to attack China.
The part of the book that has garnered the next amount of attention deals with former Vice President Mike Pence and what many consider to be his finest moment, his refusal to kowtow to the wishes of his boss and the thousands of people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th demanding to hang him, by officially certifying the November 3rd election that resulted in the exPOTUS's defeat, and of course his own. At the resumption of the Senate session to affirm the election after the violent events of that tragic, deadly day in our nation's capital, with uncharacteristic determination and anger in his voice, Pence delivered these words to his colleagues, the country, the world, and most pointedly his soon to be exBOSS:
Thanks to local, state and federal law enforcement, the violence was quelled, the Capitol is secure, and the people's work continues. We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms. We grieve the loss of life in these hallowed halls, as well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our Capitol. And we will always be grateful to the men and women who stayed at their posts to defend this historic place. To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the People's House. As we reconvene in this chamber, the world again will witness the resilience and strength of our democracy. For even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
Then after invoking the Almighty's blessing, Pence with even more determination and anger in his voice defiantly said:
Let's get back to work.
It was the most stirring minute and half of political rhetoric delivered by an American politician in a good long time, and will probably live long after most of us are gone. Mike Pence will and should be remembered by those words.
Which is a good thing because before that moment, Pence was best known for being Donald Trump's obsequious lapdog and number one enabler. Perhaps the moment he was known for best, OK second to the fly landing on his head during his debate with Kamala Harris, was the time when at the behest of Donald Trump, he and his wife flew to Indianapolis for the sole purpose of walking out of a football game in protest as players knelt during the National Anthem.
The truth is, as far as lightweights go, next to Mike Pence, Dan Quayle looks like Joe Frazier.
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| No lightweight he, "Smokin' Joe" Frazier delivers a devastating left hook to the greatest heavyweight of them all, Muhammad Ali. |
Anyway...
The book gives us a little bit of the backstory behind Pence's decision to do his job as proscribed by the Constitution, and not the bidding of his boss. It turned out that up to that fateful day, Pence did everything he could to see if it was within his powers to do exactly as he was told and appease the exPOTUS.
A deeply religious man, one can only assume that after consulting the lawyers and parliamentarians and getting no help, Pence got down on his knees and did not a little praying. It would be his Gethsemane moment if you will, invoking the good Lord's help in letting the cup of scorn from his fellow Trumplicans and possibly much, much worse, pass from him.
Apparently that day there would be no divine intervention in store for Pence.
So he called Dan Quayle.
Why Quayle you might ask. Well he was in a particularly good position to offer advice in this situation as he was only one of three people alive who had to as vice president, authorize an election in which he lost. The other two were Walter Mondale (who passed away this April) and Al Gore, both Democrats. Pence probably figured getting advice from those two would be like Jesus taking advice from the Sanhedrin or the Romans. In addition to being a fellow Hoosier, Quayle is a Republican of good standing.
According to the book, Pence pressed Quayle for a long time about all his options in opting out of certifying the election.
Yet again he got nowhere.
A frustrated Pence brought up voting irregularities in Arizona which could prove cause, at least to delay the certification and send the election back to the states.
Quayle told Pence: "I'm in Arizona, trust me, there's nothing here."
Pence brought up other issues, mostly the fruit of the steadfast work of Rudy Giuliani.
Quayle told Pence: "Mike, you have no flexibility on this. None. Zero. Forget it. Put it away,"
Then almost to the point of desperation Pence said: "You don't know the position I'm in,""I do know the position you're in," Quayle responded. "I also know what the law is. You listen to the parliamentarian. That's all you do. You have no power."
And that was it. Despite being told on January 5th by Donald Trump that if he didn't refuse to certify the election the next day, Trump would stop being his friend (as if he ever was), the die had been cast. The rest as they say is history.
So what do we make of this? Is Dan Quayle a hero for making Pence see the light and do the right thing? And in this new light, is Pence even more of a coward than we thought for groveling at the feet of Trump all these years doing everything humanly possible, even to the point of throwing our entire election system out of keel simply to gain his favor?
It's all about politics, obviously, and ambition. Both Quayle and Pence had higher aspirations than vice president and both those men's aspirations were dashed almost as soon as they took the oath of office. Neither man ever got much respect, especially Pence who was continuously mocked by his boss for his over-the-top piety.
It was easy for Quayle to offer sensible advice to Pence because he left the fray years ago and had nothing to lose politically speaking. It was the same advice I'm sure that 95 percent of the Republicans currently in Congress would have given Pence, were they not scared to death of Trump, his base, and the prospect of losing their job to a true believer in the next primary.
Nevertheless I am grateful for the wisdom Quayle offered Pence, even if it was of the "duh" variety. It makes me long for the day not so long ago when we could differ on ideology yet come together as a nation and rally around a higher cause, our democratic-republic.
As for Pence, well I'm not so sure. Was his almost pathological sycophancy to the exPOTUS based upon ideological grounds or purely self-interest? In either case it was certainly a catastrophic miscalculation on his part, as it has been for nearly everyone who has ever gotten close to Trump. Did Pence honestly believe there could be any good result for him had he stood in the way of certifying the election? Yes it would have caused more chaos (music to the ears of his exBOSS) and a constitutional crisis delaying the inevitable. But the crisis (if not the chaos) would have been quickly resolved in the courts, and his actions would have certainly been deemed unconstitutional. History would have taken a very dim view of him for that disgraceful act.
Despite his hesitancy, Pence did the right thing in the end, which is all that really matters right? He stood up not only to Trump, but to the hooligans the exPOTUS sent to the Capitol to intimidate and very likely do him harm. That alone took cajones. Then on inauguration day, Pence stood solemnly on the platform in front of the west portico of the Capitol Building, the lone representative of his administration witnessing a sacred tradition in this nation, the peaceful transfer of power. Meanwhile his soon-to-be former boss was scuttling out of town like a rat deserting a sinking ship.
Solely because of his actions this past January 6th and 20th, as it stands now, history will look more favorably upon Mike Pence than we do now. Today the Trumplicans consider him a traitor and his politics are too right wing for practically everyone else. I have little doubt that his political career is finished.
The good news is he can now hold his head up and look his children and grandchildren in the eye.
That alone is worth far more than all the political power on earth.
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