Veepstakes
Topics: Elections
14 Oct 1992
From:
[delayed due to a typo in the mail address]
I just finished watching a tape recorded version of the VP
debates. I haven't heard any reaction yet, but it seems to me Quayle
won. He definitely won on style for being positive and engaging.
Gore seemed to be so slick you could never find the substance (there wasn't
any). I think he won on substance too, as hard as that is to believe.
Stockdale, well... We got a good laugh out of him. He makes
Reagan not senile in comparison. I did feel some sympathy for an old
man being so thoroughly humiliated in public. Perot screwed himself
on this one.
As for substance, Gore's main theme was the economy is bad and it
is Bush's fault. While that's true, it doesn't follow for the reasons
that Gore is using. Quayle's reply was: 'yes, but Clinton would make
it worse, just because it is bad doesn't mean your right'. That is
true, relevant, & valid. When Gore said he wanted to permit private
education but not vouchers to allow choice in private education,
Quayle repsonded that Gore was a hypocrit for believing in school
choice for the rich but not the poor. Dead on target!
Quayle only really seemed to have two things to say:
1) The Dems will raise taxes and that is a bad thing.
2) Clinton is a hopeless waffler who cannot be trusted.
(1) is definitely true though he applied it where it didn't make sense.
(2) is true but also true of Bush and his examples were really weak,
e.g. Clinton saw value to both sides of the Gulf War debate and was
therefore a waffler. He also had a laundry list of Clinton contradictions
and each answer he stuck in another 3 regardless of their relevance.
Best hypocrisy of the night was Gore's, handsdown. After spending
45 minutes (or so) telling us how Clinton was going to fix things with
more regulation and government involvement, he said that he was pro-choice
because women owned their bodies and the government should not tell people
what to do with their bodies. Well, *I* agree but Gore has no interest
in consistenly applying such a broad philosophical tenet which would
encompass, among other things, legalizing drugs. Quayle even managed
to stalemate him on this issue by asking if he was opposed to 24 hour
waiting periods.
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