What was Bush Sr.'s long-term plan when selecting Dan Quayle in 1988?

[wuushew]

Clearly Bush 41 wanted to remain in office through 1996. Presumably his wife still wanted Jeb to become President one day, so was the selection of dumb as rocks Quayle an acknowledgment of a necessary partisan spacing to deflect obvious charges of dynasty?

I mean really, in the twentieth century you would be hard pressed to find a Vice-President as dumb as Quayle is. Where as Johnson helped Kennedy in 1960, what did Quayle bring to Bush?


Assuming Bush retired in 1996 would James Baker or Cheney have run?

[gratuitous]

1. Guard against assassination

I mean, even the craziest motherfucker who ever donned an aluminum foil hat would fire a synapse or two contemplating the possibility of Dan Quayle sitting in the Oval Office without supervision.

[fenriswolf]

3. I concur

only a stupid mother fucker would kill george sr without taking out quale first. can you imagine what that would have been like with quale as president?

"oh what a shiny red button, I wonder what it does"

BOOM

[LiberalFighter]

6. How many times did they allow Quayle in the Oval Room? Pentagon? Situation Room?

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. ..... or out of Romper Room or the Padded Room

[saltpoint]

2. I've heard some people frame it as Poppy's wish to have someone who

brought n the with-it 21-45 crowd, whatever that means, as well as someone who would mobilize the nutcase Right without actually demanding a serious seat at the negotiations table.

Lil' Dan was just the guy.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Quayle was a form of job security.

Nobuddy in dey right mind gonner impeach Poppy an gib Danny da keys.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Impeachment Insurance

It would have worked for Nixon, except Agnew's corruption forced him to resign.

[Bok_Tukalo]

7. Innoculate GW Bush against the National Guard thing

My opinion.

[blm]

8. No, Bush DIDN'T want re-election in 92. He expected to be impeached after BCCI report

was released in Dec 1992.

His longtime friend Jackson Stephens had bankrolled the political career of Bill Clinton in Arkansas and underwrote most of his primary campaign.

Jackson Stephens BROUGHT BCCI into this country. He staked WalMart's rise. He was a longtime partner of Poppy Bush's on BCCI dealings.

GHWBush ran the worst campaign ever. BCCI report was handed to BOTH outgoing president Bush and incoming Bill Clinton.

What happened to ALL the outstanding matters of the BCCI report that named figures such as Jackson Stephens, Marc Rich, AQ Khan, James Bath, Adnan Kasshoggi, and many Dubai and Saudi royals?

Why was a Bush2 even possible when the entire gang should have been in jail by the end of 1994, and instead we had Dems in congress turning the keys over to the GOP and Bush2 free to plan throughout the 90s for their return to the WH in 2000?

[wintersoulja]

24. Because a Republican controlled Congress buried the results?

no, I guess not.

[blm]

25. GOPs didn't take control til Jan1995.

The report was handed to Clinton in Jan 1993. There were MANY serious matters outstanding that REQUIRED further investigation and access to documents from the Dem president - documents long stonewalled by Reagan and Bush administrations's. Clinton would NOT facilitate access as many Dems expected.

[TooBigaTent]

9. to lower the standard for P or VP so that his idiot son would be acceptable

to America.

[leftofthedial]

10. quayle was the only person in amurka george the first could find

who was even stupider and more inbred than himself.

[State the Obvious]

11. Because he "looked like Robert Redford".

I remember seeing an interview where Bush was asked why he chose Quayle.

He said because he "looked like Robert Redford" and so would appeal to the women voters. :puke:

Now that is classic "Bushthink". (oxymoron)

[originalpckelly]

16. Who knew Robert Redford looked like a brainless dip shit?

:shrug:

[CreekDog]

31. Remember what Redford said upon hearing the campaign repeating this?

"Cut it out!"

:rofl:

[TheCowsCameHome]

12. Mr. Potatoe Head was already under contract with Hasbro

Dan Quayle - there's a real genius...............

[malaise]

13. He prepared everyone for someone even dumber

his murderous criminal son.

[originalpckelly]

15. Why are we going past to the back?

Let's go forward to tomorrow, no matter how many unforeseen events that may or may not occur, I have faith that we are on an irreversible trend towards more freedom and democracy, but that could change.

[Faux pas]

17. Preparing the world for his own idiot son? Quayle was the test

subject.

[NMDemDist2]

18. deep pockets

Danny Boy was part of a very wealthy extended family.....

[tanyev]

19. Eli Lilly.

Eli Lilly and the Bush Family
The Bush family has been substantially invested in Eli Lilly for years.

After leaving the Central Intelligence Agency in 1977, George H.W. Bush was made a director of Eli Lilly. Future Vice President to Bush Dan Quayle's father, James C. Quayle, owned controlling interest in the Lilly company and the The Indianapolis Star at that time.

Bush actively lobbied both within and without the Reagan Administration as Vice President in 1981 to permit drug companies to sell obsolete or especially domestically-banned substances to Third World countries. While Vice President, Bush continued to act on behalf of pharmaceutical companies by personally going to the Internal Revenue Service for special tax breaks for certain drug companies, including Lilly, who were manufacturing in Puerto Rico.

In 1982, Bush intervened with the U.S. Department of Treasury in connection with proposed rules that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to pay significantly more taxes. Bush was personally ordered to stop lobbying the IRS on behalf of the drug companies by the U.S. Supreme Court.<24>

Bush stopped lobbying, but pharmaceutical interests still received a 23% additional tax break for their companies in Puerto Rico, who made these obsolete or banned American drugs for sale to Third World countries. Lilly's Puerto Rico-based affiliate now employs approximately 1,100 workers at three plants in Carolina and Mayagüez and 220 additional employees in its sales and marketing offices in San Juan.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Lilly_Controversy

[happydreams]

33. Yer the only one who got it. Now just imagine how uninformed those

not from the "enlightened" DU environment are? :eyes:

[bullimiami]

20. people make mistakes. like gore in 2000.

[wintersoulja]

29. the only mistakes made in 2000 were by a docile public

always finger pointing about 2000.
Those fingers pointing back are right.

[Bumblebee]

21. It was as dumb as: being "handsome" he will appeal to women yet

not being bright he won't be a competition for the rest of the family in the future

[BearSquirrel2]

22. Fundy stooge ..

He was a young fundie stooge that they could send out their to whip up the dopes. All he had to do was read the script. Unfortunately, Dan didn't know his own limitations and tried to be extemporaneous too often. There were people around him furthering their careers by whispering in his ear about how he could be President one day. The man actually believed him.

It's the lasting tribute to Fox News that Brit Hume thought so highly of Dan Quayle. The story goes that he is brilliant, but inarticulate. I lived in Indianapolis. And I have heard the personal accounts of Dan Quayle's mental stature from Republicans there. He did not impress them. He was just a well funded puppet of Lilly, the GOP and his daddy.

[klyon]

23. The right wanted a dumb ass that they could tell what to do.

They had to wait and put the perfect dumb ass, George in in 2000. Clinton money stopped them.

Bob

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

26. One-termer, apparently LOL

Or to make himself look smarter!

[bumblebee1]

27. Quayle's contribution to GHWB's administration?

Dan Quayle was GHWB's anti-assassination insurance policy.

[dsc]

28. I know this will sound totally nuts

but believe it or not, Quayle was on many short lists that year. He had beaten a liberal icon in Indiana (Byrch Byah) and held on to his seat in a terrible year for the GOP. As absurd as it sounds now he really was viewed as a great choice at first.

[CreekDog]

30. Affirmative action for stupid people

:shrug:

[Marr]

32. I think Quayle was originally going to play the role of GW Bush.

That is to say, he was going to be the resident idiot, with an administration run by old Reagan-era Republicans. After Bush Sr.'s term was up, they were going to repeat the Reagan dynamic (puppet, mascot president) with Dan Quayle, but it didn't work out and they ended up using W instead.

Unfortunately, W wasn't willing to act simply as a proxy for his father, and his enormous ego/Oedipus complex made him willing to substitute the neocon agenda for that of his father at the first opportunity.