# What happened to Dan Quayle?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 18, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916 "2003-11-18T16:03:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@KenGr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KenGr)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/21 "2003-11-19T13:42:04Z")
Here is a recent Dan Quayle sighting:
[Dan plays golf](http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/106716358161911.xml)
He lives in Phoenix, Arizona where he was born.
> [@](#):
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> Quayle, now a young 56, is a global trotter, particularly on a regular basis to Germany and Japan as chairman of global operations for an investment company.
Say what you want, it sounds like he gets the last laugh.
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/22 "2003-11-19T14:04:30Z")
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> \*Originally posted by cmurdough \*
> \*\*I think the potato incident was unfair. Quayle was reading from an improperly printed flashcard that had potato spelled “potatoe.” NOW everbody knows that potato–singular–has no “e” on the end, but before that day in the school, I think it was easy to to take the flashcard at face value because there’s an “e” after the “o” in “potatoes.” \*\*
Absolutely unacceptable! Excuse me, but when you have the best education Daddy can buy, this just proves what a bozo he is! He should have been bright enough to recognize the difference between singular and plural when spelling “potato”. The man couldn’t think for himself without Daddy’s help. Is that a person - or puppet - you’d like to see in the White House? The issue here runs much deeper than that infamous spelling bee… (Besides, how can he judge a spelling bee when he can’t even spell himself?)
I can only hope he’s off peeling potatoes in the White House kitchen for eternity…to keep the free world safe from him tripping over his silver-spooned tongue.
- Jinx
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/23 "2003-11-19T14:14:09Z")
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> \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \*
> **Quayle, unlike many other presidents and candidates we can think of, made it into politics pretty much on his own. His family ran a local newspaper, and he went to average schools. He has a degree in Political Science, and also a law degree…**
I’ll have to look into this further. Do you have a source for this? I was certain he was an Ivy Leaguer. I’m not convinced Quayle was just your average, hard-working citizen making it into politics from grass-roots support…as you’re pitching. Something doesn’t sound kosher here… If he didn’t look like a young Robert Redford, no one would have taken the decision seriously to make a viable running mate. Actually, I heard they used to card him at all the affairs! 😉 - Jinx
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/24 "2003-11-19T14:21:31Z")
Nope, he went to Indiana State an DePaul: [http://www.christcenteredmall.com/news/politics/Republican-Race/quayle-profile.htm](http://www.christcenteredmall.com/news/politics/Republican-Race/quayle-profile.htm).
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/25 "2003-11-19T14:41:23Z")
Jinx:
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> Something doesn’t sound kosher here… If he didn’t look like a young Robert Redford, no one would have taken the decision seriously to make a viable running mate.
This sounds vaguely like the Doonesbury cartoons that ran at the time…are you a big reader of that strip, by any chance?
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/26 "2003-11-19T15:59:27Z")
Finding Quayle on the golf course wouldn’t be that unusual. His handicap is _excellent_, somewhere between [three and six](http://www.golfarizona.com/departments/features/dan-quayle-profile.htm). I recall reading before his election as VP that it he was actually a 2 handicap while he was a Senator (which makes you wonder how he had time to actually be a Senator).
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### Author:  [@aahala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aahala)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/27 "2003-11-19T16:21:28Z")
This is not an indication of Mr. Quayle’s ability or lack thereof, but a comment about how luck is involved.(and many other politicians as well).
Quayle got into the house by defeating a long time incumbent Democrat. Most likely the district over the years had turned increasely conservative and Republican.
Quayle got into the Senate by defeating three-term incumbent Democrat Birch Bayh in 1980. That was the year Reagan defeated Carter by almost 20 percentage points in Indiana. Indiana is a pretty Republican state, with the exception for the Bayh family.
My point, rising in the political pecking order can involve great luck and Quayle is just one example of that.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/28 "2003-11-19T17:51:24Z")
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> \*Originally posted by Jinx \*
> **If he didn’t look like a young Robert Redford, no one would have taken the decision seriously to make a viable running mate.**
[Quayle](http://www.comedyontap.com/features/images/quayle.jpg) did not resemble a [young Robert Redford](http://www.spacesurfer.com/mceleb/dyn/25468/Robert_Redford7.jpg). As Redford himself said, neither physically nor politically.
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/29 "2003-11-19T17:54:09Z")
That’s not a good picture of Bob. He looks more like James Dean there.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/30 "2003-11-19T18:29:47Z")
[Ok](http://www.angelfire.com/realm/robertredford/can2.html), a few [more](http://www.angelfire.com/realm/robertredford/can6.html) [pictures](http://www.angelfire.com/realm/robertredford/can10.html).
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [November 19, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/31 "2003-11-19T18:48:46Z")
I dunno, a couple of those look alarmingly Quaylian… 😉
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/32 "2003-11-26T12:15:08Z")
He appeared in a Lay’s potato chips commerical, but just once, in the protracted version that aired during the Super Bowl. Can’t remember the year, but it was sometime during Clinton’s second term. Anyway, this middle-school-aged kid has a bag of Lay’s and a seat in the nosebleed section. He manages to trade his way down the stands by offering people chips, and when he gets to the front row, there’s Quayle. Quayle accepted the chip, but I forget if the kid got a seat or not.
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### Author:  [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/33 "2003-11-26T14:02:48Z")
The high water mark of his Vice Presidency was the day when Bush suffered some allegedly minor heart trouble. The news that afternoon showed Quayle out on a tarmac somewhere; to some reporter’s shouted question he gave a thumbs-up, a smirk and an “I’m ready!”.
For demonstrating not only that heart attacks were contagious but they could also be exacerbated by two simple words uttered on TV, he deserves some sort of footnote in the medical literature.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/34 "2003-11-26T15:45:14Z")
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> \*Originally posted by crazy grady \*
> \*\*Outside of Indiana, he is probably not welcomed in Republican gatherings. \*\*
He made his bones as an exceptionally skillful fundraiser, which put him on the short list for Bush Sr.'s potential running mates. I promise you no Republican organization in the country would turn their nose up at him.
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### Author:  [@gossamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gossamer)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/35 "2003-11-26T16:15:08Z")
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> \*Originally posted by dantheman \*
> \*\*Nope, he went to Indiana State an DePaul: [http://www.christcenteredmall.com/news/politics/Republican-Race/quayle-profile.htm](http://www.christcenteredmall.com/news/politics/Republican-Race/quayle-profile.htm). \*\*
The page linked to is currently unavailable, but I know he did undergrad work at DePau_w_ University in Greencastle, IN, and went to Indiana University law school.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/36 "2003-11-26T16:36:03Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Jinx \*
> Absolutely unacceptable! Excuse me, but when you have the best education Daddy can buy, this just proves what a bozo he is! He should have been bright enough to recognize the difference between singular and plural when spelling “potato”. The man couldn’t think for himself without Daddy’s help. Is that a person - or puppet - you’d like to see in the White House? The issue here runs much deeper than that infamous spelling bee… (Besides, how can he judge a spelling bee when he can’t even spell himself?)
What the hell are you talking about? Quayle’s family was well-off but hardly super-rich, and he attended a public university. Stupid spelling mistakes in embarrassingly public situations don’t make a person a moron.
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### Author:  [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [November 26, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dan-quayle/213916/37 "2003-11-26T16:41:15Z")
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> _Originally posted by gossamer \*
> \*\*The page linked to is currently unavailable, but I know he did undergrad work at DePau_w\* University in Greencastle, IN, and went to Indiana University law school. \*\*
I found a better site, [The Quayle Museum](http://www.quaylemuseum.org).
> [@](#):
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> Mr. Quayle was born on February 4, 1947, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was named after James Danforth, a longtime Quayle family friend killed in World War II. After spending much of his youth in Arizona, he graduated from Huntington High School in Huntington, Indiana, in 1965. He then matriculated at DePauw University, where he received his B.A. degree in political science in 1969. After receiving his degree, Mr. Quayle joined the Indiana National Guard and served from 1969-75. While serving in the Guard, he earned a law degree from Indiana University in 1974.
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