The Veep Bites Back

Quayle's tough acceptance speech aims for the Democratic jugular

The image that has stuck most stubbornly to Dan Quayle from the 1988 campaign is that of a deer caught in the headlights: a helpless thing frozen in the path of destruction. In Houston, however, Quayle labored -- with some success -- to transform himself into a snarling attack dog, on the model of such G.O.P. vice-presidential nominees as Bob Dole and Spiro Agnew. Before the largest prime-time TV audience he has addressed, Quayle abandoned his attempted oratorical gravitas and delivered a withering attack on what he has called the "liberal cultural elite," which he has targeted to help distract attention...

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