Because I am a masochist of sorts I'm watching vintage VP debates on C-Span2, late on a Wednesday night. This is what happens when you are a life-long Pittsburgh Pirates fan and therefore have little to no interest in post-season baseball. I just sat through Bentsen-Quayle (1988) and am enjoying the triple-threat cage match of Gore-Quayle-Stockdale (1992). To paraphrase the words of President Bush, "Is I learning anything?" Find out after the jump...
I'll admit it now, these debates were before I was of voting age. I turned 18 in 1996 (do the math from there), and the very first voting machine lever I ever pressed in my life was as an 18-year old voting to re-elect President Bill Clinton. However I had a deep connection to politics ever since 1988, the Dukakis-Bush election. My young mind just couldn't quite understand why we needed to buy a fleet of billion-dollar bomber planes when we had so many problems at home, especially growing up in a poor rural area of southwestern PA.
After watching these debates, I've come to fully realize something I suppose I already knew: The Republicans have been singing the same old song, note for note, for twenty years. And it's been off-key the entire time.
In the 1988 debate vs Bentsen, Quayle was clearly at sea, lost. In 1992, he was still just as lost but had a greater vocabulary of talking points and aggression. He went from stupid and milquetoast to stupid and mean. Nearly an hour into the 1992 debate, you can see Quayle's hand pointing at Gore and literally QUAKING WITH ANGER while making a point. Four years of power had made him into a totally different kind of threat.
Dan Quayle became the prototypical Republican. He became the mold for the younger Congressmen you see on TV every day blindly parroting talking points, shouting down any opposition or any effort to expose the truth on issues. They talk the loudest and fastest, so they should win... facts be damned. They know what's best for you, because they say so.
Go find some Dan Quayle debate clips from 1988, and you tell me that he doesn't sound like George W Bush from 2000. Then go compare 1992's Quayle to 2004's Bush. Compare them both to what we've heard of Sarah Palin so far.
It's the same old song, and I'm tired of hearing it.
Let's clear off the dance floor and get a new DJ.
Let's change.