#Dan Quayle Quote%"Bobby Knight told me this: 'There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.' In other words a good offense wins." -- Vice President Dan Quayle comparing the offensive capabilities of the Warsaw Pact with the defensive system of NATO #Dan Quayle Quote%"Why wouldn't an enhanced deterrent, a more stable peace, a better prospect to denying the ones who enter conflict in the first place to have a reduction of offensive systems and an introduction to defensive capability. I believe that is the route this country will eventually go." #Dan Quayle Quote%"Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child." #Dan Quayle Quote%"Mars is essentially in the same orbit... somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe." #Dan Quayle Quote%"Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is IN the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here." -- Vice President Dan Quayle, Hawaii, September 1989 #Dan Quayle Quote%"What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is." -- Vice President Dan Quayle winning friends while speaking to the United Negro College Fund #Dan Quayle Quote%"You all look like happy campers to me. Happy campers you are, happy campers you have been, and, as far as I am concerned, happy campers you will always be. " -- Vice President Dan Quayle, to the American Samoans, whose capital Quayle pronounces "Pogo Pogo" #Dan Quayle Quote%Quayle stumbled in response to a question about his opinion of the Holocaust. He said it was "an obscene period in our nation's history." Then, trying to clarify his remark, Quayle said he meant "this century's history" and added a confusing comment. "We all lived in this century, I didn't live in this century," he said. #Dan Quayle Quote%"We expect them [Salvadoran officials] to work toward the elimination of human rights." #Dan Quayle Quote%"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change." #Dan Quayle Quote%"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'." #Dan Quayle Quote%"If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure." -- Vice President Dan Quayle, to the Phoenix Republican Forum, March 1990 #Dan Quayle Quote%"Why wouldn't an enhanced deterrent, a more stable peace, a better prospect to denying the ones who enter conflict in the first place to have a reduction of offensive systems and an introduction to defensive capability. I believe that is the route this country will eventually go." -- Vice President Dan Quayle #Dan Quayle Quote%"I not going to focus on what I have done in the past what I stand for, what I articulate to the American people. The American people will judge me on what I am saying and what I have done in the last 12 years in the Congress." #Dan Quayle Quote%"I want to be Robin to Bush's Batman." #Dan Quayle Quote%"Who would have predicted... that Dubcek, who brought the tanks in in Czechoslovakia in 1968 is now being proclaimed a hero in Czechoslovakia. Unbelievable." -- Vice President Dan Quayle [Actually, Dubcek was the leader of the Prague Spring] #Dan Quayle Quote%"May our nation continue to be the beakon of hope to the world." -- The Quayle's 1989 Christmas card. [Not a beacon of literacy, though.] #Dan Quayle Quote%"Well, it looks as if the top part fell on the bottom part." -- Vice President Dan Quayle referring to the collapsed section of the 880 freeway after the San Francisco earthquake of 1989. #Dan Quayle Quote%"getting [cruise missles] more accurate so that we can have precise precision." -- Vice President Dan Quayle referring to his legislative work dealing with cruise missles #Dan Quayle Quote%"Certainly, I know what to do, and when I am Vice President -- an I will be -- there will be contingency plans under different sets of situations and I tell you what, I'm not going to go out and hold a news conference about it. I'm going to put it in a safe and keep it there! Does that answer your question?" -- Vice President Dan Quayle when asked what he would do if he assumed the Presidency,1988 #Dan Quayle Quote%"Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things." #Dan Quayle Quote%"The real question for 1988 is whether we're going to go forward to tomorrow or past to the -- to the back!" #Dan Quayle Quote%"We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world." #Dan Quayle Quote%"This election is about who's going to be the next President of the United States!" #Dan Quayle Quote%"It's rural America. It's where I came from. We always refer to ourselves as real America. Rural America, real America, real, real, America." #Dan Quayle Quote%"Target prices? How that works? I know quite a bit about farm policy. I come from Indiana, which is a farm state. Deficiency payments - which are the key - that is what gets money into the farmer's hands. We got loan, uh, rates, we got target, uh, prices, uh, I have worked very closely with my senior colleague, (Indiana Sen.) Richard Lugar, making sure that the farmers of Indiana are taken care of." -- Vice President Dan Quayle on being asked to define the term "target prices." Quayle's press secretary then cut short the press conference, after two minutes and 30 seconds. #Dan Quayle Quote%"We should develop anti-satellite weapons because we could not have prevailed without them in 'Red Storm Rising'." #Dan Quayle Quote%"The US has a vital interest in that area of the country." -- Vice President Dan Quayle Referring to Latin America. #Dan Quayle Quote%"Japan is an important ally of ours. Japan and the United States of the Western industrialized capacity, 60 percent of the GNP, two countries. That's a statement in and of itself." #Dan Quayle Quote%"I can identify with steelworkers. I can identify with workers that have had a difficult time." -- Vice President Dan Quayle addressing workers at an Ohio steel plant,1988 #Dan Quayle Quote%"[I will never have] another Jimmy Carter grain embargo, Jimmy, Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Carter grain embargo, Jimmy Carter grain embargo. -- Vice President Dan Quayle during the Benson debate #Dan Quayle Quote%"Lookit, I've done it their way this far and now it's my turn. I'm my own handler. Any questions? Ask me ... There's not going to be any more handler stories because I'm the handler ... I'm Doctor Spin. -- Vice President Dan Quayle responding to press reports his aides having to, in effect, "potty train" him. #Dan Quayle Quote%"I would guess that there's adequate low-income housing in this country." #Dan Quayle Quote%"We will invest in our people, quality education, job opportunity, family, neighborhood, and yes, a thing we call America." #Dan Quayle Quote%"We'll let the sunshine in and shine on us, because today we're happy and tomorrow we'll be even happier." ##