Dan Quayle and Election '88
I'm 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.
-- Senator Dan Quayle

I want to be Robin to Bush's Batman.
-- Senator Dan Quayle

I can identify with steelworkers. I can identify with workers that have had a difficult time.
-- Senator Dan Quayle addressing workers at an Ohio steel plant, 1988

As the shoppers of Hy-Vee go, so goes the state of Iowa.
-- Vice President Dan Quayle trying to be noteworthy at a grocery store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, October 1988. (reported in High Times, 11/92)

Certainly, I know what to do, and when I am Vice President -- and 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?
-- Senator Dan Quayle, when asked what he would do if he assumed the Presidency, 10/10/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

I had not had that question before.
-- Senator Dan Quayle explaining why, during the Bentsen debate, he couldn't say what he would do if he suddenly became president, 10/6/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

Want to hear a sad story about the Dukakis campaign? The governor of Massachusetts, he lost his top naval advisor last week. His rubber ducky drowned in the bathtub.
-- Senator Dan Quayle addresses the issues during the 1988 campaign, 9/13/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

That is not a yes or no question.
-- Senator Dan Quayle during a somewhat heated exchange with reporters in 1988. Quayle indicated he would only accept "yes or no" questions for the rest of the session. Here, he refuses to answer a question of whether he's offered to take his name off of the ticket, 8/19/88 (reported in the Washington Post, 8/20/88, p. A6)

We will invest in our people, quality education, job opportunity, family, neighborhood, and yes, a thing we call America.
-- Senator Dan Quayle, 1988

I'm going to be a vice president very much like George Bush was. He proved to be a very effective vice president, perhaps the most effective we've had in a couple of hundred years.
-- Senator Dan Quayle

Hey, Roger, does... on, on this, you know, if I'm gonna, if I, if I decide on my gesture over there... is that all right?... You don't mind?
-- Senator Dan Quayle asking Roger Ailes's advice on a debating gesture, 10/5/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

I hope there's some respect and dignity for things I did not do.
-- Senator Dan Quayle defending himself against allegations of involvement with Paula Parkinson, 8/23/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)

Let me say it one more time. It is ill-rel-e-vant.
-- Senator Dan Quayle testily responding to repeated questions about his parents' involvement in the John Birch Society. (reported in the Washington Post, 10/10/88)

Because. Because I say it isn't.
-- Senator Dan Quayle explaining why questions about his parents' ties to the John Birch Society aren't relevant, 10/9/88 (reported in Esquire, 8/92)