Quote of the Day (Dan Quayle, on Trump vs. Clinton)

"On paper, you'd say, 'Well, she's [Hilary Clinton] more qualified.' But you know what? He's [Donald Trump] more qualified in the sense that the American people, I think, want an outsider. They want an outsider this time. She is not an outsider, so if you're looking for an outsider, no she's not qualified and he is."—Former Vice President Dan Quayle, quoted in Eun Kyung Kim, “Dan Quayle Shows Support for Donald Trump on TODAY Show: 'He Can Win',” TODAY News, May 12, 2016

Welcome back, Dan Quayle! You’ve aged a little bit since George H.W. Bush named you his running mate back in 1988, but a little gray on the temples (a natural outgrowth of being 69) is great for lending you that gravitas you were not given credit for back then.

You’ve been gone too long, after that unsuccessful 2000 primary campaign for President, which you lost to a son of your old boss. You had gone so far off the radar that I believe the only news I’d  heard about you since then was that you moved from Indiana to Arizona and had hurt your back while helping one of your children move into a college dorm. I was afraid that the injury might have impaired some of your old abilities. Your appearance on Today immediately eased these fears.

There were two things I liked about your statement: 1) It shows that, at least politically, any sense that the back may have hurt your ability to maneuver is nonsense, since only a few months ago you had hosted a fundraiser for another son of your old boss, Jeb Bush--the ultimate INSIDER; and 2) your words continue to blithely ignore reality. 

If “outsider” status is sufficient reason for election to our nation’s highest office, why stop at Trump? Who, after all, is more of an outsider than John Rocker, the flamethrower for the Atlanta Braves in the late 1990s who in his prime could annoy as many groups in a single statement as Trump—and a guy who, after confirmation that he used steroids in his professional career, is even more of an outsider--at least in his old activity?

Or, if you want a female outsider to counter Hilary’s attempt at history, why not Sarah Palin? But why stop there--why not Snooki?

Everybody knows that YOU don't believe in conventional rules, Dan. Or, at least, spelling rules.

(Unfortunately, most Irish-American voters regard you as an eejit for your creative rendering of a certain staple of the the ancestral diet as P-O-T-A-T-O-E , not to mention your favorable comparison of your government experience with Jack Kennedy’s, in your 1988 debate with Lloyd Bentsen.)

 
Your fans hope that your next defiance of convention--not to mention logic--is appreciated more than your last such venture on the national stage was.