Dan “Can You Spell ‘Potato’?” Quayle

This chapter focuses on how George H. W. Bush’s Vice President Dan Quayle was depicted by comics. An Internet search of Dan Quayle quotes (real or otherwise) returns literally hundreds of sites, filled with what some refer to as “Quaylisms,” nonsensical sayings or statements. Quayle also famously misspelled the word “potato” in an elementary school spelling bee while in office. He was probably the first modern politician who was defined, at least in part, by late night talk show hosts. Quayle was portrayed by humorists as an intellectual lightweight, or more simply, a dunce.