Dan Quayle and the 'potatoe' kid. Just the other night on television, Jay Leno was poking fun at some gaffe by George W. Bush, whose picture morphed into a photograph of Dan Quayle on the screen behind the comic. Six years out of office with two failed presidential bids now behind him, ex Vice President Quayle still ranks as America’s favorite dumb politician because of what happened in Trenton on June 1. That’s the day, you probably recall, a Trenton sixth grader had to teach the Vice President of the United States that potato is not spelled with an e on the end. In his 1. 99. 4 memoir, Quayle devotes a whole chapter to the events in a classroom at Trenton’s Munoz Rivera School — and the impact of them on his career. Ever since, the ex VP has been a straight- faced political joke. To understand why, it’s important to know something about the way politics and the media work in America. Despite a few blunders by Quayle, the Bush ticket prevailed in the election of 1. Days later, seeking to stifle the buzz in political circles that he was intellectually challenged, Quayle sat down with a group of top American political reporters for a televised two- hour discussion. The newsmen, and many viewers, were left with the impression that, for all the jokes about him, the new vice president was a well- informed, politically savvy young man. Through most of his term — traveling the world to represent the president, meeting heads of state, giving speeches to all types of groups — Quayle managed to avoid any serious gaffes. At least that’s how he put it in his bio, Standing Firm. June 1. 5, 1. 99. Quayle flying out of Washington at 8: 1. No big deal.’’Enter William Figueroa, 1. Mott School in the South Ward who had been bused to Munoz Rivera to take part in the vice presidential event. Figueroa knew how to spell potato, and he wrote it in a legible script on the blackboard when Quayle announced his word for the spelling bee. Quayle looked at the blackboard, then at his contest card, and gently and quietly told the boy, . It wasn’t until that moment that I realized anything was wrong,’’ Quayle wrote. Caught off guard, I just rattled on a little to fill the air — something about how I wasn’t going to get into spelling matters — but I knew something was really amiss.’’Indeed. At about the time of the gaffe, in fact, The Trentonian’s night reporter was arriving at the office and hearing the editor’s plea for a story suitable for page 1.? You’ve got the vice president in town today,’’ the reporter said. I’m saying watch for Quayle to foul up something,’’ the reporter said. Soon after, the reporter who had covered Quayle’s Trenton tour showed up in the newsroom and was ask how the event had gone. He said Quayle delivered the usual political pap, prompting the night reporter to holler out, . Working at an incredibly fast pace, the greens were cored, restored and sodded within one month in addition to rebuilding all the surrounding bunkers. COLUMBIA and 'Walking Eye' Design are registered trademarks of Sony Music Entertainment. Visit www.OnGuardOnline.gov. GNM and IYF do not tell you what they really are like - it is only when you look deep (often this means getting inside and getting victimized) that you see their true. Comics loved it, and a staffer from the David Letterman Show called The Trentonian the morning after seeking help locating Figueroa so he could be invited on the show. The next day, after his father sent him for a haircut and warned him to speak a bit more diplomatically about the vice president of the United State, Figueroa made his national television debut. The Trenton kid wowed the Letterman audience. He told of the spelling bee, saying, . Do you have to go to college to be vice president?’’From then on, the potato incident would become a campaign weapon for the Democrats backing Clinton and Gore. Figueroa was flown in to deliver the pledge of allegiance at the Democratic National Convention that summer. Image- conscious Quayle laughed it off on the outside. But as his book indicates, he was fuming mad about the gaffe and blamed his aides for letting it happen and the press for exploiting it. He referred to Gore saying in a speech that a leopard had changed it . Now, fast forward five years to 1. The Trentonian decided to look up William Figueroa to see how he was doing after his hour of fame. By then, he was a 1. Quayle, Mr. Family Values, couldn’t be reached for comment on what had become of his. With Lorenzo Lamas, Branscombe Richmond, Kathleen Kinmont, Stephen J. After crooked cop Lieutenant 'Dutch' Dixon kills his. JFK Conspiracy Theories at 50: How the Skeptics Got It Wrong and Why It Matters. January 30, 2016 Gallup http:// Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Sep 6, 2016 9:57 AM UTC Clinton BS Files: Is Hillary a secret lesbian? Not that it matters at all, but probably not Clinton. Take care of your 1992 Nissan Pathfinder and you’ll be rewarded with years of great looks and performance. Our accessories and parts are all you need to make it happen. With Reginald VelJohnson, Kellie Shanygne Williams, Darius McCrary, Jaleel White. Long-running Perfect Strangers (1986) spin-off series centering on the Winslow.
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