Quayle Stakes Out Positions On Taxes, Government, Values
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
To paraphrase CBS newsman Dan Rather, if it looks like a candidate, walks like a candidate and acts like a candidate - it's a candidate.
While stressing that no decision will be made until 1999 on a possible run for the White House, former Vice President Dan Quayle had the appearance of a man with presidential aspirations Tuesday. He returned to his roots to host the fourth annual Quayle Center Golf Tournament Tuesday in Huntington.
He also attended a fund-raising dinner and reception in Winona Lake for his political action committee, Campaign America. The dinner was held at the home of Dane and Mary Louise Miller.
"I'm likely to run (in 2000), but we won't make any formal announcement until next year," Quayle said. "First, I want to help see the Republicans retain - and increase their majority - in Congress."
He said having toured the country for the last two years, he believes that his vision of American life will resonate with the voters.
"I stand for lower taxes, a smaller, more efficient and responsive government and a strong national security establishment," Quayle told his supporters. "I'm convinced these issues are what's important to the American people."
But above and beyond those issues, Quayle said he is very concerned with the country's collective morale and the public morality of its leaders.
"Set aside the economy, I ask, how are we doing spiritually? Do we like the direction in which we're heading?" he said. "When you lack that leadership, you are lacking something very important.
"Character is important, no matter how the economy is doing," he added.
The two most stinging criticisms he had for the current administration were its stand on defense spending and President Clinton's recent trip to the People's Republic of China.
"The American people are still very patriotic and they hate what this administration has done to the military," he said. "Graduates of West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy are looking for ways to get out of the military because they see the lack of support they have received from the commander in chief."
He cites the 40 percent cut in Defense Department spending and the 70 percent cut in procurement spending as the leading causes for the drastic drop in military morale.
'You talk to anyone in the military, or to anyone who has a friend or relative in the military, and you'll hear that morale is lower than at any point in our nation's history," he said.
Quayle said while he supported Clinton's decision to go to the PRC, he saw the trip as a total failure for the United States and its allies in the region.
"Not going to Japan or South Korea after China was a mistake. These are strong Asian democracies and China is a communist country," he said. "There was a moral equivalence drawn between China and the other regional democracies. There is no equivalence and that was a mistake."
In terms of facing a national media that often times treated him with less kindness, Quayle said that he looks forward to exchanges with the political media elite while being his party's presidential candidate as opposed to the second position.
"I look forward to engaging the national media on my own terms," he said. "Not being at the top of the ticket, it isn't your agenda, your priorities that are important, but those of the nominee. I look forward to having my goals being the focus." [[In-content Ad]]
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To paraphrase CBS newsman Dan Rather, if it looks like a candidate, walks like a candidate and acts like a candidate - it's a candidate.
While stressing that no decision will be made until 1999 on a possible run for the White House, former Vice President Dan Quayle had the appearance of a man with presidential aspirations Tuesday. He returned to his roots to host the fourth annual Quayle Center Golf Tournament Tuesday in Huntington.
He also attended a fund-raising dinner and reception in Winona Lake for his political action committee, Campaign America. The dinner was held at the home of Dane and Mary Louise Miller.
"I'm likely to run (in 2000), but we won't make any formal announcement until next year," Quayle said. "First, I want to help see the Republicans retain - and increase their majority - in Congress."
He said having toured the country for the last two years, he believes that his vision of American life will resonate with the voters.
"I stand for lower taxes, a smaller, more efficient and responsive government and a strong national security establishment," Quayle told his supporters. "I'm convinced these issues are what's important to the American people."
But above and beyond those issues, Quayle said he is very concerned with the country's collective morale and the public morality of its leaders.
"Set aside the economy, I ask, how are we doing spiritually? Do we like the direction in which we're heading?" he said. "When you lack that leadership, you are lacking something very important.
"Character is important, no matter how the economy is doing," he added.
The two most stinging criticisms he had for the current administration were its stand on defense spending and President Clinton's recent trip to the People's Republic of China.
"The American people are still very patriotic and they hate what this administration has done to the military," he said. "Graduates of West Point, Annapolis and the Air Force Academy are looking for ways to get out of the military because they see the lack of support they have received from the commander in chief."
He cites the 40 percent cut in Defense Department spending and the 70 percent cut in procurement spending as the leading causes for the drastic drop in military morale.
'You talk to anyone in the military, or to anyone who has a friend or relative in the military, and you'll hear that morale is lower than at any point in our nation's history," he said.
Quayle said while he supported Clinton's decision to go to the PRC, he saw the trip as a total failure for the United States and its allies in the region.
"Not going to Japan or South Korea after China was a mistake. These are strong Asian democracies and China is a communist country," he said. "There was a moral equivalence drawn between China and the other regional democracies. There is no equivalence and that was a mistake."
In terms of facing a national media that often times treated him with less kindness, Quayle said that he looks forward to exchanges with the political media elite while being his party's presidential candidate as opposed to the second position.
"I look forward to engaging the national media on my own terms," he said. "Not being at the top of the ticket, it isn't your agenda, your priorities that are important, but those of the nominee. I look forward to having my goals being the focus." [[In-content Ad]]