Tyler Horning/Collegian
Quayle visited Hillsdale for the sixth time when he spoke at lunch last Saturday.
Tyler Horning/Collegian
Quayle signs a book for Professor of Economics Gary Wolfram.
If Sen. John Kerry is elected president, liberals will run rampant and allow the global community to control our policy. Strong words, yes, but that is exactly how former vice president Dan Quayle sees it.
As part of the celebration for the Founder's Campaign Gala last weekend, former U.S. Vice President and Hillsdale College campaign co-chairman, Dan Quayle, spoke to students and visitors Saturday morning, encouraging them to review the facts of this year's presidential election.
Throughout his speech, he said a great deal of importance surrounds this election, and as a proponent of the conservative movement, he said it is essential for the Republican Party to continue to move into positions of power for change.
"There is a real philosophical divide between the two candidates," Quayle said. "[President George W.] Bush really believes in what he's doing and he has a number of programs to create an opportunity society. George Bush's view of the world is a free world, his vision for the world is freedom, whereas [Sen. John] Kerry is very international. It is a fundamental difference."
Quayle spent the rest of his speech pointing out patterns he said should lead to Sen. Kerry's defeat Nov. 2.
First, he reminded the audience there has not been a president since 1960 that had a senator's background. Instead, they have all come from experience as vice presidents or governors.
Secondly, he said it doesn't make much sense geographically for a liberal from Massachusetts to win the American vote. For several decades, presidents have come from southern or western geographical bases.
"This campaign reminds me a lot of the [Michael] Dukakis campaign in 1988," Quayle said. "It is just another liberal out of step with what the American people really think."
The only Bush campaign mistake Quayle pointed to was the allowance of three rather than two debates.
"The basic cardinal rule is to have two debates," he said. "You want your opponent to get the least amount of exposure as possible. I was surprised that they gave 90 more minutes of national exposure. Now, John Kerry is an alternative to George Bush."
Quayle concluded his speech arguing that America would be more secure under the Bush administration than the weak philosophy of Kerry.
"Would you rather have an America viewed as too strong, or would you want America to be viewed as too weak?" Quayle asked the audience. "I, personally, will err on the side of being strong every time. We just need four more years of good appointments and security and we will be able to move this country to a conservative philosophy."
Junior Dean Simmer said that while Quayle's speech didn't offer him a lot of new information, it did condense and categorize it in a helpful way.
"His speech was effective in that it simplified hours of talking-head mantra on television into a short but convincing speech," he said. "Instead of it being primarily an educational speech, I felt that Mr. Quayle summarized the President's record and why he believes voters should support the President well."
In an interview following his speech, Quayle explained the differences between the Gulf War he and the former president Bush fought in 1991 and the current Iraq war as a difference in stated objective and need.
"In 1991 the issue was Sadaam Hussein being in Kuwait," Quayle said. "And quite frankly we believed once he was humiliated and defeated in Kuwait that the Iraqi people would take things into their own hands.
"Well, about 10 years later he was still there harboring terrorists, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and gassing his own people. Now, not only are we going to make sure he stays out of Kuwait, but we're going to have a regime change."
Quayle also said former president Bill Clinton was the first to call for a regime change in Iraq, but it is President Bush who is doing what others have thought needed to be done for years.
Concluding his sixth visit to Hillsdale College, Quayle praised the school and encouraged donation to the Founders Campaign.