It was meltdown time in Republican World after THE DAILY STANDARD (a mini- version of this magazine we put out only in San Diego at the Republican convention and will issue in Chicago this week as well) broke the story that Dan Quayle intended to use prolife language in his convention speech. When Quayle arrived at the convention hall to rehearse, he was immediately summoned to the management trailer behind the podium. There, he was pressured by former RNC communications director Chuck Greener and superlobbyist Ken Duberstein to remove both the abortion talk and some pointed attacks on the ” extremism” of Clinton and the Democrats.
When the ex-veep resisted, RNC chairman Haley Barbour was contacted by cell phone to continue the pressure. “Haley,” Quayle asked, “have you even read the speech?” Barbour said he hadn’t, so Quayle proceeded to recite the six- minute address into the phone. Barbour said it sounded fine to him. Whereupon Quayle flung the phone at Duberstein and said, “Here, you talk to Haley. I’m going to practice.”
Convention manager Paul Manafort then called the hotel and demanded to talk to Quayle about the speech. Quayle didn’t take Manafort’s call, and soon after he received another, this time from Dole campaign manager Scott Reed. In a very heated exchange, Reed informed Quayle he did not share Barbour’s favorable opinion of the speech and expressed strong concerns both about the use of the word “extreme” and the talk about abortion. Quayle reluctantly agreed to replace the word “extreme” with “radical,” but steadfastly refused to cut the pro-life section.
When Quayle arrived a few hours later to give his speech, he learned he was being moved forward in the speaking order to 5:45 p.m. (8:45 p.m. Eastern time), because the convention could not find scheduled speaker Steve Largent. A Quayle aide suspected a convention maneuver to deny Quayle a prime slot and helped his boss delay, dawdle, and otherwise take his sweet time getting to the podium. Quayle’s speech began in earnest just after 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, the abortion reference intact.
