This is not about VP debate
By Wendy White Polk
10/5/2008 |
Well, not about last week’s vice presidential debate, anyway.
That’s the one where the candidates made news by not embarrassing themselves. Is this the new standard in American politics? You win if you don’t make yourself look like an idiot or bore the audience to tears? I’ve been to high school debates with higher expectations.
Anyway, you’ve probably heard that last week’s debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden was not a game changer, and did not measurably affect the lives or votes of the American electorate. Probably true.
But about 20 years ago, there was such a debate. It was held the evening of Oct. 5, 1988, in Omaha.
Yes, it was the match up between Democrat Lloyd Bentsen and Republican Dan Quayle, the one where Quayle compared his Congressional experience to that of President John Kennedy.
That’s when Bentsen hit him with one of the all-time great zingers, whether it was rehearsed or not: “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.”
That night, my husband and I had dinner and watched the debate. As it went on, I began to feel a little sick to my stomach, but wrote it off to partisan politics.
So the next morning, when the queasiness continued and certain other signs told me there was more at work than a political debate, I called my doctor.
Did I mention I was eight months pregnant at the time?
His words didn’t say it, but his tone of voice sure did. Labor? No way! But if I wanted to come in for a checkup, he’d be happy to politely ignore me.
Many hours later, on the afternoon of Oct. 7, young Andrew was born. And if that wasn’t a life-changing event that came as a result of a vice presidential debate, I don’t know what is.
By arriving a month early, he’s a Libra, not a Scorpio, and his birth coincides with the anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debate at Knox College. Extra points if you know why that’s important.
Second, I got to go on maternity leave a month earlier and missed the November ratings period at the TV station where I was working.
And by Thanksgiving, baby Andrew was old enough to travel. He made his first trip to El Paso at 7 weeks and spent wonderful days in his grandmother’s arms.
Young Andrew turns 20 this week. Sunday night I’ll ask him what he thought of the vice presidential debate.
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