Word: attacked
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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This became all too clear when he failed to respond to Bush's attack on the American Civil Liberties Union during the first presidential debate. Voters were left to wonder whether Dukakis did believe in the elimination of movie ratings and free press for child pornographers. Such thoughts play into Bush's hands as he tries to portray Dukakis as out of the mainstream on economic, military and moral issues...
...Dukakis succeed in pointing out this election year conversion? Bush's campaign has painted Dukakis as a bleeding heart liberal from early on. The Dukakis campaign, however, preferred to attack Bush's "competence" rather than his record. It may have wanted to avoid implicit criticisms of Reagan and risk the backlash of voters who refuse to believe the man could have done anything wrong...
...failure to answer the opening question, the 15 voters in the Heitger living room provided play-by-play commentary. As soon as Quayle mentioned the pollution in Boston Harbor, Donna McManus, the wife of a policeman, exclaimed, "That's the same as the campaign ad." After an artful Bentsen attack on Bush's ties to Panamanian General Manuel Noriega, Betty Heitger whispered to her husband, "You've got to admit, this guy is very skilled." Halfway through the debate, even the strong Bush partisans were dismayed as Quayle seemed to derail. Die-hard Republican Mike McManus said mournfully...
Bentsen dominated the postdebate sound bites with his attack on Quayle: "You're no Jack Kennedy." But these angry words triggered an audible intake of breath in front of the Heitger TV set. "That's really low," said Betty. Her neighbors agreed. Bush stalwarts like Mike McManus and Ray Heitger saw in Bentsen's remark evidence that the Texas Senator too was a flawed candidate. This allowed them to reconcile their discomfort over Quayle with their backing of Bush...
...Roger . . . does . . . on, on this, you know, if I'm gonna, if I, if I decide on my gesture over there . . . is that all right . . . you don't mind?" Because they had been caught rehearsing it, Quayle's handlers decided to scrap the "tearing America down" line of attack. Instead, Quayle substituted his own line about America being "the envy of the world," a bromide he has been repeating on the stump...