Accepting that Woodward/Costa have the story right, I offer two ‘excepts’ for Ethics_Gradient: "Quayle wasn’t heroic, he just said what any decent person would have said.”
… except that Republicans - if not all, certainly those in public life - are presumptively indecent. There could be an interesting conversation about where lies the bar for Republicans for indecency. I would argue that it is laying on the ground at least for active politicos like Pence, if not for folks out of the public limelight like Quayle. My take on Quayle based on his public record is that he is shallow and opportunistic. That would not make him necessarily indecent. But I presume that he still identifies as a Republican (thus the Pence reach out). So, this matter is murky. But still, a Republican evidencing decency when the fate of the country and the world is literally on the line is at least extraordinary.
… except that this was as serious a conversation as one might imagine in the heat of the moment, where Pence was pressuring someone of some stature to give him permission to knuckle under to Trump to relieve the Trumpian hot breath on his neck.Thus, the reach out to a fellow Indiana US Vice President, Quayle, playing golf everyday/all day in Arizona while doing something for a hedge fund and hanging around a variety of board directorships; i.e.: a ‘full life.’. And Dan Quayle could have punted (‘You gotta do what you think best, Mike’). But he did not do that. Dan Quayle was up to a moment that would have stressed any of us. And I am still stunned that I am using the words Dan Quayle’ and ‘heroic’ in the same sentence.
And this has been a trip down memory lane, so thanks for that…