The Republicans:The Quayle Quagmire

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The truth, sadly, is that in the quarter-century since the Kennedy assassination, the nation has come to appreciate the fragility of all Presidents. Gone is the Throttlebottom era, when almost any politician, remotely competent and occasionally sober, could be drafted to fill out a ticket. In a vice-presidential candidate, the nation now sees an individual who could be called on to enter the Oval Office at a time of supreme national anguish. That is the most unfortunate thing about the Quayle quagmire -- how little of the controversy touches on the Indiana Senator's abilities to shoulder that potentially terrible burden.