No doubt Quayle said some pretty dumb things, e.g. potatoe, what a terrible thing to lose one's mind, but we shouldn't think of him as a total fool. He did have enough brains to pass the bar exam, when many do not; and he did defeat Birch Bayh for the senate seat. [never mind that 1980 was a republican year] Retards don't get elected to the US Senate. Having said that, I remember watching the 1988 debate. After Bentsen's remark, when Quayle was just standing there, looking really pissed off, my wife said that he looked like he was about to cry. I remarked that if he did that, Bush might as well forget any chance of winning. But in the end it didn't matter. Because Dukakis the bleeding heart let Willie Horton out of jail. And Willie went out and raped a white woman. So he became like middle America's worst nightmare, and middle America wanted nothing to do with Dukakis.
In the 1992 debate, Quayle did at least as well as Gore [which isn't saying much, I know] while poor Stockdale looked completely outclassed.