It doesn't help matters when prime-time TV has Murphy Brown-a character who supposedly epitomizes today's intelligent, highly-professional woman-mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice. -
Dan Quayle May 19, 1992
With these words, Dan Quayle attempted to
curry favor with
conservatives by making a two-pronged
attack on both
contemporary journalism and
Hollywood's "
liberal" ideals. What he did, instead, was weave a
media trap for himself, which he then walked right into. Not only did he word his
criticism in such a way that it seemed he was attacking the
fictional character herself, as opposed to the show's producers, but he, "attacked the
cultural elite, if we can call them that, on their own turf, and they fought back
hard." (
Rushkoff, 79)
From there on, it was all
downhill for a man who'd
already established himself as a media clown.
At the following
Emmy awards ceremony, a number of
celebrities rose up in
defense of
single mothers, which cleverly slanted the issue. Now
Dan Quayle had attacked
single mothers. This
feeling was
characterized with the quote, "I would like to thank, in particular all the
single parents out there, who, either by
choice or by
necessity, are
raising their kids
alone, don't let
anybody tell you you're not a
family," spoken by Diane English, "the show's
producer and a good friend of the
Clintons (another fact that, unfortunately for Bush the press was not so quick to pick up on)." (
Rushkoff, 80)
Why had poor
Dan Quayle chosen
Murphy Brown as a target for
projection of many modern societal ills? As in the
traditional media war(which the
Bush campaign fought
vigorously but with a complete lack of grace that time around), there were many
concealed reasons. For example the fact that many
conservatives were
uncomfortable with the image of
Murphy Brown, therefore, by attacking that image
Quayle could take advantage of "the
right-wing American ambivalence about the women's rights
movement,"(Rushkoff, 79) and do so without
directly attacking a real
person or
the women's rights movement in
general. Furthermore, the
Democratic candidate, one
William Jefferson Clinton, was, himself, raised by a
single parent.
Though it seemed like a good idea at the time, it was yet another aspect of the
Bush campaign's obsolete media
manipulation techniques that eventually led to
failure.
Quayle had set a precedent by taking a political
stab at a fictional
character, and the character herself responded to his
accusations on her show. On September 21, 1992, a little over a
month before
Election Day, the offending
snippet from Dan's speech was voiced on the
Murphy Brown season premiere, and
Murphy was cleverly portrayed as a victim of a thoughtless tirade against single mothers, to which she even responded on her
fictional news show, FYI.
Quayle had made himself into a cardboard cut-out, real character who achieved a level of credibility bordering on
fantasy. He actually interacted with a fake
person, completing the
illusion by sending a stuffed
elephant to Murphy's fictional baby, along with a promise that he and president
Bush would do everything they could to ensure the child would grow up in
prosperity.
"The producers of the show thanked
Quayle for his thoughtful gift, but mocked him gently at the same time, informing him that they would send the toy to a homeless shelter 'for a
real child to enjoy'."(Rushkoff, 81)
sources:
Media Virus! , Rushkoff, Douglas, 1994 Ballantine Books
Consumer Culture and TV Programming, Andersen, Robin, 1995 Westview Press