Worth Fighting for

In the first salvo of his campaign for the presidency in 2000, Quayle never fails to mention Al Gore, the likely Democratic nominee, in the same sentence as Bill Clinton, whose moral failings Quayle seeks to attach to the entire Democratic Party. And, in writing that ""conservatives have always been compassionate,"" Quayle seeks to rhetorically outflank the early Republican favorite, George W. Bush, who has lately used the term ""compassionate conservatism."" Clearly, Quayle intends to run way to the right of Bush and to wage political culture war. ""Incredible as it may seem,"" he writes, ""we continue to be in the midst of debates begun in the '60s."" When preaching family values, Quayle comes off as sincere and committed, but he spends more time attacking those he believes don't share his values than in articulating what his values are. His attacks on the ""opinion elite"" are boilerplate at best, disingenuous at worst. While he rails against ""the septic shock that hit American universities,"" he's nevertheless happy to turn to academic experts when doing so supports his arguments. He also reveals that he took his manuscript to Random House before turning to Word and, as an example of elite contempt for mainstream America, reprints Ann Godoff's rejection letter in its four-sentence entirety. He's most interesting when pointing to lingering inequalities in wealth and when lamenting how consumerism has eroded Americans' sense of community. His call for an income tax cut appears rooted in concern for a squeezed middle class rather than in a desire to curry favor with the capital gains gang. As an extended stump speech, this is serviceable, though written with no more or less linguistic flair and conceptual reach than the average elected official displays before a battery of microphones. 200,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo; simultaneous audio; author tour. (June)