Ben Quayle's Pops Calls Steve Moak Attack "Slanderous"

By James King Tue., Aug. 24 2010 at 9:35 AM

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Former Vice President Dan Quayle

Less than 24 hours before primary voters took to the polls, former Vice President Dan Quayle weighed in on attacks on his son Ben, who, in case you didn't know, is running for Congress in Arizona's Third District.

In an email sent last night to supporters, the elder Quayle made a last-minute pitch for his son, slamming Quayle's leading opponent, Steve Moak, for playing dirty.

"I took my fair share of outrageous slams in politics but Steve Moak's vicious smear against my son is over the top and unprecedented," Dan Quayle wrote in the email first published by Politico. "I have never in my 35 years of politics seen such an ugly, slanderous assault in the closing days of a campaign against a fellow Republican."

The former Vice President is talking about an ad released by Moak over the weekend slamming Ben Quayle for his ties to the early stages of "The Dirty.

In the ad, Moak flashes a bunch of unflattering images of Quayle and the "The Dirty" and the narrator reads an excerpt of a post Moak claims was written by Quayle. Moak ends the ad by saying "is this the type of behavior we want from our next congressman?"

Dan Quayle, who's remained fairly silent throughout the later stages of the campaign, says in his email to supporters that "with the recent turn of events, I cannot in good conscience remain silent." He goes on to say the ad is designed to "destroy my son and his reputation."

It should be pointed out that Moak isn't the one who unearthed Quayle's "Dirty" laundry -- that honor goes to Vernon Parker's political flack Jason Rose. Moak, however, stands the most to gain by continuously revisiting Quayle's ties to "The Dirty," and he's apparently willing to beat that drum to the bitter end.

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