My understanding is that Quayle was given a flashcard with a misspelled word on it. Why isn't anyone making fun of teachers (who presumably made the card in the first place)? At best, it's only a half-truth. This story goes in the same category as the one about Gore claiming he invented the Internet.
It would be nice if all of our statesmen were linguaphiles, but so far as I'm aware it's not a prerequisite for the position. Moreover, a person can be very well aware of "THE correct" pronunciation and neverthess feel that the word sounds funny and unnatural when said that way.
I'm strongly ambivalent in these situations. On the one hand, when people don't speak in the way I think they should speak, I sometimes find it extremely grating. OTOH, having been judged stupid on numerous occasions based on my vocabulary or my accent (or, I know this is hard to believe, but there are people who will valuate people's intelligence based on their perceptions of their political opinions), I try (I mean I really try) to force myself not to judge the intelligence or worth of people because of their habits of speech.
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