I am not persuaded by your added evidence, Paul. Yes, Nixon was a joke (the Checkers speech is enough to insure that, not to mention the kitchen debates with Kruschev), but Truman ended up being a pretty good president. What the pundits and jokesters said about him when he was vice-president is pretty much forgotten now. (Maybe Roger can enlighten us - I think he's the only Archipelegoan who was alive then.)

So here's the score as I see it: Quayle, Nixon, and Agnew were definitely losers (or winners as far as jokes and worries concerning their competence were concerned); Ford is a toss up (we'll call Truman a toss up until further notice); and Mondale, Humphrey, Bush, and Johnson end up looking pretty good on the competence compared to Agnew and Quayle.

So let's stop this quibbling and go get a beer. Whaddaya say? It's on me.