Murphy Now Is Lecturing Vice President

Monday night it was Murphy Brown’s turn to lecture Dan Quayle--and she did so with gusto, telling him that “what really defines a family is commitment, caring and love.”

Television’s most celebrated single mom--who became a cause celebre last May after Quayle accused her of glorifying single motherhood and mocking the importance of fathers--mocked the importance of the vice president.

Quayle, meanwhile, stuck by his guns, calling the show “basically another Hollywood campaign contribution to Bill Clinton.”

In a special hourlong season premiere that was an eerie blend of fantasy and reality, the star of the CBS sitcom, a fictional anchorwoman, urged Quayle to redefine his “family values” campaign.

In fact, Quayle has already tried to do that. GOP research shows his use of the issue seemed to alienate more voters than it attracted.

Quayle has avoided the phrase entirely lately, heeding critics’ contentions that it excludes all but “Ozzie and Harriet” families. He now refers to “traditional values” or “basic values” and will no longer speak of “family values,” aides said Monday.

On the show Brown, played by Candice Bergen, watches actual news footage of Quayle’s speech and reacts angrily.

“It’s Dan Quayle! Forget about it,” a friend tells her. “ . . . This is a man who gave a speech at the United Negro College Fund and said, ‘What a waste it is to lose one’s mind.’ . . . “

Near the end of the show, Brown speaks to the audience in character, as an anchorwoman:

“The vice president said he thought it was important to open a dialogue on family values and on that point we agree. . . .

“Perhaps it’s time for the vice president to . . . recognize that, whether by choice or by circumstance, families come in all shapes and sizes. And ultimately what really defines a family is commitment, caring and love.”

The scene ends with Brown strolling over to a group of real single parents and their children. “I’d like to introduce you to some people who might not fit into the vice president’s vision of a family,” she says. “But they consider themselves families nonetheless. They work. They struggle. They hope for the same life for their children that we all want for our children.”

Quayle, who watched the show with about a dozen people, including five single parents, told a sidewalk press conference in Washington: “Hollywood still doesn’t get it.”

He contended, as he has before, that his comments last May were misinterpreted. “I have never criticized single mothers,” he said, noting that at times both his grandmother and his sister were single mothers because of divorce.

Quayle’s remarks were almost drowned out by about 50 pro-Clinton protesters who booed and shouted, “Four more months!”

Last May, in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Quayle said Brown’s decision to have a child alone mocked the importance of fathers and glamorized single motherhood.

Quayle had tried to lighten his running feud with the show, even sending a note and a baby gift--a stuffed elephant--to the fictional newborn. But producers said the gift would be forwarded, unopened, to a homeless shelter.

During the show, a haggard Brown watches footage of Quayle’s speech in her pajamas. She hasn’t showered in days because she’s been too busy caring for her baby. When Quayle says her decision to have a child out of wedlock glamorizes single motherhood Brown gasps: “Glamorized single motherhood? What planet is he on?”

Turning to her guest--who unexpectedly dropped in--she says, “Look at me, Frank. Am I glamorous?”

“Of course not,” he says. “You’re disgusting.”

Quayle came in for repeated ridicule, including from ditzy reporter Corky Sherwood Forest. “I was raised to believe if you had a child out of wedlock you were bad,” she says. “Of course, I was also raised to believe that a woman’s place is in the home, segregation is good and presidents never lie. Oh, this is so confusing.”

Earlier in the day, Quayle’s press secretary, David Beckwith, acknowledged that the vice president has been drawn into a running battle with a fictional character that could easily verge on the ludicrous.

“It’s true that fiction and reality have become blurred,” Beckwith said. “But that’s the way it is in a campaign.”

In Orange County, reaction to the program split along party lines.

Howard Adler, chairman of the Democratic Party in Orange County, said, “I thought the show was great. . . . He (Quayle) deserved everything he got.”

By contrast, Assemblyman Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), said, “It was a perfect example of TV and the media: They distorted the facts to make their point.”

Bill Podlich, co-chairman of the Orange County Clinton-Gore Steering Committee, said: “I thought it was very thoughtful and took the high road. But it’s just a television show. Maybe we can now get back to real life and talk about real people and real issues.”

Laguna Niguel Councilwoman Patricia C. Bates, a prominent South County Republican, said, “I think it was another media event. . . . It certainly didn’t glamorize single parents, and the script reflected Vice President Quayle’s concerns on that subject. I think it was win-win because the producers certainly got big ratings, and Vice President Quayle certainly was not hurt by the show.”

Somewhat similarly, state Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) said she thought the show reinforced Quayle’s point by focusing on “family values,” which is a key Republican issue. She said the vice president’s concerns were not so much repudiated as validated by the program. Bergeson said she thought part of the show was “a bit mean-spirited.”

Richard O’Neill, former chairman of the Democratic Party in the county, said that politics aside, he couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. He said he simply didn’t like the show. “I thought it was bad,” O’Neill said. “It was boring. It drug on and on. It wasn’t funny.”

Braxton reported from Los Angeles, Broder from Washington. Times staff writer Bill Billiter reported from Orange County.