Washington Post: Bentsen's Quayle Slam Was 'The Perfect Put-Down'

May 25th, 2006 8:30 AM

In Thursday's Washington Post, political writer Libby Copeland highlights Lloyd Bentsen's 1988 debate insult of Dan Quayle in an article headlined "The World's Snappiest Comebacks."  She reveled in its perfection:

If one will be remembered for a single remark, as the recently departed Lloyd Bentsen is, let it be for the perfect put-down. Most of us never get to experience the joy of excoriating an opponent with a dead-on, devastating riposte. We always think of it too late.

When Bentsen told a baby-faced Dan Quayle, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy," he was following in the tradition of expert quipsters Oscar Wilde, Dorothy Parker and Winston Churchill, whose lines are still remembered. Perfect put-downs transcend their settings.

Copeland tries to make this more balanced by noting Ronald Reagan's debate quips against Carter and Mondale, but "there you go again" and joking about not exploiting his opponent's "youth and inexperience" were much mellower in tone than Bentsen's "babyface" slam. Soon, she returned to the "beauty" of Bentsen's quip ("Snap!") and noted again, with a true Democrat's heart, "We don't feel bad for victims of verbal violence if we feel in some way they deserve it." Left unexplored: how recent Republican candidates have resisted the urge to slam liberal opponents in presidential debates in front of liberal media. It wouldn't receive the same glorious treatment.

Like most media legend-makers, Copeland doesn't acknowledge that Bentsen was padding his resume about his supposed friendship with "Jack Kennedy." He didn't really know him well.  Also not remembered: Quayle went over well in post-debate polls. On David Letterman's show, CBS correspondent Mike Wallace complained:

"We're supposed to be dispassionate, reporters. And of course, we aren't. We try to report objectively, and so I'm a little reluctant to say it: I find it very difficult to believe that eventually, conceivably, Dan Quayle would sit down and negotiate with Mikhail Gorbachev. It doesn't seem to make sense...And yet, you take a look at polls today, and apparently he did very well with those who believe that he is a decent possibility as Vice President."