5.24.2006
Lloyd Bentsen, Senator Who Ran With Dukakis, Dies at 85 (NYTimes.com)
Published: May 23, 2006
Lloyd Bentsen, who represented Texas in Congress for 28 years, was the 1988 Democratic vice presidential nominee and served as President Bill Clinton's first treasury secretary, died this morning, his family said, according to The Associated Press. He was 85.
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM,
Written in February 1999.
Lloyd Bentsen, the former congressman and senator from Texas, secretary of the treasury and the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in 1988, was involved in some of the most important legislative battles of the second half of the 20th century. But he is probably best remembered for one devastating riposte he delivered an hour into a deadly dull debate between the vice presidential candidates in Omaha in October 1988.
Almost as an aside, his youthful Republican opponent, Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, remarked, "I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency."
Mr. Bentsen pounced. "Senator," he declared, contempt in his voice and admonition in his eyes, "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
In the election a month later, Mr. Bentsen and Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee, were trounced by George Bush and Mr. Quayle. But that one moment on stage in a generally lackluster election campaign propelled Mr. Bentsen's national image from that of an unexceptional Texas Senator beholden to the oil and gas industry to that of a major national figure.
(More ... Lloyd Bentsen, Senator Who Ran With Dukakis, Dies at 85 - New York Times) ¶ 08:05
Lloyd Bentsen, who represented Texas in Congress for 28 years, was the 1988 Democratic vice presidential nominee and served as President Bill Clinton's first treasury secretary, died this morning, his family said, according to The Associated Press. He was 85.
By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM,
Written in February 1999.
Lloyd Bentsen, the former congressman and senator from Texas, secretary of the treasury and the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in 1988, was involved in some of the most important legislative battles of the second half of the 20th century. But he is probably best remembered for one devastating riposte he delivered an hour into a deadly dull debate between the vice presidential candidates in Omaha in October 1988.
Almost as an aside, his youthful Republican opponent, Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana, remarked, "I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency."
Mr. Bentsen pounced. "Senator," he declared, contempt in his voice and admonition in his eyes, "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
In the election a month later, Mr. Bentsen and Michael S. Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee, were trounced by George Bush and Mr. Quayle. But that one moment on stage in a generally lackluster election campaign propelled Mr. Bentsen's national image from that of an unexceptional Texas Senator beholden to the oil and gas industry to that of a major national figure.
(More ... Lloyd Bentsen, Senator Who Ran With Dukakis, Dies at 85 - New York Times) ¶ 08:05
