But during a 1988 vice presidential debate in Omaha, Bentsen delivered one of the most devastating slights ever. Turning to his GOP opponent, Sen. Dan Quayle, who had defended his inexperience as similar to that of John F. Kennedy, Bentsen responded with scathing disdain: "Senator," he said, "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy."
The audience erupted. In that moment, Bentsen, on the ticket with presidential nominee Michael Dukakis, managed to remake his dry persona and earn himself a footnote in political history. "It's the best put-down I've ever seen," says Germond. But was Bentsen's flawless response to Quayle, then 41 and running with George H. W. Bush, rehearsed?