Word: bentsen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Legislative Legerdemain Award. To Bentsen, for accusing Quayle of voting to cut Social Security benefits eight times. Quayle voted only to delay cost of living adjustments, just as Bentsen...
Most Macho Gesture. To Bentsen, for picking up his wife B.A. at his final debate rehearsal and terrifying his aides that he would throw out his back...
This living-room war last week produced a titanic battle -- Wednesday night's Donnybrook between Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle -- that might be called The Revenge of the Second Bananas. Bentsen was solid, senatorial and soothingly statesmanlike. Quayle, who often seemed as lost as an actor missing half the pages of his script, struggled to overcome his own Throttlebottom image -- and lost. The one-sided debate did not instantly alter the Electoral College arithmetic favoring George Bush, but it did appear to have kept the race open as the two presidential contenders head toward their final face...
...failure to answer the opening question, the 15 voters in the Heitger living room provided play-by-play commentary. As soon as Quayle mentioned the pollution in Boston Harbor, Donna McManus, the wife of a policeman, exclaimed, "That's the same as the campaign ad." After an artful Bentsen attack on Bush's ties to Panamanian General Manuel Noriega, Betty Heitger whispered to her husband, "You've got to admit, this guy is very skilled." Halfway through the debate, even the strong Bush partisans were dismayed as Quayle seemed to derail. Die-hard Republican Mike McManus said mournfully...
...Bentsen dominated the postdebate sound bites with his attack on Quayle: "You're no Jack Kennedy." But these angry words triggered an audible intake of breath in front of the Heitger TV set. "That's really low," said Betty. Her neighbors agreed. Bush stalwarts like Mike McManus and Ray Heitger saw in Bentsen's remark evidence that the Texas Senator too was a flawed candidate. This allowed them to reconcile their discomfort over Quayle with their backing of Bush...