Posted on 10/14/2012 12:38:07 PM PDT by presidio9
Vice President Biden's sharp retort to Rep. Paul Ryan's invocation of President John F. Kennedy was by far the single biggest single moment of the debate according to Twitter metrics.
"Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy?" Biden quipped when Ryan asserted that Kennedy had successfully lowered taxes to foster economic growth.
After Biden's retort, Twitter erupted with 58,275 tweets per minute, more than at any other point in the debate.
Biden's comments brought to mind the other famous Jack Kennedy debate moment in which Democratic vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen slammed his Republican opponent Dan Quayle for comparing himself to Jack Kennedy with the retort: "Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
Thursday's debate was in essence a Lloyd Bentsen moment for tax and budget wonks.
Ryan was right that Kennedy advocated lowering taxes, but it may have been Ryan's appropriation of Kennedy's legacy that stung Democrats.
"There is this tremendous love for Jack Kennedy for reasons hard to explain," said Alan Brinkley, a Columbia University American History professor who has written a book about Kennedy. "But Democrats still believe that Jack Kennedy is their great messiah and so I think that's what made so many Democrats angry."
On the tax policy, at least, Ryan was mostly right.
Kennedy did propose lowering taxes early on in his administration, a step he said was necessary to bring the country out of an economic recession.
"If we are to prevail in the long run, we must expand the long-run strength of our economy. We must move along the path to a higher rate of growth and full employment," Kennedy said in his 1963 State of the Union address. "To achieve these greater gains,
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Joe Biden is a walking Silver Alert.
“Mr. Vice President, I served with Lloyd Bentsen. I knew Lloyd Bentsen. Lloyd Bentsen was a friend of mine. Mr. Vice President, you’re no Lloyd Bentsen.”
It was almost like Joe was just waiting for Ryan to utter the name of some other famous politician so he could respond “Oh so now you think you’re blah blah...”
Biden applied a willful and conscious method of belittleling his opponent. In my opinion Biden succeeded in diminishing Ryan. Bidens behavior has not changed my vote but he clearly made Ryan look small and weak.
Ryan is soooo much better than that drugged out, womanizing, mafia controlled, ineffective potus that it is laughable that Biden would make that comment. Please someone tell what JFK accomplished in his presidency that make him memorable other than the overhyped Cuban missle crisis or getting himself shot. Not much of a legacy other than Camelot. Remember camelot is a fairy tale as is JFK;s legacy.
He got his presidency because of the Chicago mob (Daly, et al). Nixon really won the election. And Kennedy was taken out by the Chicago mob. They have been in control of the Democratic party for a long time.
Wanna bet 58,270 of the tweets came from WH.....;)
Made plagerist Biden sound like a rude plagerist.
Do you agree with this analysis? I notice you posted it without comment.
Back in the days when debates had one person at a time talking -- surely you remember those? -- Benson's comment left Dan Quayle deer-in-headlghts looking and speechless.
Ryan pretty much ignored SloJoe Butt-In's comment-barely-noticed-because-he-was-incoherently-rambling-all-the-time.
Bidden was seen by younger viewers as why there is polarization in Washington, and why nothing gets done. Ryan is seen as the next generation that isn't tainted by historical party baggage, and who just wants to solve problems and get things done.
-PJ
The perfect response:
No, Mr Vice-President, I do not think I am Jack Kennedy. I was only pointing out that Jack Kennedy supported and implemented tax cuts to spur economic growth, just as Ronald Reagan did.
It is YOUR policy of raising taxes during weak economic times that is in direct contradiction to the legacy of President Kennedy.
JFK would get kicked out of the Democrat party today for these comments alone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AAEp0J_hzU
Not really. Ryan commented on two example where a tax cut has expanded revenues. He mentioned Reagan, then he mentioned JFK made a similar move.
In no way did he insinuate that he was the new JFK, similar to JFK, etc.
Joe’s response made no sense whatsoever. It certainly did not best him. AT BEST, he was like that TV commercial for the detergent. The stain on the shirt keeps shouting and interrupting the conversation. Joe only succeeded in making himself look like he had no ability to win by simply refuting what Ryan said. Romney bested Obama in that manner. Biden simply looke impossible to have a disscussion with. In his 45 minutes, Ryan was interuped over 80 times by Biden, and interrupted over 20 times by the Moderater. That simply was not an environment where anyone could prevail. So Ryan won by using his politenes to illustrate the two nazi thugs at the table with him.
BTW, i cannot tell you how many women i have already heard say how they HATED Bidens smug, dissmissive, and insulting tactics. Instantly reminded them of ex-husbands.
Not very creative thinking on Joe’s part to recycle an old line, but the dumb suckers watching must have thought it was cool, so it was a good idea.
Ryan knew this was coming sometime in the debate and should have come back with, “No, not any more than you are, Joe, but he knew a lot more about how to fire up an economy than present day democrats and the obama administration.”
That would have brought the roof down!
If Kennedy were alive today, he’d be a RINO and the left would detest him.
Certainly. Just like Lloyd Bentsen had preprepared his "You're no Jack Kennedy" retort to Dan Quayle for the 1988 vice presidential debates (Bentsen didn't actually know Kennedy and they certainly weren't friends, but they were in Congress at the same time; in any case, it's not factually accuracy that counts in such encounters, but drama and appearances).
Bentsen found an appropriate moment to deliver his zinger. Biden didn't but unleashed his anyway. Because the moment and circumstances weren't quite right, Biden's retort didn't have the same effect as Bentsen's. I'd be surprised if both Biden and Ryan weren't aware of that 1988 moment.
According to JFK in his NY Econ Club speech it was Eisenhower in 1954.
Maybe it's because I was around in 1962, but Biden simply made Ryan's point, without inflicting any damage.
Oh, so now you think you’re Cicero!
Maybe next Obamy will call out to Martin Luther King and Romney can mention he was a Republican....
Ryan missed the rebuttal:
“Mr Vice President, my policies are almost identical to President Kennedy’s while your policies have very little in common with his.”
The truth is that Kennedy’s policies, especially his economic policies, are much more similar to Romney/Ryan policies than to Obama/Biden.
If Kennedy was alive today and had the same policies as he did in 1960 the democrats would be calling him a far right extremist.
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