Posted on 01/15/2016 1:41:05 PM PST by Brices Crossroads
Watching the Fox Business News debate last night, in particular Donald Trump's savage rejoinder to Ted Cruz's attack on "New York Values", I was reminded of a debate over twenty five years ago when another young Senator found himself on the receiving end of a similar shiv in the ribs from a more seasoned competitor.
In the 1988 Vice Presidential debate, Senator Dan Quayle was attempting to allay fears that he was too young (41) for the job. He compared his level of experience to that of John F. Kennedy at a similar point in their careers. His opponent, Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, stood and watched until Quayle finished and then uncorked among the most memorable lines in American political history: "Senator, I knew Jack Kennedy, I served with Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." Quayle stood frozen at his podium, head down as Bentsen slowly and deliberately delivered the line, as if waiting for the blade of the guillotine to drop. When is was over with Quayle could only respond weakly, "That as uncalled for, Senator." Perhaps it was. I certainly thought so. But that single line, perfectly delivered, spelled the end of Dan Quayle as a political figure of consequence.
Fast forward to the debate last night. Ted Cruz set forth his bill of particulars against New York's sins of social liberalism (which actually afflict the entire country in varying degrees) in a rather transparent attempt to pander to the evangelicals in Iowa. When Cruz had finished Trump slowly and deliberately, in hushed tones, painted a picture of New York and New Yorkers as resilient and brave in the aftermath of 9/11. As Bentsen had hearkened back to a martyred President, Trump channeled the New York Fire Fighters and other heroes of September 11. The reaction was so electric that Cruz actually joined the audience in clapping for his opponent. By the time Trump turned to look at him and call him out to his face, Cruz just stood there mute with a sheepish smile on his face, like a beaten puppy. I was embarrassed for him. The optics of the exchange were so devastating for Cruz that it is hard to see how he recovers. The fact that Trump had telegraphed earlier in that day that he intended to allude to 9/11 made it all the more perplexing that Cruz, a reputedly seasoned debater, was unprepared for it and in fact doubled down on his earlier statements, leaving himself wide open to Trump's thrust. While Quayle was caught by surprise, Cruz was hoisted by his own petard.
Finally, pandering on social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, is standard fare in a GOP primary. GOP candidates have been doing so for well over a quarter of a century. On the the rare occasions when the GOP has won elections in the last 25-30 years, the results for social conservatives have been underwhelming. I must confess that I have been taken in by this pandering more than once, because of my desire to see Roe v. Wade consigned to the ash heap of judicial history. No more. The candidates who shout the loudest and promise the most on this score never get around to the fact that a President's power to affect these issues is severely limited. From now on, it is not who yells the loudest about abortion that will get my vote, but the candidate who, I believe, will fight the hardest and most effectively to get his court appointments confirmed. Donald Trump has said that his favorite Supreme Court Justice is Clarence Thomas, the most conservative Justice on the Court and among the most conservative in history. I have no doubt that Trump would use his powers of persuasion and negotiation, including brass knuckled threats of political retribution against Senators, in order to get his nominations confirmed.
While Ted Cruz is certainly willing to talk about the social issues, at least in Iowa (if not at his fundraisers in Manhattan), I do not believe he would be nearly as effective in nominating conservative judges and, more to the point, getting them confirmed.
Yes, but Cruz left himself needlessly open to criticism by not clarifying his point.
Yup.
That was not a Dan Quayle moment, that was Lloyd Bentsen being an a**hole moment.
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I agree w/ this view more than it being a Quayle moment.
University of Illinois
Snicker at idiot who thinks that an MA is something other than an income generating program for almost all universities.
What a horrible thing to write/wish upon anyone.
Believe me, I’d cheer the agonizing death of any and every person who contributed to legalizing faggot-marriage in this country.
BRAVO!!!
That Dan Quayle moment was a load of Bolshevik too.
Bless your heart.
You have one right? A loving and Christian heart?
What happened to hate the sin but love the sinner? And honestly, you don’t have to love the sinner, but you surely don’t need to wish for agonizing brutal death of each and every person ... not to mention the brutal death of the “innocents” just walking down the street.
Nope. I have no heart. It died when this country embraced depravity and perversion. When America decided it’s okay to be a faggoty, pajama-boy sewer of a country. My allegiance is to a ghost-nation. And I want nothing less than to have the decks run red with the blood of those who brought this.
So I don’t count them as “REAL” New Yorkers.
My family has been in Manhattan since shortly after the Civil War. And NOBODY I ever knew, in NYC, was what some here claim ALL New Yorkers to be like.
And your Doctor of Philosophy prepared you for ....?
LOL, U of Ill. down town Chicago, or the real one? *snicker*
"burrow" ? ROTFLMSO Dream on, tain't no such a thing, Mr. ALL HAT NO CATTLE. ;^)
It's been a while since I worked in Manhattan but when I did, I had misfit libs from Arkansas, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Minnesota in my group.
It was in the 80's. They all hated Reagan.
I’ve got 30 IQ points on you easy. In glad that you are proud of your vocabulary. If you are to be dull, its a blessing you don’t know.
I haven’t lived in NYC in quite a while, but yes, that was my experience when I was there, too.
That’s laughable, you silly braggart; it’s mendacious to boot.
Both Ph.D.s prepared me for nothing. It was ticket punching, as is almost always the case. (If you were well educated, you might understand).
I am smart and learned on the job. I created more value than I was paid for. That is capitalism, sonny.
If you weren't a pompous, supercilious, over-educated git, you'd perhaps get off your high horse and face reality.
Cruz unfortunately is a senator and senators make terrible presidents. The longer they stay in the senate the more they think they are infallible. Cruz probably bought into the idea that Trump is a simple man with no brains whatsoever and that Cruz with his superior intellect will mop the floor with him.
That is the curse senators suffer from. They start believing the crap that is fed to them about how great they are and they start believing that they make reality. Then like everyone else Cruz underestimates Trump. Trump has been winning consistently because he is underestimated every step of the way.
As of right now there are a lot of people who are part of the Cruz elite where Cruz is simply the best of the best and everyone else is trailer trash. That attitude will make Cruz lose. Look what is happening to Hillary. She views everyone as trailer trash and she is being destroyed by her own attitude.
Trump on the other hand does not underestimate anything. He has lived all his life in reality and has had to fight for everything he has earned. Trump respects reality.
Cruz disdains it. Big, big mistake.
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