‘Jack Kennedy’ Quip Born in Warm-Up

“You’re no Jack Kennedy,” the most telling line uttered by Lloyd Bentsen in his vice presidential debate with Dan Quayle, grew out of a warm-up session with Rep. Dennis E. Eckart (D-Ohio) playing Quayle, U.S. News & World Report says in its issue dated Oct. 17.

The magazine quoted Eckart as saying he studied available videotapes of Quayle speeches and decided that the Indiana senator was setting himself up as a “Republican John Kennedy.”

It said that when the question of presidential qualifications arose during the debate rehearsal, Eckart, who was serving as a stand-in for Quayle, called for “a new generation of leadership” and claimed as much experience as Kennedy had when he ran for the White House in 1960.

Then, U.S. News said, the rehearsal was derailed by Bentsen, who objected: “He couldn’t say that. I knew Jack Kennedy. I worked with him.” The claim, Eckhart said, “stuck in Lloyd’s craw.”