"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" was a remark made during the 1988 United States vice-presidential debate by Democratic vice-presidential candidate Senator Lloyd Bentsen to Republican vice-presidential candidate Senator Dan Quayle. Jack Kennedy was a reference to John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States. Since then, the words "You're no Jack Kennedy," or some variation on Bentsen's remark, have become a part of the political lexicon as a way to deflate politicians or other individuals perceived as thinking too highly of themselves.
Read more about Senator, You're No Jack Kennedy: Context, Transcript, Aftermath, Legacy
Famous quotes containing the words jack kennedy, jack and/or kennedy:
“President Kennedy had a wholesome, widely discussed, and largely deserved reputation for his interest in women.... But no President, however young and energetic, could possibly have gotten around to all the ladies in Washington, New York, and Hollywood who made claim to his affections after he died.... Such was the force of Jack Kennedy and the manner of his death that anyone associated with him, even the pretenders, assumed added glamour and interest.”
—Barbara Howar (b. 1934)
“This is the cow with the crumpled horn
That tossed the dog”
—Mother Goose (fl. 17th–18th century. The House That Jack Built (l. 16–17)
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”
—Bible: Hebrew Proverbs, 29:18.
President John F. Kennedy quoted this passage on the eve of his assassination in Dallas, Texas; recorded in Theodore C. Sorenson’s biography, Kennedy, Epilogue (1965)