Dan Quayle was a controversial selection for George Bush (Sr) to make for a running mate. The guy had the face of Opie from Mayberry and (publicly at least) he did not seem to be what anyone would call an intellectual giant. Still he had the backing of conservative Republicans and there was no chance he was going to outshine the man at the head of the ticket.

But on October 5th 1988 in the only vice presidential debate of that election year he still managed to draw the media spotlight to himself and earn a place in American political sideshow history when he remarked in response to a question about his qualifications that he had as much experience as John F. Kennedy did when he sought the presidency in 1960. Though technically true his counterpart, Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, jumped on the comparison and countered "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

The crowd whooped and hollered, applauded and snickered. Quayle was left a bit red faced at having been bitch slapped so publicly but generally kept his composure and called Bentsen out for his breach of political etiquette. Bentsen earned plenty of democratic cred for his mean spirited put down but it was Quayle who'd get the last laugh in November when he and Bush won the general election.