A cautionary tale

Experience promises to be something of a central question in this critical debate between Palin, 44, and Biden, 65, at Washington University in St. Louis - just as it was 20 years ago, when a young Republican ,Dan Quayle of Indiana, 41 at the time, stood alongside the elder Democrat Lloyd Bentsen of Texas, then 67, in Omaha....

"I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency." [said Quayle]...

To which Bentsen replied: "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy...''

But what's also best remembered about that encounter between the seasoned old senator from Texas and the young turk from Indiana is that the Democratic ticket of Bentsen and Michel Dukakis lost, and George H.W. Bush and Quayle won the White House. Held it only a term, but won it nonetheless.

[From Palin-Biden, Quayle-Bentsen: A repeat?: The Swamp]