In today’s Washington Post Style section, political writer Libby Copeland highlights Lloyd Bentsen’s 1988 debate insult of Dan Quayle in an article headlined ”The World’s Snappiest Comebacks.” She began by reveling in its perfection:

If one will be remembered for a single remark, as the recently departed Lloyd Bentsen is, let it be for the perfect put-down. Most of us never get to experience the joy of excoriating an opponent with a dead-on, devastating riposte. We always think of it too late. When Bentsen told a baby-faced Dan Quayle, ‘Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy,’ he was following in the tradition of expert quipsters Oscar Wilde, Dorothy Parker and Winston Churchill, whose lines are still remembered. Perfect put-downs transcend their settings.

Copeland tried to make this more balanced by noting Ronald Reagan’s debate quips against Carter and Mondale, but “there you go again” and joking about not exploiting his opponent’s “youth and inexperience” were much mellower in tone than Bentsen’s “babyface” slam. Soon, she returned to the “beauty” of Bentsen’s quip: “We don’t feel bad for victims of verbal violence if we feel in some way they deserve it.” Spoken like a true Democrat. Left unexplored: how recent Republican candidates have resisted the urge to slam liberal opponents in presidential debates in front of liberal media. It wouldn’t receive the same glorious treatment.

Also left unexplored: was Bentsen telling the truth? I remember that during the 1992 Democratic convention, Tom Brokaw explained, ”At the Kennedy Library, just outside Boston, they went through all the files. They couldn’t see much evidence Lloyd Bentsen knew John Kennedy very well. But it certainly was an effective campaign ploy for him.” That’s because the liberal media “truth squad” was too busy slapping their own knees to fact-check.