Monday, August 25, 2008

Biden as VP: 1988 and Bentsen all over again?

With Biden as the VP, comparisons are being made to Cheney, and how Cheney is Bush's brain. I wonder if Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 is a more appropriate comparison. As long as Obama does not mutate into a Dukakis ....







































Dem VP CandidateJoe Biden (2008)Lloyd Bentsen (1988)
Age at "inauguration"6667
Age when went to Congress3028
Age when launched the first presidential run4653
Dem Prez CandidateBarack Obama (2008)Michael Dukakis (1988)
Age of the presidential candidate at "inauguration"4755
Age difference between the presidential and VP candidate1912
Age of the Republican presidential
opponent
72 (McCain)64 (Bush)
Age difference between Republican and
Democratic candidates
159

In a fantastic skit during the Michael Dukakis/George Bush presidential election season, Saturday Night Live featured Jon Lovitz as Dukakis and Dana Carvey (of course) as Bush. It is a presidential debate, with "Peter Jennings" and "Diane Sawyer" as moderators. The best part of the skit was this:
George Bush: Let me sum up. On track, stay the course. Thousand points of light.
Diane Sawyer: Governor Dukakis. Rebuttal?
Michael Dukakis: I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!
(The complete transcripts are here)

Well, as this running chart at Pollster.com shows, Obama does not have a lead over McCain that TKOs the Republican.

How much this election is turning out to be an eerie re-run of this memorable SNL kit!

Hey, is there a YouTube clip that I can embed here? For now, here is Bentsen skewering Quale with "you are no Jack Kennedy" line:

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