michael dukakis picked lloyd bentsen of texas. the two candid for about 25 years apart in age, something that provided one of the defining moments. there was held in omaha, neb.. is about one hour and 35 minutes. >> good evening. on behalf of the commission of presidential debates i am pleased to welcome me to the vice presidential debate. i am judy woodruff. my colleagues are tom brokaw of nbc news, and a brit hume of abc news. the importance of tonight the president is underscored by two fax. both george bush and michael bad -- michael dukakis said their running mates would reveal a lot about themselves. based on the history, there is almost a 50-50 chance that one of the men here tonight will become president of the united states. the candidates are senator dan quayle and lloyd bentsen, the democratic nominee. [applause] for the next 90 minutes, we will be questioning the candidates following a format designed and agreed to by representatives of the two campaigns. however, there are america rigid restrictions on the questions m

senator bentsen? bentsen: this conversion is interesting to me. [laughter] [applause] when he talks about a boston harbor and says he hasn't done anything, the facts are he has a 6 billion-dollar program under way on the waste treatment and it was this administration, their administration that cut out the money early on to be able to clean up water and made it impossible to move ahead on that time on the boston harbor the party of queen mary and the superfund in passing the superfund legislation and every environmental organization has now endorsed the bentsen ticket and i am one that has just received the environment, environmental award in texas for the work i've done to clean up the water off the coast of texas. i think we know who is going to clean up this environment. the record is there and the history is there and michael dukakis and bentsen will be committed to that. >> moderator: tom brokaw question for senator quayle. >> there's been a lot of talk of a campaign about family, the principal th

dan quayle and lloyd bentsen of texas. the two vice presidential candidates were 25 years apart in age which provided one of the defining moments. the debate was held in omaha and was moderated by pbs's judy woodruff. >> on behalf of the commission on presidential debates, i am pleased to welcome you to this vice presidential debate. i'm judy woodruff of pbs' "macneil-lehrer news hour" and "frontline." my colleagues on the panel are -- john margolis of "the chicago tribune," tom brokaw of nbc news, and brit hume of abc news. the importance of tonight's debate is underscored by two facts. both george bush and michael dukakis said their selections of a running mate would reveal a lot about themselves. and based on the history since world war ii, there is almost a 50-50 chance that one of the two men here tonight will become president of the united states. the candidates are senator dan quayle, the republican nominee, and senator lloyd bentsen, the democratic nominee. [applause] >> for the next 90 minutes we will be questioni

let's assume -- we cannot really confirm whether bentsen knew kennedy. we would have to figure that out and go way back. but we have testimony that he did not. now let's change the line. i will have david deliver it. would you get up and say, "i saw jack kennedy and you are no jack kennedy?" i mean, that loses it, doesn't it? you need that "friend of mine" thing. you need to watch what happens on television because it needs to all the fact-checked. the problem is we send folks off to war based on who gets elected. i am arguing we ought to do something about it. i will have recommendations later on if you are interested during the q&a. now we have three candidates. we will fast-forward through some of it. here is what happened. we have george bush remembering that he should create some activity, so he starts to pivot , and because he does that, the camera will do what? paul here has the rules, which disallows a one shot when you are not speaking, meaning picking up paul when he is not talking. it is against the rules. people making sound is against the ru

and, i always go for bad news and he said, no, i have to tell you, bentsen 10-1 on the debate, and, bentsenn quayle and dukakis and bush and i asked the key question and, i said what is the horse race and he said, virtually unchanged. >> arthel: but we're talking about momentum and maybe you are right. it will be the same thing. let's talk about vice president biden and the possibility of him redirecting the momentum towards the president and, what does congressman ryan have to do to pick up where the governor lift off on wednesday night? >> what ryan has to do is not make a mistake and it will help him to be on the same platform as biden as, frankly it helped mitt romney not taking anything away from his performance and it helped him to be even with the president and help him more that he was assertive and the president seems cool and passionless but, i'm yet to be convinced that i vice presidential debate, even a strong performance like bentsen's ultimately moves the horse race, because i think people vote for president. >> arthel: they do but we're talking about the vp debates and we wil

a colleague of mine was in the room when that line was written for senator bentsen. the appearances -- become parents is to kennedy were frequent. senator quayle bought those would work to his advantage. -- the comparisons to kennedy were quite frequent. senator quayle sought those would work to his advantage. >> it was gotten wrong in a debate with george w. bush in 2000. you can see gore advancing threatening toward the bush who would later win the presidency after a battle over vote counting. i cannot imagine anything like that happening tonight. in fact, the opposite. these are very cool customers. how should they loosened up without making that mistake? >> al gore had the unfortunate personality -- he resembled a tin woodman when he was in front of the camera. i cannot believe that his approaching president bush was as big a deal as some would think that it was. but, he did it at the wrong time. >> right. very very briefly. these are two of the most televised men in the world. will we learn anything new about them? >> tonight's candidates, i think that we will.

and -- rather, the panel, and, that was the one, we are seeing the moment, where bentsen says to dan no jack kennedy and, you hear the roar from the crowd but he was running with dukakis and we didn't end up with him. >> i remember after the debate was over i asked the question of dan quayle, if something happened to the president, god forbid what would be the first thing you'd do and he fumbled the question and, lloyd bentsen had a smooth answer and i asked the same question again, because i thought, he had a chance to think about it while dan quayle fumbled and give him another crack at it to be air, right? and he fumbled it again and, tom brokaw asked a third time and he gave the answer mentioning jack kennedy and left the opening for him to say that. what i'm saying is, i thought at the time, man, that will turn it into a rout and will be the sound bite that plays forever, this is a bad night for the ticket. the g.o.p. ticket. and i went downstairs afterwards into the press room and i saw david broder with the "washington post," a fair minded reporter and i said what do you think

it turned out that lloyd bentsen was no vice president, either. because it just didn't matter. will this thing matters subsequently to the outcome of the presidential election? >> i think you will be an important evening. an opportunity for him to show america what a wonderful human being he is. his level of integrity and intelligence and his knowledge about the budget. let's face it, we are facing a predictable crisis in this nation and the reason why i was so excited when governor romney pics paul ryan is not only do i know him as a fine human being, but he also, his actions put forward real solutions. that is so critically important nowadays when america is hungry for leadership, which this president simply has not. paul has been providing that leadership and that is what we saw what governor romney as well. someone who had a command presents. he helps to get the legislation passed and i will be a critical difference. >> will he be able to do as well if they score as well, will he be able to post a historic victory over vice president biden as governor romney did over presid

i picked lloyd bentsen. mr. bush picked dan quayle. i think that says a great deal to the american people about the standards we'll set and the quality of the people that we will pick to serve in our administration. >> to each of you candidates, regrettably, i have to inform you that we have come to the end of our questions. that's a pity. before i ask the candidates to make their closing remarks, on behalf of the commission on presidential debates, i would like to thank all of you for joining us this evening. governor dukakis, yours is the first closing statement, sir. >> 28 years ago, as a young man just graduated from law school, i came to this city, came clear across the country, to watch john kennedy be nominated for the presidency of the united states, right here in los angeles. i never dreamed that some day i would win that nomination and be my party's nominee for president. that's america. that's why i'm proud and grateful to be a citizen of this country. 26 days from today you and millions of americans will choose two people t

lloyd bentsen's line was great line. >> well rehearsed. >> well delivered, well rehearsed. do we remember from 2008? no lines. that was not a game changing debate between senator obama and senator mccain. >> not the way it was during the primary races. one of the things that you learned from that moment with benson and quayle, is they have been watching dan quayle, this young, some would say not fully prepared senator, and not prepared for the national stage, and watching how he kept comparing himself to john f. kennedy to show that kennedy was also young and they were ready to pounce with that. >> these guys have been on both sides known each other, going to be their opponents, reviewing individual yes videotapes, studied about them, forgetting about whether mitt romney has zingers or not they have some prepared lines ready but more important what overall kind of meta impression is that people get of these people. for mitt romney the challenge is great. a lot of work to do on the stage and one of the most fundamental things americans still have fundamental doubts about whe

. >> reporter: most memorably, lloyd bentsen's takedown of dan quayle in 1988. >> jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> reporter: but beware that deer in the head lights moment when a candidate forgets he's expected to be human. >> governor, if kitty dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer? >> no, i don't, bernard. >> i feel sorry for these candidates because there's a bunch of people sitting around a room right now telling them to do ten impossible things and then at the end saying be yourself. >> reporter: and if you lose the first round you can recover at the next match with a well executed zinger. >> i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> reporter: even a strong debate performance by john kerry wasn't enough to defeat george w. bush, but debates matter because it's the first chance to size up the candidates in unscripted moments one-on-one. brian? >> andrea mitchell, who by the way will be our fact checker during our live coverage of the debate

violent's revival of lloyd bentsen's 1988 -- vice president's revival of lloyd bentsen's 1988 barb. >'s randall pinkston are highlights from the clash in kentucky and results of who came out the winner. >> i will be very specific. >> reporter: vice president joe biden wasted no time challenging congressman paul ryan's take on foreign policy. >> with all due respect, that's a bunch malarkey. >> and why is that so? >> not a single thing he said is accurate. >> reporter: the vice president and ryan clashed over the economy, taxes and medicare with the democrat often on the attack. >> and they're holding hostage the middle class tax cut. it's about time they take some responsibility. >> reporter: but ryan fired back. he slammed the obama administration's economic record. >> this is not what a real recovery looks like. we need real reforms for a real recovery, and that's exactly what mitt romney and i are proposing. >> reporter: after several heated exchanges, ryan insinuated that president obama's performance last week was motivating the vice president. >> mr. vice president, i know you'r

i picked lloyd bentsen, because i thought he was the best qualified person for the job. [applause] >> mr. bush picked dan quayle, and before he did it, he said, watch my choice for vice president, it will tell all and it sure did. it sure did. [applause] >> ann compton for the vice president. >> thank you, bernie. mr. vice president, yes, we read your lips -- no new taxes. but despite that same pledge from president reagan, after income tax rates were cut, in each of the last five years, some federal taxes have gone up, on social security, cigarettes, liquor, even long distance telephone calls. now that's money straight out of people's wallets. isn't the phrase, no new taxes, misleading the voters? >> no, because i'm pledged to that, and yes, some taxes have gone up. and the main point is, taxes have been cut, and yet income is up to the federal government by 25% in the last three years. and so what i want to do is keep this expansion going. i don't want to kill it off by a tax increase. more americans at work today than at any time in the history of the country, and a g

. >> reporter: in 1988, vice presidential candidate dan quayle made that mistake against lloyd bentsen. >> i knew jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. ( cheers and applause ) >> reporter: in the era of scripted and stage-managed candidates, the debates offer something increasingly dangerous-- the chance of a spontaneous moment. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news." we'll be right back at 6:00 with tonight's debate. i'm scott pelley in denver. see you in a minute. [monotone] she says, "switch to progressive and you could save hundreds."

bentsen to quayle. >> i served with jake kennedy. i knew jack kennedy. mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> reporter: lesson two -- think spelling bee. memorize every possible answer because mistakes will define you forever. don't get the obvious stuff wrong. >> there is no soviet domination of eastern europe. >> reporter: and have a plan to handle bizarro curveball questions. >> if kitty dukakis were raped and murdered -- >> reporter: mr. dukakis there governor, answered that death penalty question with policy talk. >> i think there are better and more effective ways to deal with violent crime. >> reporter: -- which did not go well for him. which leads to lesson three -- appearances count, above all. jfk. nixon, just out of the hospital, pale and refusing professional makeup. lighting counts, too. in 1984, reagan's people fussed more over his man mondale did over his and reagan always had a glass of wine just before going on to get the rosy cheeks. lesson four. real debating? so far, after 52 years, not actually required here, so, relax. learn your

the vice president's revival of lloyd bentsen's 1988 barb, here's the results of a poll on who came out on top with randall pinkston. >> i will be very specific. >> reporter: vice president joe biden wasted no time challenging congressman paul ryan's take on foreign policy. >> with all due respect, that's a bunch mularkey. >> and why is that so? >> not a single thing he said is accurate. >> reporter: the vice president and ryan clashed over the economy, taxes and medicare with the democrat often on the attack. >> and they're holding hostage the middle class tax cut. it's about time they take some responsibility. >> reporter: but ryan fired back. he slammed the obama administration's economic record. >> this is not what a real recovery looks like. we need real reforms for a real recovery and that's exactly what mitt romney and i are proposing. >> reporter: after several heated exchanges ryan insinuated that president obama's performance last week was motivating the vice president's -- >> i know you're under a lot of duress for making up for a loss round. >> reporter: who won? it depends

. >> reporter: in 1988, vice presidential candidate dan quayle made that mistake against lloyd bentsendy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. (cheers and applause) >> reporter: in the era of scripted and staepblg-managed candidates, the debates offer something increasingly dangerous-- the chance of a spontaneous moment. anthony mason, cbs news, new york. >> pelley: and that's the "cbs evening news." we'll be back at 9:00 eastern time with our debate coverage. i'm scott pelley in denver. see you again soon. >>> this is 9news now. >> with five weeks to go until election day, president obama versus mitt romney in the first of three presidential debates. good evening, i'm derek mcginty. welcome to 9news now at 7:00. i'm live in the u.s.a. today newsroom. anita brikman is live in the studio. i'm joined by paul singer. he is the politics editor where they are fact checking the debate as it happens. >> how much they say is true and what isn't quite. >> check on our website where we link to u.s.a. today's website. in the meantime, we get to the

vice presidential candidate lloyd bentsen saying this to dan quayle as he said he had as much experience as jfk. >> jack kennedy was a friend of mine, senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> so powerful moments, rick, but did they make a difference? >> two of the most vice presidential debate lines of all time but both were uttered by losing candidates. they know the stakes are huge for the debate. this is brand-new terrain for paul ryan. biden has more pressure on him now than ever because of the man at the top of the ticket's poor performance last week. >> we'll all be watching. rick klein with the bigger picture, thank you. this right here one on one, george and diane at the dafk and jake tapper and me at the debate hall and martha raddatz moderating the debate beginning at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on abc. >>> we move on tonight to a key issue for many voters in the electric, the soaring price of gas. now at a record for this time of year, averaging $3.81 nationally, that's up 3 cents in the past week and in california, lo look at this, 4.65. we're asking what's going on in california

own against joe biden and this memorable moment from 1998 debate, vice presidential candidate lloyd bentsen saying this to dan quayle as he said he he had as much experience as jfk. >> jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> two very memorable lines but you made an interesting observation. >> they are quite famous but both were uttered by losing candidates. paul ryan and joe biden know the stakes are huge for this debate. this is brand-new terrain for ryan. biden has more pressure on him than last week after the man at the top of the ticket did not deliver. >> rick klein with the bigger picture, thank you. >>> a reminder right here, "one on one, the candidates debate" on thursday night, diane and george right at the desk. jake tapper and me at the debate hall, and abc's martha raddatz will be moderating the debate. it all begins at 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on abc. >>> in the meantime, we move on to a key issue for voters, the soaring price of gas. averaging 3.81 nationally, that's up 3 cents in the past week. and in california, look at this, an average of

and i mentioned the one in 1998 between bentsen and quayle.re are other cases of dramatic moments as well. we should definitely pay attention to the vice- presidential debate as well. host: robert in queens, new york. republican line, good morning. caller: if the mainstream media were to cover this in a normal fashion like they should, do you think people would pay attention? there are a lot of people but do not know this exists. there were only 45 seconds of the transcript from what i understand. i just like to know how you feel the election would be assuming the mainstream media were to cover things like this. it is definitely not on any front page of any paper today and i believe it is front-page news. host: and just for some context talking about this obama video, it says it was billed as a bombshell. guest: some republicans might say this is the from the answer to the 47%. they may be a little embarrassed by that, but it has been in the public domain since 2007. it is not clear why he is concerned for katrina victims not getting the same

many of your responses mentioned the jack kennedy moment from the lloyd bentsen-dan quayle the base -- debate. find out what others are saying othersfacebook.com/cspan. and see this election's only vice-presidential debate thursday. vice-president joe biden and paul ryan will meet in kentucky. our live previous starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern. the debate starts live at 9:00 p.m. eastern. followed by your reaction at 10:30. followed the debate on c-span, c-span radio, and c-span.org. >> i do think it is a great look at what is happening in washington. it comes back to you and changes your view. it is different from regular media. it is very objective. it is about what is real and what is going on. when the senate and the house votes on different bills, we've watched in the office and when there are reports on hearings. >>> welcome back to the news at noon. i am adrienne bankert. taking a second look at your top stories. different decisions. >> erin mcclusky watches c-span on direct tv. c-span brought to you by your television provider. >> a discussion now on campaign finance and super pacs

. >> reporter: and lloyd bentsen's swipe at fellow senator dan quayle in 1988. >> i served with jackennedy. i knew jack kennedy. jack kennedy was a friend of mine. senator, you're no jack kennedy. >> reporter: and then there are the moments that seemed to say more. like president george h.w. bush looking at his watch in a 1992 debate with bill clinton. >> i can't. >> reporter: texas governor rick perry's oops remark. >> oops. >> rick, i'll tell you what -- >> reporter: romney's high-dollar wager. >> $10,000 bet? >> reporter: and obama's comments to then-rival hillary clinton in 2008. >> you're not old enough to remember that. >> reporter: one thing analysts agree on, the debates may be romney's big chance. >> he's got two very tough competing goals, be likable and lay out a contrast. it's hard to be likable when you're the attack dog. >> we've gotten to know barack obama pretty well. we've seen this president for four years. there's not a lot of room left on his list to paint. mitt romney, he still has a little white space on his canvas. he can still show us who he is and where he'd

the vice-presidential candidates revived lloyd bentsen's 1988 jack kennedy line one of many barbs tradedcandidate last night. >> here's randall pinkston with highlights and results of a poll on who came out the winner. >> i will be very specific. >> reporter: vice president joe biden wasted no time challenging congressman paul ryan's take on foreign policy. >> with all due respect, that's a bunch malarkey. >> and why is that so? >> not a single thing he said is accurate. >> reporter: the vice president and ryan clashed over the economy, taxes and medicare with the democrat often on the attack. >> and they're holding hostage the middle class tax cut. it's about time they take some responsibility. >> reporter: but ryan fired back. he slammed the obama administration's economic record. >> this is not what a real recovery looks like. we need real reforms for a real recovery, and that's exactly what mitt romney and i are proposing. >> reporter: after several heated exchanges, ryan insinuated that president obama's performance last week was motivating the vice president. >> mr. vice president,

i think we found out lloyd bentsen and jack kennedy weren't that close of friends. if president obama lost some momentum after wednesday's debate today's jobs report, could it bring it back? the first report to show unemployment rate below 8% since the very beginning of his presidency. david plouffe is a senior adviser to the president and of course the architect of the 2008 campaign. he joins me now. let me get your first reaction. how important psychologically is it do you believe to have an unemployment number below 8% the month before the election? >> well chuck i don't think we should focus on politics today. this is obviously showing that we continued to recover from a horrible recession. we've created over 5.2 million private sector jobs the last 30 months as you pointed out the unemployment rate is now back to where it was in january of 2009. and i'd like to make the point though and i think we did talk about this debate wednesday, the recession wasn't an accident. there were policies and reasons that contributed to it. reckless wall street behavior, tax cut

was he channeling lloyd bentsen. >> policy of a romney administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. >> well, i guess he accepts governor romney's position now because in the past he had has argued that there was rape and forcible rape -- >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. the table is now reset for next week's matchup between the president and governor romney's after last night's combative contest in danville between the running mates. the vice presidential candidates sparred for 90 minutes in a contentious debate that delighted their bases but what is the impact on independent and undecided voters. joining me david gregory moderator of "meet the press" and chris cizilla msnbc contributor and managing editor of post-politics.com. the big night in danville first to you, chris overnight quick reaction polls which we don't rely on because they're on-line polls. >> right. >> but your sense from your blog as to whether this was a win, place or draw? >> you know, i think everything your analysis in this debate fends

him i would say you are not on the stage with barack obama, with you don't need more zingers, lloyd bentsen had a zinger and he lost. james stockdale had a zinger and lost. what we need is a vision. communicate to the american people, use this as a platform, it's you and them, one on one and i would act as if barack obama is not there. >> let me bring in chris on that point. let me play, chris, what president obama said just yet in nevada. >> i know folks in the media are speculating already on who's going to have the best zingers. i don't know about that. governor romney is a good debater. i'm just okay. >> we know both sides are playing this au shuck, i'm just okay. i don't know how i'm going to perform. the president -- >> he's just the president. >> he's been working very hard. he may not be rehearsing zingers but we know, for example, just on the tax loophole question, that paul ryan stumbled and stammered through when on fox news yesterday, there are openings available but the problem, at least that we're hearing, chris, from the obama team, is they're worried his answers will be too

i picked lloyd bentsen. mr. bush picked dan quayle. i think that says a great deal to the american people about the standards we'll set and the quality of the people that we will pick to serve in our administration. >> to each of you candidates, regrettably, i have to inform you that we have come to the end of our questions. that's a pity. before i ask the candidates to make their closing remarks, on behalf of the commission on presidential debates, i would like to thank all of you for joining us this evening. governor dukakis, yours is the first closing statement, sir. >> 28 years ago, as a young man just graduated from law school, i came to this city, came clear across the country, to watch john kennedy be nominated for the presidency of the united states, right here in los angeles. i never dreamed that some day i would win that nomination and be my party's nominee for president. that's america. that's why i'm proud and grateful to be a citizen of this country. 26 days from today you and millions of americans will choose two people t

lloyd bentsen putting down dan quayle and became inaugurated as vice president that january. it was dan quayle. this time maybe a little different because this election so close. so newly close. because we have got what i have been calling momentum politics, momentum is on the republican side. can joe biden turn that around in the debate and set a better stage for the second presidential debate that we have next week in new york? >> momentum is so important. i think that -- you know, besides the fact you have two debaters who are both really pretty substantive guys, i mean, you know, you have one who has been the voice of the budget for the republican party and obviously joe biden for all his years of experience in congress. and as vice president. you add into that their own personal prospects for 2016. give us your take on the vice presidential debate. >> i think that it is going to be really substantive and think it will matter more than they have in the past and i think biden actually has a real chance here to make a difference in par because foreign policy is certainly go

. >> and lloyd bentsen with dan quayle. >> i knew jack kennedy. he was a friend of mine.no jack kennedy. >> memorable moments but hardly game changers. presidential debates can impact vice-presidential debate like this one between biden and all of ryan. they could be different. >> you need to be seeing that they are ready. that there will be ready in a national crisis to be able to step into the oval office and to take a rain of the presidency. beyond that, once they are and that they could start seek touching moments it is really changing the debates. >> the strategic is saying that the first rule is to do no harm a. >> in terms of senses to not to break ground this is not an audition. this is only 2012. >> i do not like a damn thing about it. >> joe biden committed to 20 different debate saying that the contact is never easy. >> i have mostly been doing is quite frankly studying up on ryan's positions on his issues. and romney has embraced from everything that i have seen. i do not want to see that everything is completely accurate. >> what do they think of strength. >>

. >> senator bentsen. >> senator, i served with jack kennedy, i knew jack kennedy, jack kennedy was aator, you're no jack kennedy. >> now here's an object lesson for joe biden in a positive sense. eight years ago, dick cheney sat down against john edwards and he helped george w. bush stop the bleeding from bush's poor debate against john kerry. here's how that went. >> your hometown newspaper has taken to calling you senator gone. you've got one of the worst attendance records in the united states senate. the first time i ever met you was when you walked on the stage tonight. >> that was a complete distortion of my record. i know that won't come as a shock. it's amazing to hear him criticize my record or john kerry's. >> 30 seconds. >> i think his record speaks for itself and frankly it's not very distinguished. >> so what you have there is an older, experienced vice president, adopting just the right tone of kunds sencion to a younger rival. joe biden will try to do that against paul ryan tonight, guys. >> man, watching those clips -- >> gets us ready. >> spicy already. thank you so

and the democratic vice presidential candidate lloyd bentsen, much more senior than him, said that he knew kennedy and that dan quayle was no john kennedy. that was an embarrassing moment for dan quayle. in that case, dan quayle was on the winning ticket, but it was a loss for him in the long term and it became a way in which people always questioned whether to be the graves acroitas president. host: some point to and the job that and dick cheney did for george w. bush's presidency when he was able to criticize john edwards. can you talk about that moment and what it did for that campaign? \ guest: yes, that is an important comparison. at that time, donna edwards was the darling of the democratic party. he was seen as very charismatic , up-and-coming democrats who had the ability to look good on television and to appeal to the debates of the democratic party. -- john edwards. he was the fresh face and went on to debate against vice president dick cheney, who was much more senior to him and much less charismatic, but dick cheney was effectivel. he really question whether john edwards w

here's a look back at the 1988 vice-presidential debate with senator dan quayle and senator lloyd bentsen. >> senator quayle, i don't mean to beat this drum until it has no more sound left in it, but the follow-up on brit hume's question when you said it was a hypothetical situation, it is, after all, the reason why we are here tonight, because you are running not just for vice- president. [cheers and applause] and if you cite the experience you had in congress, surely you must have some plan in mind about what you would do if it fell to you to become president, as it has to so many vice-presidents in the last 25 years or so. >> let me try to answer one more time. i think this is the fourth time i've had this question. >> three times. >> i'll try to answer it as clearly as i can, because the question you're asking is what kind of qualifications does dan quayle have to be president, what qualifications do i have, and what would i do in this kind of situation? what would i do? i would make sure that the people in the cabinet and advisors to the president are called in and i'd talk to them a

i picked lloyd bentsen, because i thought he was the best qualified person for the job.] >> mr. bush picked dan quayle, and before he did it, he said, watch my choice for vice president, it will tell all and it sure did. it sure did. [applause] >> ann compton for the vice president. >> thank you, bernie. mr. vice president, yes, we read your lips -- no new taxes. but despite that same pledge from president reagan, after income tax rates were cut, in each of the last five years, some federal taxes have gone up, on social security, cigarettes, liquor, even long distance telephone calls. now that's money straight out of people's wallets. isn't the phrase, no new taxes, misleading the voters? >> no, because i'm pledged to that, and yes, some taxes have gone up. and the main point is, taxes have been cut, and yet income is up to the federal government by 25% in the last three years. and so what i want to do is keep this expansion going. i don't want to kill it off by a tax increase. more americans at work today than at any time in the history of the country, and a greater per