1988 жылғы вице-президенттік дебаттағы "Сіз Джек Кеннеди емессіз" деген сөз

Remark made by Lloyd Bentsen in 1988

"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy" was a remark made during the 1988 United States vice presidential debate by Democratic nominee Senator Lloyd Bentsen to Republican nominee Senator Dan Quayle in response to Quayle's mentioning the name of John F. Kennedy, the Democratic 35th president of the United States, whom Bentsen knew from their time as congressmen from the 80th to 82nd Congresses. Since then, the words "You're no Jack Kennedy," or some variation on the remark, have become a part of the political lexicon as a way to deflate politicians or other individuals perceived as thinking too highly of themselves. Michael Dukakis (the Democratic presidential nominee) and Bentsen later went on to lose the 1988 United States presidential election to George H. W. Bush and Quayle, who thus succeeded Bush as vice president of the United States.

The debate was held on October 5, 1988, at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. One of the moderators, Judy Woodruff, set the stage by addressing the audience: "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." From Martin Van Buren in 1836 up to the time of the debate, no sitting vice president had been elected president. Republican George H. W. Bush hoped to become the first one since that time. After Quayle became Bush's vice presidential running mate, questions were raised in the press about his age (he was 41 at the time); his limited term of service in the Senate; his grades in college; his National Guard duty (which Democrats claimed helped him avoid serving in the military during the Vietnam War); and his overall ability to lead the nation in the case of the incapacitation of the president, which became a central issue in the 1988 debate. Quayle had routinely been comparing himself to Kennedy in his stump speech. In a mock debate with Dennis Eckart, Bentsen used the casual remark "you're no Jack Kennedy and George Bush is no Ronald Reagan." Quayle did not directly compare himself with Kennedy in terms of accomplishment, but in terms of length of congressional service; Quayle served for 12 years while Kennedy served for 14. When Kennedy successfully sought the Democratic nomination in 1960, he had less experience than his primary opponents, most of whom had more seniority in the Senate. While it was a (loose) statement of fact, some of Quayle's advisors suggested that this comparison could cause trouble.

Quayle's reaction to Bentsen's comment was played and replayed by the Democrats in their subsequent television ads as an announcer intoned: "Quayle: just a heartbeat away." It proved sure laugh fodder for comedians, and more and more editorial cartoons depicted Quayle as a child. Saturday Night Live used a child actor to portray Quayle in several sketches. Avoiding going head to head with a seasoned Bentsen, Quayle had spent the debate criticizing presidential nominee Michael Dukakis as too liberal. Quayle felt that he had successfully got that message across since Bentsen did not defend Dukakis. Both Dukakis and Bentsen never sought nomination again.

Four years later at the 1992 Republican National Convention, Ronald Reagan answered claims by Bill Clinton's campaign, while poking fun at his own age, by saying, "This fellow they've nominated claims he's the new Thomas Jefferson. Well, let me tell you something. I knew Thomas Jefferson. He was a friend of mine. And governor, you're no Thomas Jefferson." At the 1992 vice presidential debate during his opening statement, Democratic nominee Al Gore took a humorous shot at Quayle over the Jack Kennedy comparison. Quayle was running for re election and trying to make up for his performance in the 1988 debate. Gore was also taking a shot at President George Bush's comparisons of the accomplishments of his administration to that of Harry S. Truman. Gore said to Quayle, "I'll make you a deal this evening. If you don't try to compare George Bush to Harry Truman, I won't compare you to Jack Kennedy." The audience reacted with laughter. In 2008, Ronald Reagan's daughter Patti Davis paraphrased the quotation in reference to a number of presidential candidates invoking her father's name during the 2008 United States presidential campaign, "Where is Lloyd Bentsen when you need him? 'I knew Ronald Reagan senator (or governor), you're no Ronald Reagan. At the 2012 vice presidential debate, Vice President Joe Biden made a similar statement in reaction to Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's citation of a policy taken by President Kennedy. Biden quipped at Ryan, "Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy?" to laughter. During the eleventh 2016 Republican primary debate moderated by Fox News, Ohio Governor and presidential candidate John Kasich delivered his own version of the line saying, "You know, we hear about Ronald Reagan rebuilding the military. I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the military. I worked with him. I was there when Ronald Reagan rebuilt the economy. I was there, and I worked with him. I knew Ronald Reagan. And I'll leave it right there with what comes after that. You can figure that one out." At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, former Reagan administration official Doug Elmets, referencing the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, stated, "I'm here tonight to say: I knew Ronald Reagan. I worked for Ronald Reagan. Donald Trump, you are no Ronald Reagan." On November 25, 2017, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders posted on Twitter, comparing herself to the character C. J. Cregg from The West Wing on an incident involving a situation where the White House was receiving one of the White House Thanksgiving turkeys set to be pardoned by President Donald Trump. After her tweet, actor Bradley Whitford, who portrayed White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman on the show, replied saying "I know C. J. Cregg. C. J. Cregg is a friend of mine. You're no C. J. Cregg." Actress Allison Janney, who played C. J. in the series, also replied, thanking Whitford for his sentiment.

In October 2012, at the UK Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Foreign Secretary William Hague made a response to a speech that Labour leader Ed Miliband had given at his own party conference in the previous week, in which Miliband compared his party with Benjamin Disraeli's One Nation Conservatism ideology. Hague said, "To borrow a turn of phrase, we were led by Disraeli, our predecessors knew Disraeli, Disraeli was a Conservative through and through, and, Ed Miliband, you are no Disraeli." In June 2017, after the Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar nominated former attorney general Maire Whelan as a judge to the Court of Appeals and was accused of pressuring President Michael D. Higgins to sign off on her confirmation, he claimed appointments like this have precedent such as in the cases of Frank Clarke, Adrian Hardiman and Donal O'Donnell. Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin claimed it "stunk to high heaven" and quipped "with the greatest of respect, Máire Whelan is no Frank Clarke, is no Adrian Hardiman, and is no Donal O'Donnell." On June 10, 2019, Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland, grandson of former NDP leader and Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, posted a statement on Twitter, directed at Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford and responding to Lisa MacLeod, a Minister in Ford's government, comparing their government's provincial budget to Douglas's fiscal record. The statement included the phrase, "I knew Tommy Douglas and you Sir, are no Tommy Douglas".