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But he had really bad taste in political parties.
Rest in peace Lloyd.
Posted on 05/23/2006 8:22:51 AM PDT by Brian Mosely
HOUSTON (AP) — Lloyd Bentsen, a courtly Texan who represented the state in Congress for 28 years and served as President Clinton’s first treasury secretary, died Tuesday morning, his family said. He was 85.
Bentsen, also the Democratic 1988 vice presidential nominee, died at his home in Houston.
His distinguished political career took him from the humble beginnings of a county office in the Rio Grande Valley in the 1940s to six years in the U.S. House, 22 in the U.S. Senate and two in the Clinton Cabinet, where he was instrumental in directing the administration’s economic policy.
Bentsen beat George Bush Sr. in the 1970 Senate race. Then Bush got his appointments from Nixon and Ford, which built his resume to run for president, which led to Reagan picking him, which led to his own presidency and the current presidency.
Had Bentsen lost, who would be president now?
Back when the good guys were Blue-- I hate being the "Red" states.
Still, I wish the dems were still like the party of Bentsen. We may have disagreed, but we knew they weren't acting to destroy the country for their short term gain..
I think Quale missed a fantastic opportunity when Bentsen said that to retort that he was glad to be a monogamous and honest man.
And then President Reagan's line to Bill Clinton: "I knew Thomas Jefferson; he was a friend of mine. Governor, you're no Thomas Jefferson!"
Reminds me of the time my uncle convinced my kids that he'd gone to school with St. Thomas More.
Your uncle went to a different parish than little Tommy More?
Lord Lloyd, R.I.P.
Proof that snappy insults do not a winning campaign make.
Here's some background on that "turd":
Bentsen was born in Mission, Texas, to the grandchildren of Danish immigrants and to the children of first generation Americans, and was an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated from the University of Texas Law School in 1942 and served in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1945. After brief service as a private in intelligence work in Brazil, he became a pilot and in early 1944 began flying combat missions in B-24s from southern Italy with the 449th Bomb Group. At age 23 he was promoted to the rank of Major and given command of a squadron of 600 men.
In 18 months of combat, Bentsen flew 35 dangerous missions against many difficult, remote and highly defended targets such as the Ploesti oil fields in Romania, which were critical to the Nazi's war strategy. The 15th Air Force, to which the 449th was attached, is credited with destroying all of the peroleum production within its range, which equated to about half of Germany's sources of fuel on the continent.
Major Bentsen's unit also flew against communications centers, aircraft factories and industrial targets in Germany, Italy, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Bentsen participated in bombing raids in support of the Anzio campaign and flew bombers against hard targets in preparation for the landing in southern France. Overall, while in the Army Air Corps, he flew over 200 bombing missions over Europe.
Bentsen was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the Army Air Corps' and now the Air Force's highest commendations for valor in combat. In addition to the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bentsen was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. The Air Medal and each individual cluster represent specific campaigns for which he was decorated. Before completing his military service, he was promoted to the rank of Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
Speaking of Dem longevity...Jimmy Carter & Walter Mondale have lived 25 years & 4 months after leaving office, passing up the last president & vice- president to live that long after their term was up, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson (Mar.4, 1801- July 4, 1826)
And all this time, I thought he was a Senator.
Not really. He sold out before he left politics. He was another Robert C. Byrd...just a prominent figure head who would spew the democrat rhetoric (most of the time not believing what he said. However, he still said it.)
Warren Christopher and Lloyd Bentsen: same model, different trim level.
We were going to a St. Thomas More Parish at the time. My uncle said they went to college together, and nobody was the least surprised when Tom ended up a lawyer *and* got himself beheaded. But he was a very good golfer.
My son Bill was about 4 then, and he drew golf clubs in the picture of St. Thomas in his "Favorite Saints" coloring book :-).
We use this as an illustration on why children shouldn't believe everything adults say!
I knew there was a cute story in there. ;O)
Nothing but a career politician. Can't say I'm sorry to see him go.
The funny thing about that was after the debate, someone did an interview with Dave Powers, JFK's close friend and director of the JFK library, and Powers said that they had searched and searched, and could find no photo of JFK and Bentsen together, or find anyone who knew the two actually were friends. Bentsen did serve in the House with JFK for a couple of years, but that seems to have been the extent of any contact they would have had.
Ross Perot (a.k.a. Elmer Fudd)
Whatever Quayle's merits were, he could not possibly have thought on his feet well enough to make that kind of rapid response.
And Adams' last words were rumored to have been "Jefforson still survives," yet Jefferson died a few hours before Adams, on the same day, 50 years (to the day!) after the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Weird stuff.
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