Sunday, October 5, 2008.  Twenty years ago today, Senators Lloyd Bentsen and Dan Quayle met for their vice-presidential debate.  Out of that debate came one of the finest political zingers of all time.  I recall that moment, and my own opinions of it.

In addition to his famous put-down, Bentsen also coined another political term, "astroturfing," to describe what appears to be a grass-roots activism effort that really isn't.

An extra special thanks to Joe Medina, who got the sound clip for me by extracting it from a video file.  It seems that there are plenty of video copies of this moment out on the net, but no standalone audio!