The last line was a cultural reference to a line Lloyd Bentsen used in a V.P. debate with Dan Quayle in the 1988 Presidential campaign when Quayle tried to equate himself with JFK.
"Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." (Prolonged shouts and applause.)
Sorry if that was before your time.
So as Ronald Reagan once said in a debate with Walter Mondale (who had spent many years as a Washington insider in the U.S. Senate when Reagan, as a former two term governor of California, had never held national office) when he was asked by a moderator if his advanced age should be a consideration for voters: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience." When Mondale guffawed with the audience at Reagan's sense of humor and deadpan delivery there was never any doubt from that point on who would win. Reagan won the 1984 election in a landslide.
Had I gotten a whiff of the reference when I read your comment I would have saved myself some trouble. As a side note, it wasn't before my time - I played the role of Dukakis in a mock 88' election debate in school.
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