What's that device

The death of Lloyd Bentsen is an occasion to think about some principles of rhetoric involved in the most celebrated moment of his life, that famous exchange with fellow vice-presidential candidate Dan Quayle in the 1988 debate:

Quayle: I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency.

Bentsen: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.

Bentsen was calling Quayle out on some logical fallacies, specifically the fallacy of honor by association (A was good, A did X, I did X, therefore I am good); and also argumentum ad populum, or appeal to emotion.

Bensten threw in some conduplicatio, or repetition; some accumulatio, or heaping up; even some anamnesis, or fond recollection. He also used a tricolon crescens: a series of three items, each more emphatic than the last (cf. "I came, I saw, I conquered").

Not bad for an ad lib. With it he destroyed Quayle and triumphed in the debate. He also lost the election.

Just goes to show.