# The Answer to the GOPs Convention Dilemma **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 13, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079 "2016-04-13T15:03:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2016, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/21 "2016-04-13T21:09:16Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Condoleeza “Secretary of state during one of the biggest foreign policy screw-ups in the story of the country” Rice? No, that would be Hillary “Secretary of state during one of the biggest foreign policy screw-ups in the story of the country” Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/22 "2016-04-14T01:05:49Z")
Does anybody actually think that the Republicans would nominate a pro-choice black woman of questionable sexuality? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/23 "2016-04-14T01:08:40Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#): > > No, that would be Hillary “Secretary of state during one of the biggest foreign policy screw-ups in the story of the country” Clinton. Benghazi, right? Where four guys died? As opposed to Ronald Reagan and Beruit, where 300 died. But that doesn’t even make a blip, today. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/24 "2016-04-14T01:21:39Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Benghazi, right? Where four guys died? > > As opposed to Ronald Reagan and Beruit, where 300 died. But that doesn’t even make a blip, today. But Ronnie was a god! (Btw, how many American troops died in the second Iraq war ordered by Dubya before Obama pulled them out? I forget.) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/25 "2016-04-14T01:53:44Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Condoleeza “Secretary of state during one of the biggest foreign policy screw-ups in the story of the country” Rice? She doesn’t have _my_ vote, but I suspect most of the people who would consider voting for a Republican candidate this year do not hold Condoleeza Rice responsible for any policy screwups. In general I myself am inclined to hold her boxx responsible for most of those. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/26 "2016-04-14T02:51:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > We’d have another first, an openly gay President. Oh yeah Republicans would love that… 😃 Ron Reagan’s not gay, as far as I know, and he’s certainly not openly gay. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/27 "2016-04-14T04:14:18Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Let’s say that Trump tells the RNC that he will actively sabotage a Cruz campaign. While he has no leverage to get nominated, the RNC might want to find a candidate Trump would endorse. While you are right about Cruz being effective in delegate wrangling, many delegates depend on the party in one way or another, and might be subject to pressure for the good of the party, especially after the second ballot. > The RNC might prefer Cruz to Trump, but they know Cruz would get crushed in November, especially if Trump acts up, and might prefer a more electable candidate. The RNC as you envision it doesn’t have a whole lot of influence over most of the delegates. Some of the delegates are actually high ranking national/state RNC officials or actual Federal elected officials, Governors of States also, but of the 2400+ most are not. Most are just relatively involved people (in terms of being involved in small-ball type politics that usually don’t matter and most people don’t care about) who want to be delegates and go to the convention. There isn’t really a meaningful mechanism by which the RNC can just “magically” control these people. The mechanism to control them would be going out and doing what Cruz has been doing–building relationships with them on an individual level and buttering them up. Except the “RNC” actually has less resources to do this than you’d imagine versus a Presidential candidate like Cruz. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/28 "2016-04-14T04:45:33Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Ron Reagan’s not gay, as far as I know, and he’s certainly not openly gay. Naah, you’re right. I was misremembering rumors from long ago. Would’ve been a funny joke then. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/29 "2016-04-14T12:27:35Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#): > > No, that would be Hillary “Secretary of state during one of the biggest foreign policy screw-ups in the story of the country” Clinton. I don’t think Libya or anything that happened during Clinton’s tenure can be reasonably compared to Iraq. I didn’t write THE biggest FP Screw-up in my original post, but personally I think it was worse than even Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/30 "2016-04-14T15:33:45Z")
My theory is that NeonMadmen hasn’t come back to claim that Benghazi was worse than Iraq because his fingers melted when he tried to type those words. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/31 "2016-04-14T15:38:31Z")
Or he’s busy climbing where the bricks lay on Grand Street. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/32 "2016-04-14T15:45:19Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > My theory is that NeonMadmen hasn’t come back to claim that Benghazi was worse than Iraq because his fingers melted when he tried to type those words. His browser tried to submit that answer but got an “606 - Bullshit overflow error” ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/33 "2016-04-14T19:19:08Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > His browser tried to submit that answer but got an “606 - Bullshit overflow error” I usually try not to post these kind of responses because they just tend to clutter threads, but… LOL. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![NeonMadman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@NeonMadman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NeonMadman)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/34 "2016-04-15T16:10:18Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Or he’s busy climbing where the bricks lay on Grand Street. This. Actually, I was just being a bit snarky, though I can’t say I have much respect for Hillary. And besides that, I didn’t get back around to looking at this thread until just now… ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/35 "2016-04-15T16:13:35Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > I am not a Republican and I have zero claims to any credibility for speaking on behalf of the American conservative zeitgeist. Having said that, I can’t imagine why they aren’t doing everything in their power to draft Condoleeza Rice into serving her country at the Convention. She has repeatedly stated she has no interest. And, Rice is almost certainly a lesbian – that didn’t matter when she was just a W Admin official, but it would be different under a candidate’s spotlight. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/36 "2016-04-15T17:14:38Z")
The man with no name walks into the convention hall squinting and speaking through clenched teeth. “Get three coffins ready.” ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/37 "2016-04-15T21:21:22Z")
For Cruz, Trump and… Priebus? Or are the Koch brothers going to share one? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/38 "2016-04-15T22:00:33Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Piffle. Ronald Reagan. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say the President has to be alive. And he is guaranteed not to piss off large segments of the electorate. > And even when he was deep in dementia he made more sense than Trump. I agree. Since wingnuts make all their life decisions based on what is or isn’t explicitly in the Constitution, it’s clear that there is no problem having a president who has passed on, is no more, has ceased to be, has expired and gone to meet his maker, bereft of life, resting in peace, kicked the bucket, shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible. And since Saint Reagan advocated minimal government, how fitting that his new administration should be the most minimal in history. If his entire Cabinet was also deceased, it would be a triumph of Republican ideals. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079/39 "2016-04-15T22:54:41Z")
> [@digs](#): > > For Cruz, Trump and… Priebus? Or are the Koch brothers going to share one? My mistake. Make that four coffins. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-answer-to-the-gops-convention-dilemma/752079.md?page=1)