# The Republican national Convention **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 18, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729 "2016-06-18T21:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 40
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/782 "2016-07-21T01:16:57Z")
Maybe John Barron is dating Meredith McIver. > **[Is Trump Speechwriter Meredith McIver A Real Person?](https://www.good.is/articles/will-the-real-meredith-mciver-stand-up)** > > Did the campaign fabricate a plagiarist? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/783 "2016-07-21T01:21:08Z")
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCyzdD0vYOw&list=PL7C2F7E71AA017D80&index=1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCyzdD0vYOw&list=PL7C2F7E71AA017D80&index=1) ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/784 "2016-07-21T01:24:06Z")
> [@raventhief](#): > > Maybe John Barron is dating Meredith McIver. > > [Is Trump Speechwriter Meredith McIver A Real Person? - Good](https://www.good.is/articles/will-the-real-meredith-mciver-stand-up) Aha! [On the other hand…](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/07/20/yes_meredith_mciver_is_a_real_person_here_s_proof.html) ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/785 "2016-07-21T01:28:46Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > This cracks me up. > > Let’s put the shoe on the other foot. Bill Clinton speaks at the Democratic National Convention and in his speech he directly lifts an entire paragraph from – fuck, anywhere, Anne Romney, some other Republican, some Democrat, some guy who blogs about GI Joe dolls, doesn’t matter. In fact, forget Bill Clinton; substitute in any Democrat speaking at the convention. And the Right just says, “we couldn’t care less.” > > Riiiiiiiight. And just how much did the Left care when Hillary “misspoke” time and time and time again about how she and Chelsea had to dodge sniper bullets in Bosnia? Or any of her 500,000 other untruths? A tempest in a teapot is what all this crap about Melania’s speech is. She did a great job and brought herself forward into the American consciousness in a very positive way. I’m not voting for The Donald and I hadn’t previously had all that high an opinion of Melania, but I have to admit I liked her more and admired her more after her speech. But then I’m another guy who couldn’t care less about a few cribbed lines in a candidate’s wife’s speech. Hell, it turns out half the great speeches Obama’s given were given by somebody else first. I predict that the effect Melania’s speech will have on Trump’s election chances are absolutely nil. People are supporting Trump, and other will come to support him, because of issues far more important to them than anything in Melania’s speech. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/786 "2016-07-21T01:30:38Z")
[“Donald Trump’s Convention Is a Low-Energy Show So Far”](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/rnc-convention-delegates.html): > [@New York Times](#): > > The crowd seemed to come alive only when the subject was not Mr. Trump but Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. “Lock her up, lock her up, lock her up!” the crowd chanted lustily as Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor whom Mr. Trump defeated for the nomination, offered an indictment of Mrs. Clinton. > > “This is a joyless convention,” said Mike Murphy, a senior adviser to one of Mr. Trump’s rivals, Jeb Bush. “The mood among the delegates, I’ve found, is somewhere between grim resignation and the Donner Party.” Being Anti-Hillary isn’t as energizing as being Pro-Trump. It gets you the fringe who’d never vote for a Democrat regardless, because they’re the only ones to heavily buy into the conspiracy theories surrounding the Clintons. > [@](#): > > Donald Trump Jr. followed with a rousing speech for his father — but he soon yielded his spot to Ms. Brown, the actress who played the devious character Sheila Carter on “The Young and the Restless.” She was killed off the show in the 1990s, according to Variety. > > “You don’t put an avocado farmer on in the middle of prime time,” said Russell Schriefer, who has been involved in planning Republican conventions for 20 years, about Ms. Brown. “That’s just common sense.” > > “The most critical hour on prime time is 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. — especially at 10:30 when people change the channel,” said Tammy Haddad, a former MSNBC political director. “So you had Donald Trump Jr. hitting it out of the box with a good speech, but then it’s not just a soap star, but someone who was a soap star in the ‘90s.” All they can find are has-beens, and Z-listers at that. Again, these people are only energizing if you’re already a Trump supporter. Otherwise, they’re the punchlines to a particularly obscure joke. > [@](#): > > “Seventy-five percent of the convention is Donald’s speech,” said Charlie Black, a longtime Republican strategist. “They have got to get that right. If they get that right, that’s the lasting impression that gives you momentum — or doesn’t.” Yeah, I’m going to stake my political future on a Donald Trump speech right after I jump out of this airplane with a parachute packed by a chimp. > [@](#): > > Christian Berle, a delegate from the District of Columbia who supported Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, said he has found the convention so distasteful that he was prepared to pay the airline change fee so that he could leave early. “I mean, $400 to get out of this place seems like a cheap thing,” he said. I love this deadpan humor. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/787 "2016-07-21T01:31:57Z")
Lynne Patton, of The Eric Trump Foundation, is kissing the bratty Trump’s asses big time. What a waste of time. Bring on Little Marco. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/788 "2016-07-21T01:33:49Z")
Little Marco had a brief video endorsement for the Big Cheeto. It is notable that he didn’t show up in person. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/789 "2016-07-21T01:35:01Z")
Shit, I apparently missed [this A-lister’s speech](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/18/cleveland-rnc-star-sells-pills-that-make-alex-jones-crazed.html) a few minutes ago. Anyone catch it? > [@](#): > > Michelle Van Etten was presented by the RNC in a Sunday evening press release as a “small business owner” who “employs over 100,000 people.” That’s roughly 1.5 times the number of employees Apple employs in the United States, making it a highly unlikely claim. For such a supposedly large employer, she has flown under the radar—until the announcement of her speech at the convention, there was no record of her business work in the press. Even if Van Etten walked back some of those numbers, it’s amazing to me that the RNC would approve and release a statement describing someone as a “small business owner” with 100,000 employees. Srsly?!? I didn’t disagree with a single thing Eileen Collins said. It’s too bad Democrats aren’t the unambiguously pro-NASA party. Too many progressives I know say “we should spend that money on education and social programs here on Earth”. David Brooks got in a great burn when the PBS/NPR crew was interviewing Tony Perkins, who for those who don’t know is a very prominent evangelical and social conservative. Brooks asked him, “Which of the Christian virtues do you think Donald Trump embodies: humility, grace, faithfulness, or charity?” Perkins, who had been doing his usual unctuous smooth-talking up to that point, sputtered and hemmed and hawed the rest of the time, protesting “what would you suggest social conservatives do, just sit out the election?” To which Brooks responded, “yes, I would”. It’s amazing that the Trump clan is allowing Cruz to speak, despite his refusal to endorse Trump (#whinylittlebitch). PBS/NPR says they are doing it because they think his truculence will hurt him. Well, okay then! I think it’s yet more hubris and political malpractice, but hey. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/790 "2016-07-21T01:36:28Z")
> [@C3](#): > > Aha! > > [On the other hand…](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/07/20/yes_meredith_mciver_is_a_real_person_here_s_proof.html) I just checked her Everipedia (what is that, anyway?) and here are her friends listed: Friends With Donald Trump Melania Trump John Barron John Miller Read more: [http://www.everipedia.com/meredith-mciver/#ixzz4F0EqZVvR](http://www.everipedia.com/meredith-mciver/#ixzz4F0EqZVvR) Assuming this is open for editing, **someone** is having some fun. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/791 "2016-07-21T01:43:41Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Actually, Starving Artist, not only are de Democrats right of center, compared to center Dutch political parties. Even Bernie Sanders is right of center compared to mainstream Dutch politics. What Bernie wants for the US, we already have in the Netherlands, and more, and we’re doing pretty okay. People often make the argument around here that one or another thing would work well in the U.S. because it seems to be working well in one or another of the European countries. But there are huge differences socially, economically and militarily between the U.S. and Europe that make it very difficult for me to believe that what might work well in European countries would translate well here. But I have to admit it would be hard to be unhappy living in a country the Netherlands where everyone’s on bicycles. 🙂 My father, and a couple decades later my niece and her husband, have all been to the Netherlands and they all loved it. My father said was the only country of all those he’d been to (including Hawaii ;)) that he’d be happy moving to. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/792 "2016-07-21T01:45:32Z")
Lyin’ Ted mentioning atheists and gays? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/793 "2016-07-21T01:46:48Z")
He said the word Trump exactly once so far. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/794 "2016-07-21T01:46:55Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And just how much did the Left care when Hillary “misspoke” time and time and time again about how she and Chelsea had to dodge sniper bullets in Bosnia? > > Or any of her 500,000 other untruths? Thanks for proving my point (outside of the moved goal posts). The right goes bat shit over every syllable that drops from Hillary’s mouth, even over shit they make up (not to mention they continually seem to drop her into the middle of any hot-button issue whether she has anything to do with it or not), but when an actual wrong has been perpetrated - you know, plagiarism - eh, no big deal. Guarantee, if Hillary pulled off that shit in a speech in the same way, she would be pilloried on Fox and Breitbart and NewsMax, etc. Don’t insult my intelligence by pretending she wouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/795 "2016-07-21T01:50:36Z")
Of course she would. But you’re missing the point, which is that all these teapot tempests depend almost solely on whose ox is being gored. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/796 "2016-07-21T01:54:26Z")
The crowd is shouting, “Endorse Trump!” So far Cruz has not. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/797 "2016-07-21T01:55:15Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > A heard Leslie Rutledge from the convention on NPR, causing everyone to believe that Arkansans are ignorant hillbillies that cannot speak English. I call them every day and have to Code Switch to make myself understood and not seem like an arrogant Yankee. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > [Stolen speech update:](http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-staff-writer-takes-responsibility-for-melania-speech-controversy/ar-BBuz7Q9?ocid=ansmsnnews11) Speechwriter takes the fall, says Melania read her the words over the phone but it was her responsibility to check to make sure they were original. WTF? > I’m sorry, but if the Trumpette is the one giving the quotes, then it’s the Trumpette’s responsibility, isn’t it? And I’m sorry, but I’m on her side. From puberty she’s been told by others, especially her grandmother, “You’re beautiful (editor’s note: kinda cute; not really to my taste), with good teeth and the makings of a good bosom, with help. You should find a rich man to take care of you.” And she did, within a paper definition of rich. Her role model was not Michelle Obama, but Ivana Trump, with a parachute golden by middle-class kid kid from Bucharest standards, with Ivana as her role model. She picked up a second language, no small feat, but didn’t ask for this. Leave her alone. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/798 "2016-07-21T01:59:35Z")
Lyin’ Ted Cruz congratulated Trump on the nomination but did NOT endorse him or say anything good about him. The crowd was chanting against Cruz when they realized he was going rogue. A mini insurgency on center stage. Good stuff! ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/799 "2016-07-21T02:02:05Z")
Republican Country Rap music. Yuck! ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/800 "2016-07-21T02:02:11Z")
The “vote your conscience” stuff (i.e., “vote for Trump or don’t, I don’t give a shit because I’m running in 2020”) was in the prepared text, i.e. the stuff the Trump campaign agreed to load into its prompters. Savage. ---
**Author:** ![DerekMichaels00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f14d63/32.png) [@DerekMichaels00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DerekMichaels00)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729/801 "2016-07-21T02:04:32Z")
Ted Cruz is truly a brave man and a man of principle. He could’ve whored himself out to Trump; he didn’t. He wouldn’t be intimidated by the seeming thuggery Trump’s operation may or may not employ. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729.md?page=39) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-republican-national-convention/757729.md?page=41)