# Who will speak at the RNC? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 28, 2004, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253 "2004-07-28T07:28:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/21 "2004-07-29T21:52:05Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > It is interesting that some of their most visible speakers are from the more liberal faction of the party – Guiliani, Pataki and Schwarzenegger, for example. > > Even the Vice President disagrees with the President on gay rights. > > Can anyone on the list be described as a neo-Conservative or as an ultra-Conservative? Who reflects Bush’s stance on “pro-life,” pro-death penalty, anti-gay marriage, faith-based initiative, tax cuts, deficit spending, pro invasion of Iraq or other controversial issues? Two theories on that: 1. The RNC has finally decided that the worst way to get Bush re 😛 -elected is to let him run on his actual politics. They don’t sell. 2. Variation on 1. – the RNC is hedging its bets. If the Pubbies lose this one, their plan is to run as a more liberal party in 2008. That would leave no party in the field truly representing the neocons and radcons. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/22 "2004-07-29T22:44:32Z")
> [@Johnny Bravo](#): > > I don’t even know if an official list has been posted, but I hope not. Idle speculation is a lot more fun. > > The DNC has had a few fantastic speeches. Namely, Heinz-Kerry, Clinton, and Obama. Reagan’s was also quite good, I thought. > > So who will line up for the Republicans? It seems that they don’t have nearly as many charismatic speakers as the Democrats do. They have charisma? I fell asleep during every one of those speeches. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/23 "2004-07-30T03:43:40Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And . . . is Jesse Helms still alive? [Jesse Helms is back! And this time he’s black!](http://vernonrobinson.com/index.shtml) [sup]1[/sup] [sup]1[/sup]: Full disclosure: Whilst Mr. Robinson adopted that slogan and has been endorsed by Jesse Helms in past races, Mr. Helms endorsed one of Mr. Robinson’s opponents – one who didn’t make the runoff. Not sure if he’s made an endorsement for the runoff. But yeah, he’s alive and about as likely to speak at the convention as Robinson is. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/24 "2004-07-30T04:07:02Z")
Geez, I knew Zell Miller acted Republican in positions and voting, but giving a speech at the RNC? That’s pretty messed up. Can’t the Democratic party there just not allow him to run as a Democrat next time? ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/25 "2004-07-30T10:03:25Z")
Every Black Republican will be trotted out of course. I remember that one guy was really pissed off after the last RNC convention because he was the only black republican elected official who was not given a speaking role . He was a city counselor in Cleveland or some such. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/26 "2004-07-30T10:38:27Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > Geez, I knew Zell Miller acted Republican in positions and voting, but giving a speech at the RNC? That’s pretty messed up. Can’t the Democratic party there just not allow him to run as a Democrat next time? Since I believe that he is not running for reelection, I don’t believe that he gives a damn what the DNC thinks. Kudos to him for sticking by his conscience rather than kowtowing to the party line, no? ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/27 "2004-07-30T12:44:46Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > Since I believe that he is not running for reelection, I don’t believe that he gives a damn what the DNC thinks. Kudos to him for sticking by his conscience rather than kowtowing to the party line, no? The guy has no principles. He has done a complete 180. One need only read his keynote address to the Democratic convention in 1992 to see this is so. Miller has long been known in these parts as Zig-Zag Zell. Now we see why. He is regarded as a traitor by Georgia Democrats. If he really is the foaming-at-the mouth Republican he seems to be, the sorry bastard should have had the guts to say so instead of defrauding the Democratic Party and its constituents to get his Senate seat. ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/28 "2004-07-30T16:06:11Z")
> [@Johnny Bravo](#): > > Funny, I rather liked her speech. I did notice that her pacing was a bit off, but I attributed that to her accent… I attributed it the extra dose of prozac she appeared to have taken. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/29 "2004-07-30T18:37:15Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > Kudos to him for sticking by his conscience rather than kowtowing to the party line, no? Oddly enough, I don’t recall you expressing similar sentiments when James Jeffords hopped across the aisle. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/30 "2004-07-30T21:35:37Z")
Oh man, the convention needs Chris Rock bad! Yes, he is a registered Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/31 "2004-07-30T22:36:57Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > They have charisma? I fell asleep during every one of those speeches. You fell asleep during Obama’s speech? You need to get that narcolepsy treated. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/32 "2004-07-31T03:24:09Z")
> [@capacitor](#): > > Oh man, the convention needs Chris Rock bad! > > Yes, he is a registered Republican. Cite? I’ve heard him rip the shit out of Bush in public appearances. God, what a roll call of losers that list of is. Not a charismatic speaker in the lot. Interesting that the most popular speakers are liberals. I guess it’s simply impossible to find a real conservative that the swing vote would not find repugnant. Maybe Mccain, but a lot of his appeal to the middle is that he’s not perceived as a water carrier for Bush. So when they see him…well…carrying water for Bush it kind of diminishes his appeal. Is Santorum the designated hate speaker, chosen to spew homophobic nonsense to rally the idiot base? Are we going to hear a drumbeat about the importance of protecting marriage spoken by a parade of adulterers and sleazeballs like Giuliani and Schwarzenneger? The last is rather heartening for us Kerry supporters. There are no Clintons or Obamas, and the top two headliners- Cheney and Bush- are guaranteed to suck the most ass. Even though the Pubs are wisely avoiding trotting out some of the real ideologues some of the ones they are sending out are pretty cringe inducing. Elizabeth Dole is a horror show of phoniness and smarm, Dick Cheney gives Dracula the shivers, Bill Frist is an uninspiring, cadaverous asshole, Santorum is just an asshole, Laura Bush is totally from Stepford. Where is Colin Powell, btw? Where is Nancy Reagan? Are they unwilling to put aside their undisguised contempt for GWB anymore? Who’s going to give the speech that people talk about? Who’s going to tear the roof off? george Pataki? I don’t think so. I can’t see how the Pubs will get any good bounce out of this. They’ll rally the true believers but they already had those anyway. I think Kerry will still have a lead after the RNC and then it only gets worse for Bush with the debates. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/33 "2004-08-02T05:06:23Z")
They (almost) won last time by lying about how Bush was a moderate and uniter. They’re going to try it again. The interesting thing is to see if the fundies are far-righties are satisfied with no one by Santorum speaking. Maybe we should send them all email attacking them for letting those sodomite lovers like Giuliani speak. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/34 "2004-08-02T06:48:23Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Where is Nancy Reagan? > [@](#): > > [Nancy Reagan to Bush: ‘We Don’t Support Your Re-Election’](http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4935.shtml) > > The widow of former President, and Republican icon, Ronald Reagan has told the GOP she wants nothing to do with their upcoming national convention or the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush. > > Nancy Reagan turned down numerous invitations to appear at the Republican National Convention and has warned the Bush campaign she will not tolerate any use of her or her late husbands words or images in the President’s re-election effort. > > **“Mrs. Reagan does not support President Bush’s re-election and neither do most members of the President’s family,”** says a spokesman for the former First Lady. (typo in original article fixed) Some GOP officials aren’t taking it too well > [@](#): > > [Nancy & Ron Reagan spell Dubya trouble](http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/216561p-186368c.html) > … > GOP sources, meanwhile, confirmed his mother will not be at their Aug. 30-Sept. 2 convention - and some speculated her son might be behind the snub. > > “I do not expect her at our convention but she knows she is welcome,” Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie told reporters here yesterday. > > “If all of you might just keep in mind for a moment the year that Mrs. Reagan has had and be a little understanding of that, I think that would be appreciated by the public and, I suspect, by Mrs. Reagan,” Gillespie added. > > Republican officials refrained from publicly criticizing Nancy Reagan for the no-show. Privately, however, some were upset as well as disappointed by the decision, which has been known to the White House for some time. > > “I don’t think she could have missed the symbolic significance of her son going to their convention and her not going to ours,” a senior GOP official told the Daily News. > > Friends of the 83-year-old former First Lady said she is understandably still grieving for her husband, who died June 5 after a 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. > > “My guess is that she reached the point of emotional exhaustion in dealing with the old man’s final goodbye,” a prominent California Republican source told the Daily News. “But I was a little surprised she’s not going to be there.” > > A downcast senior GOP official confirmed Nancy Reagan had never committed to appearing at the convention, but was nevertheless **dubious of the official explanation.** > > **"The ‘not feeling up to it’ line is bull----," the official said. "Something happened in the last month, and whatever it was was real."** “Something happened”?? Pssst, she lost her husband maybe? In any case, the Reagans are giving the Republicans fits. The Republicans are upset enough with Ron Jr., not just because he spoke at the Democratic Convention, but also for things like the scathing article in Esquire magazine, [The Case Against George W. Bush](http://www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/040729_mfe_reagan_1.html). I think they would love to have his mother to counteract such doings, and she’s not playing along. Many think he’s influencing her, as if she didn’t have a mind of her own. They could, and maybe will, get Michael. If anyone’s taking a poll, this liberal plans to watch the Republican convention. I’ll probably even dub off Santorum’s speech. I’m still kicking myself for not recording Buchanan’s speech in 1992. That was a classic. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/35 "2004-08-02T14:49:18Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Every Black Republican will be trotted out of course. Actually, prominent Hispanic Republicans would be more likely to be trotted out. Probably a Martinez or two down here. And since they badly need to take Florida I can’t imagine Jeb Bush _not_ given a prominent role. Maybe his wife will introduce him in Spanish. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/36 "2004-08-02T16:26:29Z")
I think the Republicans will show the diversity of their party at the convention. Look for… George W. Bush George Bush Laura Bush Barbara Bush Barb Bush Jenna Bush Jeb Bush George P. Bush ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253/37 "2004-08-02T19:11:10Z")
I thought it was fairly well known that the Reagans and the Bushes were never exactly bosom buddies, even in the days of Ron and George. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-will-speak-at-the-rnc/257253.md?page=1)