Dean Scontras’ Reagan moment

GOP convention officials were facing tight time constraints after elections for national committeeman and committeewoman took far longer than expected on Friday. They decided to cut speeches by congressional candidates back by a couple of minutes.

This did not sit well with a lot of people. The candidates were then allowed to speak again at the district caucuses the following day.

CD2 candidate John Frary wrapped his speech up after the convention chair handed him a note. Ruth Summers, who was speaking on behalf of her husband, Charlie Summers, who is running in CD1, only read one paragraph of a five page speech.

CD1 candidate Dean Scontras, however, was determined to get his full speech in. He kept going after being handed a note. A couple of minutes later convention officials pulled the plug.

Scontras and conservative radio talk show host Ray Richardson, who had introduced Scontras, started yelling. The crowded chanted “speech, speech, speech”.

“This is wrong,” yelled Richardson to a convention official who came one stage.

“We cut the Summers campaign short, we cut the other ones short, they knew it….” The official said. The crowd started booing.

“That was wrong too!” Richardson yelled, interrupting.

“…this one knew it too. We have to be out of here, this body is in recess,” the official said. The crowd continued to boo.

Dean Scontras was then allowed to wrap up.

“On June 10, when you go into the voting booth, you ask yourself, what would Ronald Reagan do? Would he vote in pale pastels? No he wouldn’t. He would vote in bold colors. So on June 10 go vote for a true conservative and vote for Dean Scontras,” he concluded.

Scontras compares himself to President Ronald Reagan. Here it was fitting. In 1980 at a debate in Nashua, N.H. Reagan declared that he was “paying for this microphone” after the moderator decided to shut him off. Click here and scroll down to the seventh bullet for audio.

See below for video of Scontras’ Reagan moment.