==  'Greatest Public Speaker' Reputation Inaccurate == 

 I remember watching television in 1980 and hearing the news broadcasters touting how great the anticipated address of Vander Jagt at the Republican National Convention was going to be.  I watched and found it was the most dreadful, inane, asinine address I have ever heard.  Key phrases from the speech which give a hint as to its character include: "I'm proud to be a member of the G.O.P.  The Grand Old Party. (dramatic pause) Are you??!"  I remember NBC News cut away after a few minutes of this foolishness and David Brinkley said, "I think someone was kidding us about that speech being the greatest of all time."  The fact that I can still remember this after 31 years says something about how terrible it was.  I in fact only checked this Wikipedia entry to see if there was any mention about what a scandal Vander Jagt caused by his utterly awful speech.