About

"Ronald Raven" is a mispronunciation of the former United States president Ronald Reagan said by former governor of Texas and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry during the first Republican primary debate held in early August 2015.

Origin

On August 6th, 2015, former governor of Texas and the second-time Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry participated in the Republican Party's first primary-stage debate for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Upon being asked about his policy plans on immigration reform, Perry took the unusual path of taking a critical tone with Ronald Reagan, one of the most revered politicians of American conservatives in recent memory, by tracing the root of the issue back to the legislation of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 under the late Republican president's administration:

“For 30 years this country has been baited with half-hearted measures designed to lower the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States," he said. “All the way to when Ronald Raven signed a piece of legislation that basically allowed for amnesty for over 4 million people and the border is still not secure.”

Spread

Within minutes of Perry's response, many viewers at home were quick to point out the candidate's tongue-tied mispronunciation of Ronald Reagan via Twitter and other social media outlets. At 5:32 p.m. (EST), Viner Erik Malinowski submitted a soundbite clip of Perry uttering the word "Ronald Raven," followed by a series of photoshopped parodies featuring President Reagan's head superimposed over the body of a raven. By 5:39 p.m., a novelty Twitter account personifying "Ronald Raven"^[16] had been created.

At 5:46 p.m., Twitter user Tim Mak shared a screenshot of a puppet character named "Ronald Raven" that was featured in a satirical news segment titled "Puppet Pundits with Ronald Raven" during the 2012 presidential election season.

News Media Coverage

The jokes about Rick Perry's "Ronald Raven" pronunciation on Twitter was quickly picked up as one of the highlights of the night by nearly all major U.S. news media outlets, including ABC News, USA Today and The Week, as well as many political blogs and news sites covering the event, such as Slate, The Hill,, Mediate, Salon, Talking Points Memo and PolicyMic, among many others. On the morning of August 7th, Lucy Nashed, the campaign spokeswoman for Rick Perry, flat out denied the gaffe by telling ABC News that he "clearly said Ronald Reagan."

Various Examples

External References