to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps and opportunity's arm steadying your way. My fondest hope for each one of you—and especially for the young people here—is that you will love your country, not for her power or wealth, but for her selflessness and her idealism. May each of you have the heart to conceive, the understanding to direct, and the hand to execute works that will make the world a little better for your having been here. As the economy was in a recession and domestic affairs in general had dramatically decayed, the GOP lagged in the polls by double digits behind the Bill Clinton–Al Gore Democratic ticket after a successful Democratic Convention, and with Ross Perot temporarily out of the race, the Republican Party worked hard to rally its base of social conservatives. Pat Buchanan's opening night "Culture War" speech argued that a great battle of values was taking place in the United States. Republican National Committee chairman Rich Bond (referring to Democrats) claimed that "we are America, they are not America." Marilyn Quayle dismissed Bill Clinton's claim to a new generation of leadership by saying, "Not everyone demonstrated, dropped out, took drugs, joined in the sexual revolution or dodged the draft." Regarding Buchanan's speech, liberal humorist Molly Ivins quipped that it "probably sounded better in the original German." Twenty years after the convention, the New York Times wrote, "Supporters of Mr. Bush pointed to the tone of the convention as one of the reasons he lost re-election that November to Bill Clinton," as it centered more on Reagan-era values and Bush's international credentials at a time that the main issue was the domestic crisis. Despite the fact that the now-infamous "No new taxes" pledge had haunted the President for the last three years, the economy was barely mentioned. AIDS activist Mary Fisher, who has HIV, addressed the convention, making an eloquent plea for her cause. (She also addressed the 1996 RNC). Her 1992 speech was listed as #50 in American Rhetoric's Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century (listed by rank). During his acceptance speech, President Bush thanked former President Richard Nixon for his advice and contributions to the administration's foreign policy. This would be Nixon's last RNC, as he died in 1994.