**** There is no evidence that was the precise design intent of the cite element (i.e. citation needed).
**** This also sounds like an argument from "theoretical purity" or at best "specifiers", whereas the current usage evidence shows that "authors" have seen fit to purpose cite for speakers, and thus per the [http://www.w3.org/TR/html-design-principles/#priority-of-constituencies priority of constituencies HTML design principle] which prefers authors over specifiers over theoretical purity, we should restore cite for speakers.
*** "Since speakers aren't italicized typically, using <nowiki><cite></nowiki> for them doesn't really make sense. "
**** This sounds like either an argument from presentation, which seems backwards, as semantics should be determined first, and then authors can style semantics however they wish, or it's an argument from default presentation implementation, in which case once again per [http://www.w3.org/TR/html-design-principles/#priority-of-constituencies priority of constituencies HTML design principle], since authors are considered over implementers, we should respect author usage of cite for speakers over any particular implementer opinion of what cite should do or look like.
*** "DanC said allowing <nowiki><cite></nowiki> for speakers was a bug in HTML 4 that happened because he was asleep at the wheel."