Posted on 09/01/2012 1:16:40 PM PDT by Lazamataz
Recently, the GOP passed some Presidential primary and delegate rules changes, in a very shady manner, that enraged conservatives. This rule will lessen the impact of delegates, and soften the voice of conservatives and Tea Party members. I was one of those who were enraged. In fact, I was at the front of the parade.
However, in life and especially in politics, not all is as it seems. One of Mitt Romney's closest advisors, a man by the name of James Bopp Jr., led the charge to prevent the rules from being this drastically changed. In a letter he wrote, he states:
This is the biggest power grab in the history of the Republican Party because it shifts the power to select delegates from the state party to the candidate. And it would make the Republican Party a top down, not bottom up party.
It would also hurt state parties because they use delegate selection as a way to honor party volunteers and party contributors. A Presidential candidate will have his own agenda for delegate selection. As a result, this always is a threat to party regulars who make up most of our delegates. But it is also a threat to both moderates and conservative who could be purged, depending on who is the Republican Presidential nominee.
This proposal is an over reaction to the problems in a few states where Ron Paul delegates threaten to not support the winning Presidential candidate. I agree that they should honor that pledge, but that can be fix by a few tweaks in a few state laws. Massachusetts handled this successfully by requiring an affidavit promising to vote for the candidate, Mitt Romney, who carried the state. But the Rules change here is overkill -- killing a fly with a sledgehammer.
After the Rules change imbroglio, I decided not to dash off a furious editorial, but instead to let time reveal all the workings, and to allow a little cooling off period. I'm glad I did. It's not as simple as it seemed.
Are there some scoundrels in the Republican party? Absolutely. John Boehner, who ruled against the floor vote in an entirely arbitrary way, springs to mind. One cannot help but think that Karl Rove clapped his chubby little hands together upon the Rules Change, as well. John Sununu, another villain in this power grab, may have been instrumental in removing key Florida delegates from the Rules Commitee. Perhaps the largest and most damning villain in the fiasco is Ben Ginsberg, who is Romney's chief legal advisor. It appears he was interested in even more power-consolidating Rules Changes.
There will be more revelations in the days ahead. It has been leaked to me that there will be more to follow, and that it may well show that Romney's camp initially wanted the Rules Change -- to undercut the Ron Paul brigades -- but when some of the party Establishment took the ball and ran too far downfield, that many in the Romney camp backed off of support. Of course, at that time, it was too late. The blue-blood establishment hacks had grabbed the concepts, racheted them up, and ran as hard as they could for the goal line.
So, we are starting to see the first glimmers of discontent in the Romney camp over the Rules Changes. If more follows, the changes may well be addressed -- with a little push from us, the Dreaded Grassroots.
The fact remains, though, that the Rules, having been changed, are horrific for the grassroots conservative and Tea Party members.
Romney, if he wants our support, should lead.
He should get in front of some conservative groups and let us know that the Rules will be changed again to allow our voices to be heard. We do understand if Romney himself cannot do it, since it is an old chestnut -- run to the right for nomination, run to the left for election -- but a high level surrogate would help us believe his intent.
The jury is still out. Is Romney willing to forego conservative support? We shall see. The blowback from a Romney rejection would be tragic for his election efforts.
Boehner & McConnell ‘MUST’ go away !!!
One thing is certain: Boehner is a son of a bitch, and must go.
Laz, I submit that you and many here are so wanting it to be true that you have convinced yourself of it. We all are soo POd/frustrated with Obama that we are desperate and cling to any thread of hope that agrees with what we want to be the case.
I advise caution and rational / logical thinking here.
Actually, the problem is we have a mythology of who we are dealing with. The GOPe isn't some smokey backroom, it is a business like any other. There are ways you deal with a business and certain ways to get in. We failed that. For example, I don't recall a single thread during the primary process on how to be elected as a delegate or engage in the rule making process for your precinct or State. The Paultards, however, were good at this which is where this chaos came from.
Imagine if we learn from how they operate (without being deceptive like they were) and spend as much time coordinate taking over the party from the bottom instead of just sitting around complaining about the 'e' conspiracy. They were just some fringe nuts and look what they did.
Absolute 100% total agreement ;)
I agree with that. At that, I think he was drunk half the time he was on stage.
To be fair, Norm, I'm not convinced of anything, yet. I'm just presenting all sides. The proof of the pudding will be in it's tasting. They need to ACT to get my belief.
To get them to ACT, it is up to US.
Remember, one Rules Change is that the RNC can change the Rules without delegates present, or a vote. So: CHANGE THEM! Bring we who are conservatives, back into the party. One of the changes will have to be the rescinding of the 'we can change the Rules anytime'-Rule.
I still think this is something of a Republican mirror image to what happened to the Democrats in 1968 and 1972. In ‘68 the up and coming radical left tried to seize the party but were slapped down by their old guard. But in the next four years the radicals came back in spades and took over the party, booting out the old guard for good. And the radicals have controlled the party ever since.
As a rough outline, the Tea Party conservatives have done much the same thing, and have made substantial inroads into the party. However, the old guard Republican leadership used some dirty tricks to slap them down. But it does not end here.
The erosion will continue. The Tea Party will get more and more conservative candidates elected, likely dominating the mid-term election. At that point, if Romney has been playing liberal, there will be a challenge to him having a second term, and the conservatives will punish those who had a hand in this debacle.
Karl Rove and company may find themselves unemployed.
Which makes me more like Fox News, than Fox News is. :)
I don’t totally disagree, but it’s a business with an agenda. And that agenda is not one that is conservative. At best this is a business arrangement between GOP and Conservatives...and they are amidst a hostile takeover.
Brilliant observation.
Wish I had made it.
Why don't you come over to my house every time I write an editorial? :)
If you start wearing a skirt and spike heels, I’m outta here
...Or strangely attracted to....NO!!! ;)
Bow chicka wah wah.
Good luck with that.
Frankly though, this reminds me of the psychology of an abused spouse.
Later.
The agenda is money and votes. Our job is to show that Conservatives can produce those more and in a more consistent fashion of the long run. Otherwise, the marketing professionals and accountants will just look at historical trends and see George W, George HW, elections and think Reagan was a fluke.
We aren’t consistent and we turn on ourselves and faction faster than Obama can call a mulligan on the course.
Nah. More like presenting both sides. Also, take a look at #28. Pretty durned good analysis, there.
Early on there were a lot of conservatives cursing Romney and saying they will no longer vote for him because of his disenfranchising conservatives.That is giving the Ron Paul supporters exactly what they wanted. They are infiltrators causing a lot of discord within the Republican Party. They are NOT Republicans, and here in Colorado, they have been a tremendous thorn in our side during County and State conventions. I can easily see why the Republicans wanted to strip them of their power, as they obtain their delegate status in a very deceitful way.
These same Rom Paul supporters are the ones that assisted the commie group code pink, to get into the Convention and disrupt several of the speeches.
I can't speak for the 'establishment', but I don't believe Romney wants to alienate or dismiss the Tea Party.
IMO, the gob of conservatives is to forward conservatism. No more or less. I will try to avoid the Romney arguement here, but it’s not easy.
If we cut our own throats to achieve political power, I fail to see the point. The GOP has played Conservs for decades. They and we are two ships mid Pacific. One bound for China, One to the USA.
This election, unfortunately, we need eachother. But what of the next? The drift will be even further.
Thumb high, bro.
Quit using the Ron Paul brigades as an excuse for these rules changes. No one is buying it. There were and always have been ways of dealing with dissident groups within the rules of the convention. The claim that new rules had to be adopted to deal with them is nonsense.
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