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.
Laz, you have hidden depths! Thanks for writing this up. If you wouldn’t mind, please keep updating as further developments occur with this rule change. This is very important stuff and we can’t afford to neglect it further.
I believe it went out of control. And I believe it was orchestrated by Rove, Sununu, and Boehner.
I explained how that works numerous times on various threads. That system is in every state Republican party rules book and it's bound to be on each State Republican Party website. Every Republican county chairman can also tell you.
That I can buy. But to think that Romney does not have control over that scares me more than if he does. That logically means that the tinfoil shadow govt is in full effect and he is nothing but the prop we believe Obama to be.
I think Romney is a lot of things, but stooge/prop ain’t one of them.
Oh, you have no idea.
Thanks for writing this up. If you wouldn’t mind, please keep updating as further developments occur with this rule change. This is very important stuff and we can’t afford to neglect it further.
I can add you to my Ping List if you want. If not, just keep an eye on Freeper Editorial, where all my original content goes.
Well, HERE I'd cut a little slack. He's a newcomer to any true party power, while the other, more villainous RINO's have been entrenched now for a decade or more.
They can play him, even, until he gets a sense of the lay of the land. This event may have been most instructive to him.
All conjecture, on my part, but the next few weeks will tell us something.
I disagree with you, I think that Mitt’s political life proves that he never strays from his liberal goals, except to gain a quick victory necessary for him to continue his primary long term agenda. His 6 year presidential campaign proves that.
Already in recent weeks since winning the primary, he is taking up his old positions such as abortion on demand and homosexual scout leaders, and he has not even been elected yet.
Once elected he will fulfill his lifelong mission against conservatism.
He has assisted in drafting much State level legislation and is the “go to” guy on Federal and State issues.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Last week when all this was happening I chatted with a “connected” friend in D.C. who told me this was NOT what it at first seemed to be and that blaming Team Romney was inaccurate- the blame belonged more with some of the old guard. He was sort of cryptic and didn’t give me much more than that except to say- stay tuned. Your piece confirms it.
GOOD work!
Thanks and I agree with you 100%.
James Bopp has helped stop State and Federal funding to the abortion industry.
You are absurd, all you want to do is help Obama.
James Bopp has helped stop State and Federal funding to the abortion industry.
You are absurd, all you want to do is help Obama.
He’s been the backup/choice since McCain. He is FAR from the new kid. Everything the GOP has done since 08 has been geared for MR2012.
To think Romney is a bystander in the GOP mechanations to get him elected is not credible. He, if his life is any indication, is a man fully in charge of his destiny. He would no more leave the GOP to call the shots than he would any VP in his business ventures.
I was willing to guard your anonymity. Get your connected friend over here! MAKE SURE he sees this. See if he cannot get this in front of Mitt or his top people. The suggestions therein, might be the way back from the abyss with conservatives and Tea Party members.
Your ridiculous “convention” could be held in a school bus.
Be nice.... :)
Also, the rules say that if a delegate asks for a role call vote after the original vote, one must be taken. In both votes taken, those delegates calling for a role call vote, were ignored by the national chairman and Boehner and they would not take a role call vote - they knew they would fail getting a yea majority vote.
One cannot put a rose on what happened - it was thorns to the Tea Party and other conservatives.
In addition, every single speech given had to be approved by Romney people, and the two words, Tea Party, were taken out wherever they appeared. No speech giver was allowed to say those words.
Palin was offered a ten minute speech but she had to let the Romney people approve her speech, so she turned it down.
Sure, I agree, but he might not have expected this to roll out of control like it did. See what SE Mom has to say, above. More MR people are coming out and saying there was a problem.
That is a tough admission, BTW, since it makes you look like you cannot control your party... which is unfair, because until you are actually President, you probably can't!
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