Posted on 04/24/2016 11:47:35 AM PDT by Beautiful_Gracious_Skies
In addition to "grass-roots" campaign workers, there are at least eight Super PACs backed by 'shadow elites' who are driven to defeat Donald Trump and they are banking on Ted Cruz. At least one of these super PAC leaders, Katie Packer of OPP, met behind closed doors at the RNC Spring Meeting this week in Florida. Packer states that a republican candidate should "uphold orthodox GOP ideology." This smacks of irony given her past allegiance with Romney/Ryan and Ryan's inability to uphold GOP principles as Speaker of the House.
The super PACs are calling, texting, emailing, lobbying, and all-out wining & dining the 2,472 delegates who will vote at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Elite super PACs directly interfere and influence delegates' decisions which is an encroachment and perversion of the electoral process. These deep-pocketed super PACs are funded by a small cadre of shadow billionaires. They appear to work in tandem with TeamCruz, yet just outside the confines of his official campaign to avoid scrutiny and violations from the FEC. After months of campaigning, the race boils down to a delegate battle funded by the shadowy money of a few elites, rather than the reflection of the caucus and primary votes.
While some super PACs were focused on advertising, they are currently playing a huge outside role in courting and flipping delegates for Cruz. The Our Principles PAC (OPP), run by Romney's 2012 deputy campaign manager -Katie Packer, is an organization developed exclusively for defeating Donald J. Trump. At the Spring RNC meeting in Florida, Packer distributed a four page plan to promote her delegate strategy.
OPP is the most well funded #NeverTrump super PAC. Funded by the Ricketts family -billionaire owners of the Chicago Cubs, OPP has spent $16,000,000 to defeat Trump. In addition to negative media advertising, they hire workers to distribute anti-Trump literature which can be found at precincts and state conventions. OPP's mission is to organize delegates and deploy any number of tactics with the goal of depriving Trump of as many delegates as possible in upcoming contests.
The culmination of the OPP effort is the utilization of staffers to target every state delegate bound or unbound. They seek to convince them by hook or crook to dump Trump at their respective state convention or in July at the RNC convention. Those already pledged to Trump after winning their state are being luxuriously lobbied to back Cruz on the subsequent ballots. The primary purpose of OPP, no matter the cost, no matter the ethics, is to ensure as few as possible delegates will be inclined to support Donald Trump.
Another anti-Trump super PAC, #NeverTrump, has focused on the logistics of the RNC convention in Cleveland. They have booked hundreds of hotel rooms in order to comp the targeted republican delegates. NeverTrump began as a grassroots group started by allies of former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.). They have endorsed Cruz in some states and Kasich in others, frustrating both candidates. NeverTrump is pushing Kasich in Maryland, and Cruz in Indiana. Paul Singer, the billionaire hedge funder, is another elite that has already wasted millions on negative Trump advertising to no avail. Now Singer is spending his millions scheming behind the scenes to reduce the numbers of Trump delegates that Donald Trump has earned.
Be forewarned. What is being done to Trump by destructive outside forces can also be done behind the scenes to Cruz at the convention. In the end, these same strategists and operatives manipulating this election cycle aren’t just alienating potential GOP voters. They are positioning to help the GOP lose the White House. Again.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/stop-trump-movement-gop-222315 In a presentation at the RNC's spring meeting, the heads of the Our Principles PAC told party leaders to fight the billionaire's bid for the nomination.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3422146/posts Unreal – Paul Ryan Schedules Party Leadership Fundraiser at Home of Anti-Trump Super-PAC Donor
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-86720504/ Anti Trump Super PACS-big money with little impact
The Cruz supporters who are left here are way, way, beyond the reach of your appeal.
I'm glad Trump decided against going this underhanded route.
The phrase that is used is "grass roots activists."
It is important to understand, however, that the above model is overly simplified. The grassroots and the establishment can often be the same. People can function simultaneously in either realm, and many often do. In fact, a large proportion of grassroots activists are current office holders or party leaders who are deeply engaged, alongside common citizens, in what could only be described as grassroots activism -- involving them in cooperative, advisory, or leadership roles with people of the lower echelons.
BS, grassroots activists who double as party insiders are in reality party insiders pretending to be grassroots activists.
But but but I thought it was Cruz’s ground game? All of this is from Super PACs?
Despicable.
The Romans were likely trading their vote for sandals or a barnyard animal.
Millions of dollars to spend and only 2,472 delegates, what could go wrong.
I agree with Kenny, it’s hard to be both.
Although many may begin as grassroots activists, they eventually cross the line and morph into something else.
The public doesn’t care about Cruz...If he’s the nominee, some Trump supporters will vote for him...Not a lot...Very, very few bernie supporters will vote for him, unlike the numbers that would switch and vote for Trump...
If Cruz is given the nomination, Hillary wins big time....
Their BILLIONS did them NO GOOD in Florida!!! WASTED money!!! Their MILLIONS did them NO GOOD with JEB!!! WASTED money !!!! These IDIOTS want to squander their MILLIONS let them, none of it is tax deductible either!!!
“They are positioning to help the GOP lose the White House. Again.”
How true!
Factual supporting info regarding the above:
GOPe is in bed with the Democrats for a Hillary presidency.
See:
Tech billionaires (major Dem donors) plot with GOP leaders at exclusive island resort to stop Trump
That's your definition. I'm trying to help you with Cruz's definition.
Briefly aside, the phrase "mathematically eliminated" does not have an agreed definition. Cruz supporters say that "mathematically eliminated" means "not nominated at the convention." Most people take the term "mathematically eliminated" as meaning unable to secure a majority of votes on the first ballot, a condition that appears during the primary race.
So, you should not expect that any phrase used by Cruz means what you think it means. You have to dig deeper to figure out what his definition is. I'm not saying your definition is invalid, only that your definition could well be rejected by "your opponent in argument."
Speaking to the heart of the GOP establishment, Cruz rejected the notion that he was trying to appeal to the very "Washington cartel" he has railed against for years."The people who are here are elected grassroots activists from the states," Cruz said of the 168 members of the Republican National Committee in a press conference.
Ted Cruz Seeks to Mend Fences With Republican Elites - TIME - April 20, 2016
"I cannot help that the Donald Trump campaign doesn't seem capable of running a lemonade stand," Cruz told Hannity. "Elections are won by voters and grassroots activists showing up and voting for the candidate they support, and we are winning election after election after election. And nobody, as I travel the country, nobody is asking me this other than the Trumpsters and people repeating it."
Cruz clashes with Hannity: Not my fault if Trump's campaign can't "run a lemonade stand" - RawStory - 19 Apr 2016
Notable in that is that Cruz lists "voters" and "grassroots activists" as if they are separate (but can be intersecting) groups.
I hate Cruz more with each passing day.
Let me see if I have this right!
Early American elections have been about competing ideas on how best to guide the country toward the Founders Constitutionally articulated goals and principles . Sadly, more recent electoral contests have become battles between those who wish to more closely adhere to those early goals and those advancing increasingly alien systems of government, some of which seek the outright abandonment of the Founders’ vision.
Both the early and more recent elections have always been about persuading enough fellow citizens to support a candidate’s or party’s position. It’s why there’re called “elections”.
The modern electronic media driven campaigns have raised the cost of getting out the competing messages to a level where only those who have or have access to large sums need apply. And, although we began as a “republic” (the rule of law, i.e., the Constitution), elections are the unavoidable and potentially troublesome democratic aspect of the process for which no one wishing to maintain the remaining freedoms we still enjoy has found a substitute.
With the recent controversy involving “delegate” selection by local and state party elites comes a new and rather frightening development.
Probably due to Trump having upset the “established order”, it seems that campaigns are no longer buying persuasive media to get the word out to the general election voters, THEY’RE BUYING DELEGATES in an effort to stack the deck at the nominating conventions. Since they only have to persuade a few thousand citizens as opposed to trying to reach millions in the general population later, it’s cheaper and they can effectively dictate and limit the choices the general voters will have on election day!
Question: Can someone explain why this isn’t the same thing as bribing members of a jury to secure a desired verdict?
But I’m far less troubled by some miscreant bribing jurors than I am by what’s going on right now as you read this. While the verdict in a rigged jury situation hurts or damages the entity or entities who were the victims of the tampering, the eventual victim of what can only be called delegate tampering is the entire nation and, if an agent of one of those alien systems is the beneficiary of the tampering, will be the very futures of your children and grandchildren!
Have we really become the philosophical eunuchs the Founders feared? Have we really sunk this low?
Please tell me where I’ve got this wrong. I really DO want to be wrong on this one!
At the start of the campaign, my favorites were Trump, Cruz, and Rand Paul. Now I'm with you. I'll take a name chosen randomly out of the phone book over Cruz.
Yep. It is plain out cheating. I do not care who does the it.
Ground Game = Super PACs. The Mercer funded PAC existed from the get-go.
They studied the ‘08 democrat campaign. Millions of foreign and PAC money funded thousands of paid staffers that flooded the grassy plains.
BHO won due to PACs over Hillary’s traditional teams of grassroots activists. They were grossly outnumbered and outmaneuvered.
They were literally locked out and blocked out of caucuses in Iowa and Texas by trained paid operatives supported by PACs.
2016 PACs have backed Bush, Rubio, Cruz, etc. primarily through advertising.
I had been unaware that it was legal to form PACs to have any influence or association with convention delegates. Different laws apply for electors.
The OPP PAC is overt and blatant in its delegate strategy.
They should not have any interaction with delegates. It should be illegal for them to persuade, cajole, poach or bribe delegates to the convention.
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