United Liberty
GOP breaks its own rules: Dr. Paul will not be properly nominated.
Fri, 08/24/2012 - 11:12am | posted by Marshall McCart
Well…it’s all but official now. Ron Paul will not be on the ballot in Tampa, nor will he be able to speak. Dr. Ron Paul and the forces of Freedom worked very, very hard to get the good doctor a plurality of delegates in 8 states. Although he easily passed the threshold of 5 states needed to be able to nominate Dr. Paul from the convention floor and give him the automatic speaking time earned, the GOP and the Romney camp has spent the last several months fighting and lawyering its way to silence the Paul forces. Things have really heated up this week in Tampa as various convention committees have broken its own rules multiple times to make sure that the Republican National Convention is a smooth, scripted infomercial for Mitt Romney and the Grand Old Party.
But. At what cost? Will the majority of Paul supporters be content with a Rand Paul prime-time speech on Monday night and several platform planks that, honestly, really don’t matter. I don’t think so. I think the GOP has really mucked this one up. Rather than letting things play in a natural way where the 500 or so Paul delegates and alternates—and the thousands and thousands of supporters across the country—would have felt validated and respected, the Republicans have basically said that it is more important to maintain a facade of loyalty and unity, rules and principles be damned.
My take on all this? I think Gary Johnson will be seeing a surge of support in the next few weeks.
Even worse, this is being framed as the Romney camp and GOP establishment ‘bending over backwards’ for the Ron Paul delegates and supporters. The condescension is sickening. I invite Ron Paul supporters to quit banging their heads against the wall and support Gov. Gary Johnson, whose views are very much in line with Dr. Paul. I can testify that it’s much more pleasant to be surrounded by folks who are pushing in the same direction in the fight for Liberty.
Seriously. If all the Ron Paul supporters joined the Johnson campaign, he would very likely make it into the presidential debates (I’m sure the debate directors would do it for the “lolz,” but whatever) and if they voted for him, he might even hit 5%.
Of course, Ronulans being what they are…
We both know that won’t happen.
For the Paulbots, if your last name isn’t “Paul” you’re not a real libertarian. This is why they are totally ineffective as a political movement.
I know you Cato sycophants think you’re cute but you’re really just condescending dimwits.
It’s not condescending if it’s true
Playing games at the conventions is not “winning a plurality in eight states.”
Alright, Doug. I might be willing to give you two of those, but that still leaves 6 states where Paul had a legitimate plurality of delegates putting him above the threshold for being nominated and given a mandatory speaking slot. This whole thing just reeks to high heaven…
Regarding your other comment, I will no doubt concede that a fair number of Paul supporters will not be getting behind Johnson; however, especially after these recent events, I think a good number will.
Did they get those pluralities by actually winning or coming in a close second in primaries and caucuses, or by state convention trickery? The first is a legitimate delegate victory. The second, in my opinion, is not.
It depends. Several states including but not limited to Iowa, Minnesota, and Maine do not bound delegates based on primary votes. Everything is based on the delegate process from the precinct meetings, to the county conventions, and eventually the district and state conventions. It’s a process that the Paul forces won fair and square.
Speaking of primary and caucus results, did you know that the Maine caucuses are still only reporting 87% complete results? Five months after the fact. Dr. Paul won Maine. There’s no doubt about it. And Iowa? Investigations by Maddow at MSNBC and several other journalists, most notably Ben Swann out of Cincinnati, have concluded that Ron Paul probably very well should have won Iowa. Numerous reports of irregularities, result swaps, etc. have been reported and verified. Could you imagine what would have happened if Paul had actually won Iowa?
But hey-that’s all old news. I’m just saying that the support was legitimate. And the convention/delegate process was legitimate. At least until the RNC decided to break their own rules and make up new ones when it suited them.
Your response is Exhibit A for my argument that the nomination process in both major parties needs to be fixed. It’s absurd that delegate allocation can be hijacked at the convention level. Delegate allocation should correspond to the results of the primary and it can be up to the state party to decide if they want a winner-take-all system or some sort of proportional allocation of delegates.
I’d also eliminate all caucuses. They are an absurd way to pick a Presidential candidate, and completely unrepresentative of the electorate as a whole.
Ron Paul got several million fewer votes than Mitt Romney nationwide. In reality, it’s absurd that he should end up with a plurality of delegates in any state.
So Doug, are you saying that the rule of law, or rules in general, don’t matter, and can be changed, at will, by the powers that be? Because it sure sounds like it. It also kind of sounds like you’re a proponent for “majority rules.”
The rules were the rules. The Paul forces played by those rules. That’s all that should matter, going back to the whole “rule of law” thing. Jeez, you almost sound like a Democrat.
It’s a funny thing, though. This basically happened before. Robertson in ‘88. Many people said the same thing then, but it never changed. Why? There are a few theories about that. The first being that the delegate process is the ultimate safety valve for this Republic and has been a part of this nation’s history since its inception. Another theory is that it’s because the Federal Government has basically ceded the electoral process to what amounts to two non-government entities—the GOP and the Dems. Take my home state of Georgia for example, for generations the state government wasn’t involved at all with the electoral process—that was left to the Democratic Party of Georgia.
In terms of your last paragraph, there was a time, deep into the primary process, where Ron Paul had more 2nd place finishes than anyone including Romney. And, as I mentioned earlier, he probably finished first in Iowa and Maine anyways. After all of the documented fraud and voter irregularities, he started to fade as anyone would expect.
I’m sorry, Doug, but your argument doesn’t hold water. I’m actually pretty surprised with your comments…
As you are well aware, the RNC’s credentials committee has the final say over the seating of any delegate. So, yes, the rules are ALWAYS subject to being changed. Put simply, if Ron Paul didn’t win a state, his supporters really don’t have a right to try to take over the delegation through the backdoor, even if it is permitted by the rules.
Thankfully, the primary rules are being changed to prevent shenanigans like this in the future:
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/gop-to-change-rules-for-2016-primaries-…
One final thought, do Paul supporters think they were really making any friends in the GOP with that convention strategy? I’m not even a Republican and even I thought it was a bit of a jerk move.
Well…to use an expression I despise—it is what it is. It’s pretty much over now, so we’ll just have to see what we see (that’s another one I hate). We all have our opinions. Those changes will just mean that the man with the most money will definitely win. And if Romney governs like I think he probably will, I’d imagine that there is going to be a lot of GOP folks who will regret letting Romney’s top lawyer draft their new primary rules. As your article points out, this is as much about correcting a perceived wrong as it is about ensuring no primary challenges in 2016.
In re your final thought—No. There was, at least to me, never any intention of making friends once it became readily apparent that the GOP establishment didn’t want us there. It was all about trying to take over. Dick move? I don’t think so. It was strictly business. Playing by the rules that were in place. Of course, we were doing it to try to save our country.
“But let it not be said that we did nothing.” - Dr. Ron Paul
Instead of playing pointless parliamentary games, Paul’s supporters would do better to put their energy behind the libertarian who will actually be on the ballot in November.
Agreed, Doug. That’s why I linked Johnson’s campaign page on my write-up. I’ve been a card-carrying Libertarian for getting close to a decade now and have never voted for a R or D for POTUS in my life (All LP except for Perot in ‘96). And as I mentioned, I think good a number of my fellow Paul enthusiasts are planning on doing the same thing come November.
One other thought…. the main reason that Ron Paul will not be speaking at the convention is because he has not, and apparently will not, endorse the party’s nominee. That’s the price of admission to the dais.
Good, concise, thoughtful work, Marshall. I think you’ll be proved right.
By the way, how do you put up with the ‘asshole-ish’ comments from folks supposedly on the same side as you? What a bunch of jerks.
Are you referring to me Valerie? Sorry, I don’t worship Ron Paul.
Marshall,
Excellent articles. I love reading your contributions. I just hope Obama doesn’t start serg’n….
SPQR
Thanks, Doc.
Appreciate the kind words.
SPQR
I for one gave the GOP my time and support during the nomination process. The system is just too corrupt at this point. I had no idea just how dirty it was on even the local level. I will be giving Gary and the LP my full support going forward. I will continue to vote for who I think is the best candidate and/or who has the best platform for America from actual research. I will ignore side shows, fox/cnn/etc news, and talk radio and look at actual voting records and bills sponsored.
thomas.loc.gov if anyone is interested.
SPQR
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