Posted on 04/16/2016 6:27:13 AM PDT by LS
Why are the effects of the Colorado convention still lingering, and why have they taken on a life of their own?
It's certainly not because of "Trump's whining." If you believe that every criticism of every campaign event by ANY side is "whining," well, yeah, Trump "whined" (just as Cruz's supporters seem to be "whining" about the NY dinner). If you want to take that line, why has this seemingly touched a nerve that Trump's "whining" about so many other things did not?
History is replete with instances where the specific developments were badly misunderstood, misreported, or didn't happen at all. The entire Indian Mutiny of 1857 was caused by the introduction of a new cartridge that Indian Nationalists claimed (to Hindus) was coated with cow fat and (to Muslims) was coated with pig fat---when it was coated in a non-animal vegetable oil. What the symbol of the new cartridge meant was that for the first time both Muslims and Hindus united in their opposition to the British, and they could not for the time being be played against each other.
The Tea Party was portrayed by Sam Adams and others as imposing new taxes on Americans, who were being denied their "rights of Englishmen," when in reality the Tea Act lowered duties (but greatly increased enforcement). So the actual impact was to lower taxes but increase the burden. That didn't sound as good as "imposing new taxes," though and there had been many, many other actual taxes imposed without the consent of the people. A "tax on tea" was good enough---it captured the disgust and final frustration with the British mercantile system.
"Let them eat cake" supposedly sparked the French Revolution, but there is no record that Marie Antoinette (if anyone) ever uttered the phrase. Yet it perfectly captured the tone-deafness of the Bourbon monarchy to the poverty of the French people.
"I am afraid we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve." No, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto did NOT say that. There is no record, from any of his staff, of him uttering such words after Pearl Harbor. Rather, So Yamamura, the actor who played Yamamoto, said that in "Tora, Tora, Tora," the 1970s movie about Pearl Harbor. . . . but the SENTIMENTS were 100% accurate. Yamamoto had lived in America, had traveled extensively across the country, had visited Wright Field in Dayton, OH. He knew Japan couldn't win and that's why he was shipped out to a sea command---so that his contrary opinions wouldn't get him assassinated in Tokyo.
"We were cheated. Colorado was rigged." The vote in CO occurred perfectly within the rules of the Colorado Republican Party as adopted back in August of 2015 (it should be noted, specifically to stop Trump). The convention selection of delegates took place more or less within those rules. (Some Trump delegate credentials were ignored, some state ballots were not properly printed, so there were a few minor exceptions). In the best of outcomes for Trump, he might have come away with 3-4 delegates.
And that's irrelevant, because the perception of what happened in CO is what many, many conservatives have been screaming about for years, namely that the GOPe party organizations rig the votes in advance to impede and destroy the chances of any "outsider." Since Ted Cruz was the beneficiary of these rules structures this time, the only sound you hear from them on this is crickets. The old "ox being gored" thing.
But to those who don't live politics 24/7, but who do want to feel a part of the system, this was one more affront to their participation. Again, we're talking perceptions, and the perception is, this was dirty, it was sneaky, and whether it was Trump or Howdy Doody getting the short end of the stick, it still stinks.
This brings me to a bigger point: in generic terms, liberals and conservatives alike moan about the lack of voter participation in elections. In 1819, for example, the state of Alabama had an astonishing 81% of eligible voters cast a ballot, and every state had over 60% then.
But today, we are lucky if half of all eligible Americans vote. Gee, I wonder why? Looking at CO, it's pretty easy to understand their apathy. And, no, you are NOT going to "explain the details of the rules process" to the great mass of people. They have neither the time nor inclination---rather, they see an abuse of the system. Perceptions are reality.
Trump intuitively grasped this immediately. I don't think he planned in advance to write off CO then take advantage of the outcry. I just think he planned to write off CO the way he wrote off ID, SD, and UT. In a campaign that is funded at the most economical of levels, the money and resources have to be focused on the most likely targets. However, when he saw the level of concern, he listened.
A piece came out a couple of weeks ago in New York Magazine saying that from 2012 til 2015, Trump and his team regularly LISTENED to talk radio and got a sense of what was really bothering people. Imagine that---a leader who actually listens to average people! So his listening skills on the most basic level are very good.
In "whining" about CO, Trump is "whining" the way Sam Adams "whined" about the tea tax, the way the Indian Nationalists "whined" about the cartridges. He used an event as a symbol to show what we all (including Cruzers, up to this election) have complained about---the "rigged" and "stacked" system. And it's more than just "getting in and changing the rules." I witnessed first hand the Tea Party's efforts in OH to change the OH GOP from within, only to have it shut out.
This is the stuff revolutions are made of. Sometimes they start due to a misunderstanding or mistake, but the passions these kinds of events represent are real. Ted Cruz is on the wrong side of this particular wave. The best thing he could have done would have been to meet with Trump to call for a new, re-vote before the convention and throw it back on CO to handle it. That would have exposed Trump's organizing weakness and kept Cruz from looking (once again) like part of the system.
Cruz’s “organization” or “ground game” in Colorado and elsewhere consists of one thing: bribery. When they say “superior ground game” they meant that after the primary Cruz hacks stayed around and bribed the delegates and their Boss Hog state party bosses. It’s no more, and no less. Try spending some time reading online before posting next time.
Great piece. Thank you!
Oh, I read it. And I learned nothing.
I assume he is being indicted by authorities in Colorado, since bribery is illegal? Do you have any news reports of that? No?
If that's all there is to it, why can't Trump compete? He's got more money than Cruz.
Kick the can... again.
That's why people are so agitated about THIS election. The time is NOW, not in 2020. That will be too late.
-PJ
While DON Corleone Trump has been able to get a few more vote in the primaries so far, this is not yet over. Now as for the threats, Should I have a paper bag with money ready for you when you and the MOB come by? Is that you Uncle Joe Stalin?
Which proves your thickheadedness. More with each moronic post.
I agree with your conclusion. The GOPe cannot be fixed, any more than the Whig Party of 1854 could be fixed.
The only question is how fast, and in what form, the true opposition party will arise.
Trump has not focused on building a widespread grass-roots opposition party. Frankly, that is beyond his capacity now, running on essentially his own money.
Secondly, though, the Whigs in 1854 were easy to take out because there was one gigantic single issue they were not addressing, and the Republicans placed that issue at the top of the previous Whig platform and had a comprehensive party platform and structure. Although Trump is mostly known for his anti-illegal position, recent polls show that is not the #1 (or even #2 or #3) issue to voters-—although I think deep down most voters understand that it is affecting everything. #1 now is the economy, but Trump wins there as well. My point is that it’s not quite so easy for Trump as it was the 1855 Republicans to displace the existing party because they aren’t ignoring just ONE issue, but 10, or, better yet, all of them.
A “few more votes?” Really? Like more than two million, and moreover, excluding Cruz’s home state of TX where he underperformed, Trump has utterly destroyed Cruz in states where the people actually get to vote.
In FL, for example, Cruz did not win . . . ONE. . . SINGLE . . . COUNTY. He didn’t win a single one in Ohio . . . or Virginia. Cruz can’t even come close to competing on a national basis. His area of strength are a few Rocky Mountain states and/or caucus states.
No, Trump has kicked his ass, beating him so far already by almost 250 delegates, 2 million votes, and beating him in a majority of states-—no matter how they are decided. And Trump’s “Murderers’ Row” is about to come up (NY, NJ, PA, WV, RI, CT).
DanZ, I take back, you’re not a sCruz supporter, you’re a liberal.
I said nothing to provoke your last response.
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