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.
I don't know how to get this message to Romney, but he's GOTTA show us some love. If he doesn't, he's going to face a tougher 2012, and -- if successful in 2012 -- a much MUCH tougher 2016.
You don't know the half of it.
Tell that to the Maine Ron Paul delegates who are undergoing a hearing today to consider punishment for their antics during the convention.
Whistling past the grave yard.
You try typing with visions of you in a skirt and heels dancing through your head...
Not an easy thing to do! ;)
Or, as I prefer to view it, an opportunity for action.
Is this hearing taking place under the old rules or the new ones??
Her father was AG in Utah and represented what is wrong in Utah Politics, Talked the Talk and Devolved into a RINO.
Mitt has no Balls and if we push hard enough through our Reps he will bend. I was exiled to Mass in 1960 and supported Mitt for gov, he sucked, we have to yell and scream and he will follow.
Who cares? They obviously don’t deem any authority higher than RonPaul. Any punishment will be ignored and there’s nothing but throwing them out the GOP can do.
Like they care.
Thanks for staying on top of this, Laz. Satisfied customer #135 (or I’ll take the next number) BUMP!
So then why change long established rules that encourage grassroots participation at the state level because of them. They were easily ostracized under the existing rules.
Well cool, at least he's pliable. Obama doubles-down in the face of vast and rabid disapproval for his policies. That right there makes Mitt more attractive.
You are the 136th Satisfied Customer!™
Just to clarify, I think the rule change was a monster mistake/power grab and I fully believe it was designed to castrate the TEA Party.
My post on the Paulbots was just to point out that the GOP can rulemake a thousand ways to wednesday. The Paulbots do not care.
So if the change was to target Paulbots, it was a wasted effort. They will just hose up some other aspect to get their way or just abandon the GOP period. The one thing they will not do is go along with ‘punishment’.
I should have been much more clear than I was.
Just got an anonymous tip, who might go public, that this was NOT intended to slap down Tea Party people. That this thing got out of hand. That things might be changing.
See #56.
I cannot understand how the PTB were bling to the effect this would have on the TEA party/grassroots. I could easier believe that ti ‘got out of hand’. But it ‘got out of hand’ because the GOP underestimated and cannot control the backlash.
Seriously Laz. All BS aside. Do you HONESTLY thing the GOP was blind to this?
BLIND
God why can’t I type today?
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