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.
Yeah. Start with James Bopp.
James Bopp may or may not be a scoundrel in other ways, but in this one way, he was a hero. He, with Morton Blackwell, led the charge against the Rules Change.
James Bopp Jr. isn't just a Romney adviser, he is pretty much the face of the business side of the establishment. He is the Vice Chairman of the party and head of the rules committee.
This is pretty damning. It shows the business side of the party, the establishment, opposed the rule change.
Still out there?
Apparently you didn’t read the letter. Bopp led the opposition against the rule change.
Unless you like this to be a fight between the GOPe and the people under a false pretense?
Of course, as a fifth party candidate, you would.
(still failing to disclose that I see)
Bopp is the main culprit behind the addition of the immoral, unconstitutional “pain-capable unborn children” clause in the “pro-life” platform plank.
Which was no surprise to me. He’s been pushing that garbage for years. Pushing it right into the laws of the United States, and many of the States.
Laz, you missed the obvious possibility that this letter is simple cover. Can we really trust any of these people to do anything honest when this kind of power is on the table?
Sorry but I think you’ve been had. This is too comvinent by half.
One-time ping. Apologies to people already on my ping list for the double-ping.
He’s made his bed with these people. Now he’s going to have to live with it.
Nice summary of what happened. After hearing buzz among Republicans about “faithless delegates,” I am glad they got stopped. But RINOs never let a good crisis go to waste.
True. But, let us not forget that there are other Establishments who were all for it: Boehner, Sununu, and most damning of all, Ginsberg.
I feel the most powerful, most direct sign that Romney DOES embrace us, is a denuciation by the official Romney camp of the Rules Change. At this point, that is what it will take, to placate us and get us on board.
He needs to unify. As soon as possible. Forcefully, as such an action would be.
Several other sources that were reporting at the time gave Bopp credit for leading the charge to defeat the rule.
LOL, EV isn’t very quiet about who his real name is. Check his homepage! :)
You’re exactly right. This is political butt-covering.
The whole country, at least anyone who pays attention, saw exactly what went on in Tampa.
It wasn’t a political convention in any true sense of the word. It was a sham propaganda show.
If the letter had been issued after the fight, then maybe I could believe that. However, the letter occured during the fight, and Bopp was involved in lobbying against the change in many other ways.
He's also the RNC Vice-Chair. Pretty high-up to be simple cover.
So? Considering the backroom methods we’ve all seen so far, why should this be any different?
Folks, I’m sorry. While I admit Romney will be our next president and wish him the best of luck, FR needs to take off the rose colored post convention glasses and remember who and what we are dealing with. That didn’t change with a few great speeches.
If Romney pushes and reverses these rule changes before election time, it would indeed change my belief in him.
As it is now, up yours GOP-e !!!
Well, Tom, that is as much conjecture as my assertion that there may be opposing views in the RNC establishment.
I guess it is up to the grassroots to take it to Mitt, and let him know we need some Rules Changes BACK, or at the very minimum, a strong condemnation of the Rules as they stand.
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