Yeah. Start with James Bopp.
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?
One-time ping. Apologies to people already on my ping list for the double-ping.
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.
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 !!!
Boehner & McConnell ‘MUST’ go away !!!
I still think this is something of a Republican mirror image to what happened to the Democrats in 1968 and 1972. In ‘68 the up and coming radical left tried to seize the party but were slapped down by their old guard. But in the next four years the radicals came back in spades and took over the party, booting out the old guard for good. And the radicals have controlled the party ever since.
As a rough outline, the Tea Party conservatives have done much the same thing, and have made substantial inroads into the party. However, the old guard Republican leadership used some dirty tricks to slap them down. But it does not end here.
The erosion will continue. The Tea Party will get more and more conservative candidates elected, likely dominating the mid-term election. At that point, if Romney has been playing liberal, there will be a challenge to him having a second term, and the conservatives will punish those who had a hand in this debacle.
Karl Rove and company may find themselves unemployed.
Quit using the Ron Paul brigades as an excuse for these rules changes. No one is buying it. There were and always have been ways of dealing with dissident groups within the rules of the convention. The claim that new rules had to be adopted to deal with them is nonsense.
Laz, you have hidden depths! Thanks for writing this up. If you wouldn’t mind, please keep updating as further developments occur with this rule change. This is very important stuff and we can’t afford to neglect it further.
Last week when all this was happening I chatted with a “connected” friend in D.C. who told me this was NOT what it at first seemed to be and that blaming Team Romney was inaccurate- the blame belonged more with some of the old guard. He was sort of cryptic and didn’t give me much more than that except to say- stay tuned. Your piece confirms it.
GOOD work!
Also, the rules say that if a delegate asks for a role call vote after the original vote, one must be taken. In both votes taken, those delegates calling for a role call vote, were ignored by the national chairman and Boehner and they would not take a role call vote - they knew they would fail getting a yea majority vote.
One cannot put a rose on what happened - it was thorns to the Tea Party and other conservatives.
In addition, every single speech given had to be approved by Romney people, and the two words, Tea Party, were taken out wherever they appeared. No speech giver was allowed to say those words.
Palin was offered a ten minute speech but she had to let the Romney people approve her speech, so she turned it down.
Laz, the problem with Romney is that we can't believe ANYTHING he says, much less something that comes from a mouthpiece. To cite just one instance, he's already changed his abortion position at least twice (from abortion supporter prior to his 'conversion' to 'pro-life' to 'health of the mother').
Romney can talk all he wants. But talk is cheap. In fact, from Mitt Romney, it's free.
“Presidential primary and delegate rules changes” by definition can be changed, like presidential diktats when the chief executive is a Castro/Clinton-wannabe: “Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Cool.”.
The incoming president says, “I disagree with it (e.g. the quasi-DREAM act approval by Zero that failed in Congress), it was an usurpation of the powers of a co-equal branch of government and I’m rescinding it.”
Don’t worry, be happy. And don’t sweat the small stuff.
Didn’t you hear what Rush said yesterday? Romney is up 15% with Independents. Would that almost wipe out you guys?
I guarantee you that he doesn't, and he won't.
I believe the only hope the democrats have of retaining power these days is the GOP defeating themselves.
Unfortunately, the GOP seems determined to give the democrats hope.
Good piece, Laz...