Posted on 04/26/2016 6:51:52 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
My local congressional district became one of those battlegrounds that we see playing out across the country, as Ted Cruz supporters outflank Donald Trump backers at the little-known, little-attended Republican Party meetings to select delegates to the national convention. Here's one delegate's story of how it all went down.
Q: Who won the district? If Trump won it, why didn't pro-Trump delegates win at the meeting?
A: The primary dictates how the delegates are to vote on the first ballot. It doesn't dictate who the people are that are elected to represent the convention body at the RNC.
Q: Did any Trump supporters show up? How did they take the results?
A: I would estimate that of all the delegates casting votes, approximately 20% to 25% were Trump supporters. They were understandably upset that their slate did not get approved by the convention body. I spent most of the morning explaining to the leader of their group exactly what was going on and how things were going to move forward. I wanted to make sure they were comfortable with understanding the process.
Q: Why do you think the results went down the way they did?
A: The delegates wanting to support Trump were just late getting involved in the process. I don't think the campaign fully understood how important the actual delegates could be if it came down to a brokered convention. Once it became obvious that the convention may go that route, it was too late to start the process. The delegate process started with mass precinct meetings in February. In February it looked like Trump would easily walk away with the nomination.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
Trump has plans to un-rig the system. Trump and his sons are pounding the message to millions of dissatisfied citizens. It’s become part of the movement. That cat is out of the bag never to be put back in again. I knew it would go this way after Colorado. I knew Cruz would be killed with ammunition he handed over to Trump. What is so telling is that Cruz gloats about Colorado - not recognizing that what he was a part of there is killing him. Zero strategic thinking skills. NOT what we need as president.
Read posts 2, 3 and 9 here. http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3420112/posts
Cruz has taken himself down.
His way would guarantee a loss to the Hildebeast.
Nobody wants you Ted, Get out and show you have an ounce of self respect left.
When the voters have expressed the fact that they DO NOT want you, you should take that as your cue that you would not be supported as the nominee.
Any person who is mentally healthy can understand that important fact.
Plan B? What part of the voters do not want you does Ted Cruz not understand?
I am not so sure. After all Indiana is the home of Dick Lugar and Mitch Daniels...GOPe elites. The dark side is strong in the Hoosier state. Shennanigans will be rampant.
When I was in high school I attended a ‘youth convention.’ It was designed to mirror a real convention in every way. I went as a delegate for the Dem front-runner (I being a gung-ho Dem/liberal in my youth). I wasn’t a stealth delegate; I sincerely liked and supported the frontrunner—he seemed like a great person and a great candidate.
I voted for this person on the first ballot. That was the rule.
Meanwhile, however, either the candidates themselves or a chosen spokesperson made speeches. My best friend and I listened to them all. We both changed our vote on the second ballot. A young firebrand candidate stole the show, capturing our enthusiasm, loyalty and votes.
That’s the way it should be. That’s the honest way. Meaning, it would have been dishonest for me to go as a delegate for a candidate I *planned* to betray. Otoh, if a candidate can make a better case for being the second ballot winner, that’s also honest. That’s how contested conventions should legitimately be resolved.
Premeditated ackstabbing is vile and repugnant. It is an Obama/Alinsky tactic, and does not represent the values of principled conservatives. Cruz has degraded both himself and his supporters by advocating it. Shame on him.
[And don’t tell me that loyal delegates can’t be legitimately persuaded to switch. Delegates know they must select the candidate. If the first ballot falls short, they will listen to the case made by each candidate. A certain percentage will switch on each ballot until they get the job done, guaranteed.)
Actually, it wasn’t unusual then for the time and location of political party meetings (caucuses) to be unknown to anyone but ‘insiders’.
Participation in the process has never been more open and publicized.
We live in a time in which the reality of our history, and even trial and error itself, is considered unimportant compared to our desire for instant gratification and freedom from consequences.
ackstabbing = backstabbing
“Ted lies! and no one calls him on it. Disgusting. Imagine four years of that.”
He isn’t going anywhere. After this asinine and sleazy debacle of a campaign, we may, with any luck, never hear from or of him again.
You make exactly the right point. All these clowns telling us how “those have always been the rules” completely miss the point. If those are the rules, the rules are rigged to protect the corrupt SOBs governing us. They can say it is temperance, to ensure that the whims of the public don’t lead to mob rule... and all that jazz.
But the entire system is corrupt to its very core. Treason is accepted as normal. And these rules are protecting the traitors and sell-outs. So damn the rules. Once we get power, we should change them.
“What is so telling is that Cruz gloats about Colorado - not recognizing that what he was a part of there is killing him. Zero strategic thinking skills.”
For all of this blather about his alleged brilliance, what we have seen is an eccentric stumblebum. Smart guys don’t use Glen Beck as their promoter.
Whut You Said
Premeditated backstabbing?
Or recognizing a 17-candidate field with a flamboyant front-runner could lead to multiple convention ballots, so a serious presidential candidate worked state-by-state conventions and caucuses?
Roughly 60% of republican voters DO NOT want Trump.
No matter what, no matter how we disagree with their system, the system that’s in place belongs to the Republican Party. They get to decide their rules. As long as the rules don’t change midstream, what can we do about it? It’s been this way forever.
Just because Trump & sons convince the people to buck the system doesn’t guarantee that the Republican Party will change their way of doing things. They may cease to hold power, but they can do thing as they wish.
Maybe Trump will force change, but as it stands in this election, if the candidate decides to run under the Republican Party name, then they are assumed to be agreeing to, and accepting of, the party rules as they are.
So even if Trump wins, the only thing IMO that might cause the winds of change to blow out the Republican Party, would be for Trump to run for reelection as an Independent, where even the plurality winner takes the nomination — if that’s the way they want to set up their rules from the start.
What's your plan?
I said Trump has a plan. And he’s executing it. Pay attention.
You’re so far gone you no longer even grasp the concept of backstabbing. Cruz is an Adult Child of Alcoholics. When a person hitches their wagon to such a star, ethics are the first casualty.
The delegate process is modeled after the electoral college. The framers recognized that direct democracy leads to corruption. You want to do away with the electoral college too?
Depends on the TURN OUT. If it is really BUSY, expect the GOPe will have their rear ends handed to them.
Trump wants to raise taxes on “the wealthy”. Do you hope he’s lying about that? I do.
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