RNC Breaks Out Establishment Nightsticks
Alternate Headline – How To Win A Nomination With Brute Ugly: In a few easy and ruthless steps, no less, courtesy of the good folks with the RNC and Club Romney. Once again, I keep looking for reasons to vote for Romney instead of against Obama, and once again keep coming up short. This from the LA Times:
Ron Paul supporters at the Republican National Convention erupted in fury Tuesday over decisions that weakened their delegate count and other rule changes that will make it harder for non-establishment candidates in future elections.
Several members of the Maine delegation walked out of the Tampa Bay Times Forum after the convention affirmed the GOP’s decision to replace 10 of Maine’s 24 delegates.
“It’s a disgusting, disgusting display of a hostile takeover from the top down,” said Ashley Ryan, 21, a Maine delegate. “It’s an embarrassment.”
Paul did not win a single state, but his ardent followers worked arcane local and state party rules to take over several state delegations, including garnering 20 of Maine’s 24 spots. The RNC decided to replace 10 of them, effectively stopping the state from being able to submit Paul’s name for nomination. (In response, the state’s Republican governor, a Romney supporter, decided to boycott the convention.)
The RNC also pulled out their procedural truncheons to pound through two controversial rule changes, which critics contend will consolidate power for the establishment GOP while diluting and marginalizing grassroots organizations trying to work with party constricts. This from CNN:
At issue: two rules dubbed Rule 16 and Rule 12.
The first is a compromise of an earlier proposal, named Rule 15, that was vehemently opposed by many grassroots activists, including many Ron Paul supporters. It addresses delegate selection in future Republican presidential primaries – instituting stronger enforcement mechanisms to compel delegates to vote as they are bound by their states. In the original proposal, future presidential candidates would have had veto power over who could become a delegate.
The second rule concerns the RNC’s ability to change its rules in between its conventions.
Both rules were adopted on the convention floor by a voice vote. Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, chairman of the Rules Committee and a top surrogate for Romney, presented the rules. House Speaker John Boehner held the audible floor vote to adopt them.
Though the voices “for” and “against” sounded about the same, Boehner declared: “The ayes have it.”
That caused opponents on the floor to erupt in a chorus of boos.
…
Romney attorney Ben Ginsburg – a Washington D.C. delegate – spoke about the rule.
“It’s a great compromise,” Ginsburg said. “It brings the party together. Some of the grassroots activists told us they had concerns about [the original proposal.] They were valid concerns. We were able to work out a compromise.”
When pressed about lingering grassroots opposition to it, Ginsberg said:
“The vote was 78-14. It had the overwhelming support of the committee.”
“I’m sorry we can’t please everybody.”
Though Rule 16 was approved by the committee, opponents vowed to try to kill it on the floor through a procedure called a “minority report.”
Twenty-eight signatures were needed to advance that procedure. It’s unclear if the opposition obtained the necessary number to do so.
…
Meanwhile, some committee members suggested meddling was at play. A bus full of Virginia delegates arrived at the committee meeting – after it had adjourned.
“The bus that was supposed to pick up the Virginia delegation arrived an hour later than it was supposed to,” explained Virginia delegate Morton Blackwell, a prime opponent of Rule 16.
Blackwell continued: “And then when we went downtown, we went around the same series of blocks repeatedly – twice. And then the bus took out away from downtown, went about a mile and a half, and then did a u-turn and came back. And did another circuit, of the same place where we had been before. And at that point, the Virginia delegates demanded, ‘Stop the bus. And we’re going to walk.’ And we did.”
Mike Rothfeld, a Virginia delegate also on the bus, went further.
“They pushed us around for 45 minutes and then we missed the meeting,” Rothfeld said.
“We were in the security perimeter, they pushed us out of it three separate times. They moved us around until the meeting was adjourned.”
Sebern claimed the snafu was “deliberate.”
Wonderful.
Irony Alert: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered a barnburner of a keynote speech, but consider the abject irony of some of his lines given the ram-rod job that the RNC pulled earlier in the day:
“We believe that, if we tell the people the truth, that they will act bigger than the pettiness we see in Washington, D.C. We believe it is possible to forge bipartisan compromise, and stand up for our conservative principles.
“You see, because it has always been the power of our ideas, not our rhetoric, that attracts people to our party. We win when we make it about what needs to be done. We lose when we play along with their game of scaring and dividing.
…
“When there are people in the room who care more about doing the job they were elected to do than they worry about winning reelection, it is possible to work together, achieve principal compromise, and get results for the people who give us these jobs in the first place.”
As long, presumably, as the “people in the room” don’t include anybody who strays from the RNC establishment line; in which case, you just kick them out of the room. And move along with chants of U.S.A. to cover any dissent.
Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, summed it up nicely after the long knives had served their purpose:
I believe that the Republican party has made a huge mistake by effectively disenfranchising grassroots activists who want to be a part of the party process. If the party sincerely wants the support of citizens, shutting them out of the process is not the way to do it. Sooner rather than later the Republican establishment needs to come to terms with the decentralized nature of grassroots organization circa 2012. The terms of engagement can no longer be dictated from the top-down.
It’s time to change the rules of engagement.
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