media projection:
media projection:
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Paul humiliates Romney ... in his own home state
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/13...-delegates-ru/Could the Bay State’s Ron Paul-loving delegates ruin Romney’s coronation?
Mitt’s Massachusetts Massacre
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 2, 2012
Saturday was an embarrassment of epic proportions for Mitt Romney and the Massachusetts Republican Party — an organization that, as I've chronicled in recent months, is essentially an extension of the Romney machine.
In a nutshell, a bunch of diehard followers of presidential candidate Ron Paul won spots intended for Romney loyalists, to represent the state at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa late this summer. In nine district caucuses, Paul supporters won 16 of 27 delegate spots, and 18 of 27 alternates. (These numbers might change slightly after consideration of provisional ballots and potential challenges.)
It won't affect the nomination. By virtue of Romney's easy primary victory, in which he received more than 70 percent of the votes, Romney is guaranteed the pledged support of all Massachusetts delegates on the first convention ballot. And there is little chance that there will be more than one ballot, regardless of the high hopes of some Paul devotees.
But it's certainly humiliating that the Paul crowd so thoroughly out-organized the Romney crew in his own backyard. Organizing supporters is so fundamental to the fall general election, that this fiasco— which took place while top adviser Eric Fehrnstrom was in Washington, DC, schmoozing at the White House Correspondents' Dinner — could raise questions about whether the campaign's eye is on the ball.
The effort should not have come as a surprise, since the same people did the same thing in 2008, with more limited success. Although some of the state's 41 delegates to the RNC are chosen by the state committee, and some at the MassGOP convention this spring, the bulk are elected by any registered Republicans who show up at the district caucuses.
Ron Paul libertarians, though highly motivated, are few in number. To defeat them required only 100 to 150 Romney supporters at each of the nine caucus locations — from an entire congressional district.
The failure to do so has stunned some Massachusetts Republicans. At the least, it is another black eye for new state party chairman Bob Maginn, whose long relationship with Romney goes back to Bain Capital.
But it could become more than a passing embarrassment.
The home-state delegation traditionally gets seated front and center, and national media typically seeks them out for comments about the nominee.
I asked Frank Capone, an elected "Liberty" delegate from District 5, what he will say to media in Tampa who ask his opinion of Romney. "Probably not what I should be saying," he chuckled.
OFF MESSAGE
MassGOP officials are publicly putting a game face on the caucus results — pointing to the higher-than-usual turnout as a positive sign. "It's a pretty fantastic thing to see the enthusiasm," says MassGOP spokesperson Tim Buckley.
But the importance of home-state delegates is a big reason that the Romney campaign took the unusual step of selecting and promoting a complete "slate" of candidates — which the MassGOP promoted on its Web site. There were also robocalls made for the slate candidates.
The Romney campaign wanted to ensure that the delegation would be "on message" in Tampa.
They also wanted to reward those who had loyally helped Romney and his allies over the years, by giving them a VIP junket to the national convention.
That's why the Romney slate included Kevin Jourdain, Holyoke City Council president and local pro-life leader, who stood up for Romney back in the 2008 campaign as a "pro-life governor" who "was always there for us"; and Cuban-born Framingham Selectman Nicolas Sanchez, who could speak for Romney's inclusion of Hispanics.
Both Jourdain and Sanchez lost on Saturday. So did a number of big-name Romney supporters: his lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey; 2010 gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker; House Minority Leader Brad Jones; sheriffs Lew Evangelidis, Frank Cousins, and Tom Hodgson; and Plymouth County DA Tim Cruz.
The candidates who won spots instead, under the banner of a "Liberty Slate" or "Unity Slate," range from thoughtful, well-spoken libertarians to somewhat nutty conspiracy theorists. They are overwhelmingly white and male.
Many were part of the Liberty Preservation Association of Massachusetts (MassLPA), formed in 2009 by disgruntled Paul supporters. MassLPA partnered with fringe groups, including the John Birch Society, Oath Keepers, and Free State, and focused primarily on opposing a local pandemic-response bill, which conspiracy theorists believed was an attempt to impose martial law.
Take David Kopacz of Ware, a co-founder and vice-president of MassLPA, who has spoken and written about the dangers of United Nations "Agenda 21" and FEMA concentration camps. He will be a RNC delegate from District 2.
AVOIDING A FIGHT
There is talk, among national Ron Paul supporters, of delegates like these — and an unknown number of others across the country — finding loopholes that allow them to vote against their pledged candidate or to abstain from casting a vote at the RNC.
But Massachusetts Liberty delegates tell me they plan to honor their commitment to vote for Romney on the first ballot. They say they are not going to Florida with the intention of embarrassing Romney.
"Happy to be going to Tampa," delegate-elect Renato D'Amico wrote in response to my inquiry. "I love supporting the Republican agenda. Smaller government is the only way to have a free society."
Of course, if somehow Romney does fail to get the necessary votes for nomination on the first ballot, "trying to stop the coronation is ultimately still the goal," says Capone.
What you don't find among even their most positive statements is praise of the candidate to whom they are pledged.
If they feel mistreated in Tampa, it probably would not take much for them to start spouting their real opinions of Romney to the media.
The question for the Romney campaign is what will make these delegates happy enough to behave. It is not yet at all clear that a speaking slot for Paul, and an "audit the Fed" plank in the party platform, will be enough.
It's also far from certain that Romney's team has any interest in making them happy. Until now, they have dealt with Paul diehards in their typical aggressive style — removing them and their signage from anywhere Romney appears.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them do the same in Tampa. That may be fine with most Paul delegates, whom the media don't seem to take seriously anyway.
But a battle with his own local delegation might be an irresistible story line — one that Romney surely doesn't want spoiling his big party.
Last edited by Dr. Love; 05-02-2012 at 11:51 PM.
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Fuck you RNC!
http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/ral...s-take-over-n/RNC to NV GOP: Don’t let Ron Paul delegates take over national convention slots or don’t bother coming to Tampa
By Jon Ralston
Wednesday, May 2, 2012 | 9:18 p.m.
RELATED FILES
See RNC letter at right
In a letter delivered Wednesday to GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, the RNC's chief counsel said if Ron Paul delegates are allowed to take too many slots for the national convention, Nevada's entire contingent may not be seated in Tampa.
John R. Phillippe Jr. said that while his letter is not binding, "I believe it is highly likely that any committee with jurisdiction over the matter would find improper any change to the election, selection, allocation, or binding of delegates, thus jeopardizing the seating of Nevada’s entire delegation to the National Convention."
Clearly, the RNC fears that mischief at the Sparks convention this weekend could result in Ron Paul delegates taking Mitt Romney slots and then not abiding by GOP rules to vote for the presumptive nominee on the first ballot in Tampa. So they are trying to force McDonald to ensure that actual Romney delegates fill 20 of the 28 national convention slots, thus removing any mystery of who they will vote for.
This could be even more fun on Saturday because — and I may be wrong — I don't think these Paul folks respect authority too much. And now the new chairman, who is close to some of the Paul folks, has to be the enforcer.
Too delicious.
The letter is at right.
Now for the BIG fuck you to the RNC:
RP has taken 22 of the 28 delegate slots for Nevada! This is especially funny since the RNC basically threatened not to seat the entire delegation if they voted too many in for Ron Paul. They also won 2/3 of the super delegate slots for the 2016 conventions (in anticipation of Rand Paul running).
This is DESPITE the fact that over 400 people showed up with fake delegate credentials and were voting for Romney. Most/all of them were identified and thrown out eventually. This is ALSO DESPITE the fact that people were handing out fake liberty slates to try to throw off the Ron Paul votes (they were being handed out by people with fake credentials and were thrown out).
For someone that has the nomination all in hand, the GOP establishment and Romney sure seem desperate to stop Ron Paul from collecting delegates.
Romney challenging the delegation from Mass because he doesn't like who was picked.
http://www.redmassgroup.com/diary/14...-comes-the-axeDown Comes the Axe
by: Paul R. Ferro
Fri May 04, 2012 at 21:50:07 PM EDT
Redmassgroup.com has confirmed that the Romney Campaign will be invoking Rule 5.2 of the MassGOP "Plan for the Selection of Delegates" to the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida by choosing to "not certify" delegates elected at last Saturdays caucuses under the "Ronald Reagan Unity Liberty Slate" banner.
Emails have been sent to Romney Slate Delegates, many of whom finished in 4th, 5th, and 6th place for one of three delegate slots, informing them that the Romney Campaign would challenge Liberty Slate Delegates, and to be prepared to serve as Delegates in their stead.
Further, RMG has learned that Allocation Committee member, and veteran State Committeewoman Nancy Luther has resigned her spot on the Allocation Committee, and been replaced by State Committee member Matthew Sisk.
Publisher's note: Luther has resigned, Sisk has told Red Mass Group he will not be serving on the allocation committee.
Most observers have interpreted this an effort to ensure that any non-certification of the Liberty Slate Delegates will be upheld by the Allocation Committee upon appeal.
cry me a river, dickbag!
Another victory!
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_...rom_maine_gop/
Ron Paul wins majority of delegates from Maine GOP
By Associated Press
Sunday, May 6, 2012
AUGUSTA, Maine — With Ron Paul forces in control, the Maine Republican Convention has elected a majority slate supporting the Texas congressman to the GOP national convention.
The names of 15 at-large delegates from Maine to the Tampa, Fla., convention were posted Sunday morning as the state convention entered its second day. Ron Paul supporters essentially took over the convention Saturday after electing a convention chairman. Maine has a total of 24 delegates.
Paul finished a close second behind Mitt Romney in Maine’s presidential caucuses but those results were nonbinding.
Charles Cragin, a Romney supporter who lost Saturday’s bid to chair the convention, calls the turn of events "bizarre." He says the Paul-led delegation may not be seated at the national convention because of violations of rules of procedure this weekend in Augusta.
They are voting on delegates from the congressional districts now ... he may wind up with most if not all of the remaining 9 delegates!
We control the delegations from:
Maine (GOP challenge expected)
Nevada
Colorado
Minnesota
Iowa
We expect to control the delegations from:
Washington
Louisiana
Missouri
Hawaii
Oklahoma
Mass (maybe, we're hovering around half the delegates, GOP challenge expected)
Alaska (maybe, too close to call)
We'll see how it goes beyond that. We're fighting hard in TX to get the state convention stacked with as many RP people as we can. There's some encouraging reports from WV and NC as well.
Last edited by Dr. Love; 05-06-2012 at 01:37 PM.
Didn't work
The funny thing is that Romney's son was in Nevada stressing the need for unity. He got unity. Just not the unity he wanted.
It appears the prevailing attitude right now is that RP supporters will simply abstain from voting in the first round so that Romney doesn't have enough delegates to win the nomination in the first round, and then to take it in subsequent rounds of voting.
I've read that the chair of the each delegation can vote in place of abstaining delegates but I can't tell if it's true. I think the real test will be to see which side (Paul or Romney) can swing the gingrich/santorum delegates to their side.
http://www.policymic.com/article/show/id/7959Ron Paul Wins in Maine and Nevada Increasing Delegate Count Towards GOP Nomination
Hamdan Azharin
Ron Paul's supporters scored an incredible upset at both the Maine and Nevada Republican State Conventions this weekend. In Maine, they won 15 out of 15 at-large delegates and were on track to win the 6th congressional district delegates. In Nevada, Paul's supporters won 22 out of 25 delegate slots, a result officially announced just minutes ago.
Following the Texas congressman’s recent wins in other caucus states, these victories provide further evidence that the “delegate strategy” might be one of the most successful electoral strategies in modern political history.
In Maine, over 2,000 delegates gathered at the Augusta Civic Center on Saturday. After multiple recounts that stretched through the early afternoon, Paul supporter Brent Tweed was finally elected as the convention chairman, defeating Romney-backed candidate Charles Cragin by a mere four votes. Sources report that Mitt Romney backers began filtering out of the convention hall shortly afterwards.
In the early evening, the delegates separated into county caucuses to elect Maine’s 15 at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention. The counting of the ballots was finalized shortly after midnight. When the convention reconvened Sunday morning, it was announced that Ron Paul backers had won all 15 of 15 at-large delegate slots.
The Ron Paul takeover seemed complete as Paul supporters were then elected to the caucus chair and caucus secretary positions with nearly unanimous support. While final results will not be announced until early afternoon, Ron Paul is expected to win all 6 district delegate positions as well, giving Mr. Paul a clean sweep of 21 of 21 delegates from Maine.
In Nevada, 1,600 or so delegates had been officially credentialed by Saturday morning at the Nugget Casino in Sparks. Extensive debate about the rules that would govern the convention lasted for several hours, during which time several Romney supporters were escorted off the floor for distributing fake delegate slates.
Ron Paul himself addressed the convention after lunch, emphasizing familiar themes of limited government and fiscal conservatism. He was introduced by his wife, Carol, and was greeted with jubilation by his supporters in the crowd as they chanted “President Paul, President Paul.” Romney backers were also present in the crowd, although they were outnumbered by the Paul delegates, a significant portion of whom appeared to be younger than 30.
The first evidence of the Paul supporters’ strength in numbers came with the vote to elect Nevada’s National Committeeman and Committeewoman on Saturday afternoon. Paul backers soundly won both positions, ousting the incumbent Romney-supporting committee members. James Smack defeated Bob List with a vote of 932-623, and Diana Orrock defeated Carol Del Carlo with a vote of 902-429, with incumbent Committeewoman Heidi Smith garnering only 231 votes.
The convention also voted to elect Nevada’s 25 national delegates, three each from four congressional districts and 13 at-large delegates. The counting of the ballots took place on the third floor of the casino and lasted until early Sunday morning, conducted by volunteers from among the delegates and overseen by officials of both the Paul and Romney campaigns. Final results released earlier this morning confirm that Ron Paul supporters won 22 of 25 delegate slots.
The successful election of Paul supporters to most of the delegate slots comes on the heels of multiple warnings from the Republican National Committee to the Nevada Republican Party not to elect Paul-supporting delegates at the convention. The state party rejected the RNC’s advice, and it appears that the convention delegates have done so as well. The convention is expected to reconvene Sunday morning to consider possible changes to party bylaws.
Establishment party officials are reported to be in a panic over Ron Paul’s resounding victories in Maine and Nevada. Charles Cragin, the Romney-backer who was defeated in his attempt to chair the Maine convention, has predicted that the RNC will refuse to seat the Ron Paul dominated Maine delegation in Tampa. Meanwhile, a backup delegation of Romney lawyers is reportedly arriving in Nevada this morning to contest Ron Paul’s win.
Ron Paul’s surprise upsets in Maine and Nevada – two states that the mainstream media had already called for Mitt Romney – has the potential to upend the race for the Republican nomination. Paul supporters nationwide have been energized by the late-breaking turn of events and are redoubling their efforts in the upcoming primaries in Texas and California. Ron Paul continues to have a lasting impact on the Republican race and his supporters may well control the Republican Party in a few years.
Ron Paul also picked up 10/13 of the remaining unallocated delegates from Iowa today!
I don't see the majority of them going Ron Paul's way. These people are likely to be fundagelicals who hate the idea of voting for a Mormon cultist, but at least they know that he will start a war with Iran, which is necessary before Jesus can come back. (No, I don't believe that bullshit and neither does Jesus. But the Repuke "base" does) So in that contest, the Joseph Smith cultist beats the Ayn Rand cultist.
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jhale667 (05-07-2012)
So, we should support the fake Bin Laden killing, medicaid corruption for all, fast and furious and wall street bought and paid for cultist ??
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While I admire Doc's enthusiasm and tenacity for the Ron Paul cause, the fact remains that RP has a snowball's chance in Hell of winning the nomination.
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There's more to consider than just 1 election cycle.
Ron Paul (maybe) wins Oklahoma's delegation.
Paul was starting to eat up delegates so the GOP chair tried to adjourn the meeting improperly. A Paul supporter grabbed a mic and pointed it out, so they did it properly. At this point everyone was standing up, milling about. Called all in favor to close the convention, it was shouted down. Tried again by calling for all in favor to stand, everyone sits down as fast as they can. Then they just shut off the lights and tell everyone to get out. Everyone gets pissed and starts screamining.
Someone (Paul supporter) says they'll reconvene in the parking lot.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/22541812
Apparently they reconvened in the parking lot, got a quorum, passed a motion to throw out all business up to that point, revoted and gave all delegates to Paul. Something tells me this is going to be a big blow up before it's over.
The establishment does this almost every time that Paul starts to take a delegation. But for some reason people think they aren't afraid of him.
Arizona is also voting for delegates today but hasn't finalized their session yet. Apparently their ballots were invalid and listed delegates vetted and approved by the mitt romney campaign on the official ballot (illegal) and had to print new ones... but can't find enough paper.
GOP really sucks at running fair elections.
lol, people watching the live streams on the Paul sites are conducting a "pizza bomb"... buying pizzas online and having them sent to the convention out there. That's awesome.
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http://www.policymic.com/articles/82...ate-conventionRon Paul Supporters Chased by Mitt Romney at Oklahoma Republican State Convention
Allan Stevoin
Ron Paul Supporters Chased by Mitt Romney at Oklahoma Republican State Convention
In what is an unorthodox turn of events, the Oklahoma Republican Convention has reconvened in the parking lot of the Embassy Suites in Norman, Okla. The state convention was held today inside the Embassy Suites with party officials calling for an adjournment at or around 5 p.m.
From early in the day, old guard Republicans refused to conduct the official meeting according to established Republican Party rules. Party officials adjourned the convention without concluding scheduled party business and without the support of the delegates in attendance. Under parliamentary procedure, the chairman presiding over the meeting is present to keep order as opposed to leading the meeting according to a personal agenda.
Several hundred Oklahoma Republican delegates reconvened the meeting outside of the hotel in accordance with Republican Party rules. At time of publication, the meeting continued outside in the parking lot under darkening skies.
The meeting appears to have remained relatively calm despite predictions from the now suspended Santorum campaign that "[At the Oklahoma Republican State Convention, this Saturday] there will assuredly be a passionate struggle for control of the convention, the national delegation, and the party's future."
A likely Ron Paul supporter commented, "I'm amazed at the level of composure, civility, and organization among these people in the parking lot."
In what has grown into a contentious race, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's campaign has resorted to tricks that are not usually used by a presumptive front runner against other members of his party.
The Oklahoma State Convention was scheduled to choose another 25 delegates to the Republican National Convention today. Of the delegates chosen to date, approximately 60% are supporters of Texas Congressman Ron Paul.
Over the past few weeks, Romney's campaign has suffered great losses in the face of a surging Paul campaign. The Romney campaign's aggressive reaction to Paul's recent success suggests the Texas Congressman is doing better than most in the media had initially realized. Republican delegates will meet August 27 in Tampa, Florida to choose a nominee. If Romney's campaign cannot recover, it risks losing the Republican nomination.
Protesting really doesn't work. You have to systematically get into the political system en mass to change anything. I think people are figuring that out. I think we are going to see a lot of long-time career politicians hit the skids this November. People aren't as passive as they were a few years ago and the same old bullshit doesn't seem to be selling.
That's because a lot of people are starting to want freedom...
Paul just announced that he's not focusing his money on primary contests but rather winning the delegations of the state conventions.
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jhale667 (05-14-2012),LoungeMachine (05-14-2012)
I think what Ron Paul is trying to do is expose the corruption in the primary election process. Both parties seem to have the same corruption. People in the Democratic Party are trying to expose the corruption on that side as well. It's pretty clear we need to reform the election process because it's not working. Things are so bad we might end up having to have a constitutional convention and that's scary because we could just end up fucking ourselves even more with that.
I think he did that quite a while back.
His goal is to have his followers take over as much of the local/state gop as they can, so he's spending his money to assist in that regard. It will be interesting to see if he still continues to beat Romney for state delegations even after "dropping out" ... and interesting to see how Romney's campaign handles it.
If there are enough delegates up for grabs it might be a good left hook strategy. The Romney people will just figure Ron Paul is out and not put so much attention on him and then BAM! they get smacked the last minute by the left hook they didn't see.
I dunno about that... half the RP supporters I read think that it's all a secret strategy, the other half are packing up and going to Gary Johnson. I'm just gonna watch for a little bit. I think he's signaling the end and admitting he won't win the nomination (no surprise) while still encouraging people to try to change their local party.
Gary who?
About what I expected. We'll see if he continues winning state delegations.To: Supporters, Interested Parties
From: Jesse Benton, Chief Strategist
Date: May 15, 2012
Re: Paul Campaign Convention Strategy
Every day, I see firsthand how humbled and encouraged Dr. Paul is to have the enthusiastic support of so many who are committed to revitalizing our country.
Let me be very clear. Dr. Paul is NOT dropping out or suspending his campaign.
As Dr. Paul has previously stated, he is in this race all the way to the Republican National Convention in Tampa this August.
And he is deeply grateful for every resource he has been entrusted with to run an historic campaign that continues to defy all expectations.
Looking ahead, our campaign must honor that trust by maximizing our resources to ensure the greatest possible impact at the National Convention.
So while our campaign is no longer investing in the remaining primary states, we will continue to run strong programs at District and State Conventions to win more delegates and alternate delegates to the National Convention.
To this end, our campaign has several positive and realistic goals:
1) Having recently WON Maine, we believe we can win several more states.
2) We will win party leadership positions at both the state and national levels.
3) We will continue to grow our already substantial total of delegates.
We will head to Tampa with a solid group of delegates. Several hundred will be bound to Dr. Paul, and several hundred more, although bound to Governor Romney or other candidates, will be Ron Paul supporters.
Unfortunately, barring something very unforeseen, our delegate total will not be strong enough to win the nomination. Governor Romney is now within 200 delegates of securing the party’s nod. However, our delegates can still make a major impact at the National Convention and beyond.
All delegates will be able to vote on party rules and allow us to shape the process for future liberty candidates.
We are in an excellent position to make sure the Republican Party adds solid liberty issues to the GOP Platform, which our delegates will be directly positioned to approve. Our campaign is presently working to get several items up for consideration, including monetary policy reform, prohibitions on indefinite detention, and Internet freedom.
Finally, by sending a large, respectful, and professional delegation to Tampa, we will show the party and the country that not only is our movement growing and here to stay, but that the future belongs to us.
Dr. Paul will begin this new phase of the campaign this Friday by speaking and holding several events at the Minnesota State Convention. He has also recently accepted an invitation to speak at the Texas Convention, and we are busy scheduling appearances around other State Conventions later this month and into June.
As Dr. Paul stated in his message yesterday, this fight is NOT over. We will continue fighting and expanding, and “we will not stop until we have restored what once made America the greatest country in human history.”
But for Dr. Paul’s efforts in the remaining State Conventions to be successful, and to ensure we get as many Ron Paul delegates to Tampa as we can, he needs you to continue standing with him.
Along those lines, as you probably already know, the grassroots are holding a Money Bomb on Thursday, May 17. Any money raised from that Money Bomb will go toward winning delegates and finalizing our plans for Tampa.
As those plans for the National Convention come together, we will make sure all of our delegates, whether bound or unbound, get the information and aid they need.
Your support on May 17 will also help us reach more Americans with the solutions we know can restore our nation. Each person we add to our cause strengthens our movement for the critical work that awaits us beyond Tampa.
Dr. Paul, John Tate, myself, and the entire campaign staff know what incredible sacrifices have been made by each of our supporters.
Thank you for all of your hard work and your dedication to liberty. Together, we will champion Ron Paul and his message in Tampa, and we will lay the groundwork for future victories.
I've heard it speculated by several different people that Ron Paul isn't even in this for himself anymore, as he knows he can't be president, and he's already announced his retirement from Congress at the end of this year, so his political career is basically done, and what he's doing is actually trying to advance his son's political future.
Well if that's true, fuck him. Rand is a goddamn idiot. And when even professional homophobe Tony Perkins says your comments about the President's support of marriage equality were out of line, it's evident that Senator Aqua Buddha is not someone who NEEDS a political future of any kind.
I don't see how Ron Paul advances his son's political future by retiring. He's an old man and probably tied of the game. Ron Paul's main goal was to get the Federal Reserve audited. I think he's staying in the race even though his chances are pretty much done winning it to bring attention to the corruption in the Republican Party and show how biased the media is. If you are not a corporate crony you get ignored.
from Doug WeadRon Paul is not OUT!
“We are absolutely not dropping out of this race! We are focusing our efforts squarely on winning delegates and party leadership positions at state conventions.”
- Jesse Benton, Campaign Chairman
Ron Paul announced today he would not be competing in the upcoming primary states, saying that he would focus, instead, on his delegate strategy. A strategy that is working, by the way, and transforming the Republican Party. It is something he has said many times since the February 11, 2012 caucus in Maine.
Only this time, the main stream media gave the announcement full attention and treated it like the end of his campaign. Drudge ran it as a front page headline “Ron Paul is out.”
It is all evidence that Alfred Harmsworth’s famous quote that “news is not when a dog bites a man but, rather, when a man bites a dog” has now been offciaily turned on its head.
For the last two years the national media has been saying that Ron Paul is out. So how could that possibly be news? One might ask, “When has the mainstream media ever thought that Ron Paul was in?”
Bracing for a Ron Paul win in Iowa, major new outlets last January announced that if he won, the Iowa Caucus, itself, would be discredited. According to the New York Times and the Associated Press, Ron Paul is still listed as the recipient of one, count em, one delegate from Iowa, a state that he now dominates.
Likewise, the fact that Ron Paul supporters took a big chunk of the delegation of Mitt Romney’s home state of Massachusetts was not big news. This was evidently not a man biting a dog. There were no headlines, just small reports saying we were “flooding” state conventions with delegates. We were sucker punching the front runner. Even this, “we were stealing delegates.” Now, that’s a trick.
It was a ridiculous assertion. One cannot “flood” state conventions with delegates. Nor can one “steal” a delegates, unless they mean we packed them away in vans and drove them off to camps behind barbed wired. Each delegate was elected at District or County caucuses by delegates that were elected at precinct caucuses. So yes, one can flood precinct caucuses with people who in turn must get elected but that had to happen last January or February. It was then that we beat Romney in Massachusetts, and all the other states, it was in the heat of battle.
Now? We are trying to make nice. Like our attempt to “give” him the delegation from Arizona, an offer his man refused to make. So after three attempts to give him a majority we reluctantly won instead, thank you.
The fact is that all of this fighting makes Ron Paul nervous. Yes, he is taking on the establishment. Yes, he wants the monetary policy reformed so that the poor and the middle class and even the excluded rich can know the thrill and opportunity of free markets that aren’t rigged for insider trading. But Dr. Paul is a happy warrior on these issues. He is a person who has always believed in a respectful dialogue and debate. As John Tate says, “That is what he wants his legacy to be.”
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Shouting people down is not Ron Paul’s way. Winning a battle of ideals based on principles, in a respectful way, is how he approaches the contest and it is how he wants others to approach the contest, as well.
.
By ending the primary battles, Ron Paul is signalling to the field that this is the end of hostilities. In primaries you end up tearing each other down. It is millions of dollars spent on negative advertising. In caucuses, as brutal as they may be, you change the Republican Party, you empower the new and challenge the established.
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The delegate strategy is working. That is the way we will impact the platform in Tampa. That is the way we will begin the process of change. It is through the caucuses that we are attracting youth, like the twenty-one year old woman recently elected to the national committee from Maine or the Ron Paul Hispanics or the Independents who have never been involved in party politics.
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Yes there is pain.
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The establishment turned off the air conditioning at the Arizona State GOP Convention last weekend, trying to sweat the Ronulans into leaving.
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In Oklahoma they pulled out a ballroom divider to cordon off Ron Paul supporters and shut them out of participation. Later they turned out the lights. Voice votes that were clearly lost were declared won.
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In Carson County, Nevada they turned off a microphone when a Hispanic tried to speak, they knew that Hispanics were for Ron Paul.
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In Minnesota they told their people not to vote for any delegate under the age of fifty.
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In Alaska, they defeated the majority by retaining the committee which “interpreted rules” and later, after taking the delegation, reluctantly gave up the party control to the new majority but transferred all of the money out of the Republican Party accounts.
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In Virginia, at a District Convention, they coaxed the Ron Paul delegation outside and then locked the door. The pastor of the church that was hosting the event was, himself, locked outside.
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In Missouri they had all the delegates sign up at County Conventions and then had their County Chairman take the rolls outside and lock them in their car trunks so they could block roll call voting and have their chairman declare lost voice votes as won. At another convention delegates were arrested.
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Our people have been punched, yelled at, lied to and worked until they can hardly stand. But on they come, fighting for their children, fighting for their future, angry at the corruption of the banks, of Wall Street, of the lobbyists, of the congress, of the White House. The battle for liberty is not over. It has just taken on a new phase. It cannot be stopped by the national media. If that were the case it would never have been born in the first place.
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And some will say that it is a lost cause, which I will not concede but it does remind me of Clarence Darrow’s famous line, “Lost causes are the only ones worth fighting for.”
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