MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Think I was kidding about Paultards hijacking the Convention? See Nevada.

• Posted by Beth on April 27th, 2008 filed in 2008 election, Candidates, General, John McCain, Moonbats, Paultards, Politics, Stupid, WTF, Why is this guy still alive?   GOP Convention · Republicans    

Thankfully, the Paultard push to take over the North Carolina delegation failed. But listen up: these people DO NOT CARE about the will of the voters. They’re already creating havoc, this time in Nevada.

After a super-majority of Ron Paul supporters captured control of the Republican state convention Saturday, state party officials abruptly canceled the event without electing delegates to the national convention.

Early in the day, state delegates supporting Paul’s continued pursuit of the Republican nomination voted through a rules change that forced the state party to abandon its preset ballot of potential national convention delegates and open up the race to the rest of the state delegates.

The vote followed a rousing speech by Paul of Texas, who said his presidential campaign will continue as long as he has support.

But as the convention continued into the evening, chairman Bob Beers said the party’s contract for the hall at the Peppermill Resort Casino had expired and the event would be rescheduled.

“Due to a rules change that left us on an overtime basis, we will recess the convention until a date that we are going to announce next week,” Beers told a shocked crowd, which stood silent for a few seconds before erupting in boos.

As Beers was escorted out of the building, a short-lived effort to rescue the convention was launched by party activist Mike Weber. Although several hundred Paul supporters stayed, they weren’t strong enough to make a quorum to continue the convention.

Throughout the confusion, hecklers battled for the attention of delegates who supported U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Look, I appreciate the Paultards’ organizational ability - I wish “we” were better at it ourselves. But this is ridiculous - Ron Paul was on the ballot and the VOTERS DECIDED. John McCain is the choice of the majority of Republicans, and that is the party for which we have chosen a nominee. Not The Ron Paul Party.

Paul, who came in second in the Nevada caucuses, actively worked to ensure his supporters attended both the county and state conventions.

His contingent came to the state convention prepared for battle. They had a row of printers to print ballots for their supporters to the national convention. They set up a communications network using text messages to cell phones to make sure everyone voted correctly on motions that would benefit their effort. And they scoured the rules for opportunities to level the playing field.

“On the one side you have a candidate with principles, on the other side you have Tammany Hall,” said Kelly Edinger, a Reno Paul supporter. “I’m in it for Ron Paul. I still believe he can win.“

Do you really want crazed, delusional hooligans raising hell at the convention?

If you care about this, get active. If not, be prepared for the National Convention to be overrun with anarchists. We have our nominee and that isn’t going to change, but they will do everything they can to hijack, subvert, and disrupt the formal nomination process at the convention. Keep your eye on your state’s delegation, because things could get stupid really fast.

Patrick Ruffini knows what can happen.

But by far the biggest impact delegates can have is through floor demonstrations. In some ways, their reactions to the speeches set the tone for the convention, amplifying messages from the stage. Remember how Pat Buchanan enraptured the floor at the 1992 convention but lost the country? Or how the Texas delegates turned their backs on gay Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe in 2000? Now, imagine, Paul loyalists get 20-30% of the seats on the floor in St. Paul, controlling delegations like Missouri, with a significant presence in Minnesota, with closest promixity to the stage. Can the speakers safely voice a pro-victory message in Iraq without a significant amount of boos and catcalls? How will this look on television? And don’t forget, national conventions are also heaven for reporters trolling for off-message quotes from delegates.

It’s our own fault, y’all.

I can’t fault them, can you? Dodging on loyalty oaths aside, all they are doing is Grassroots Organizing 101. Even the social conservatives who traditionally filled this role have punted, drifting into lifestyle-based forms of self-identification. What is remarkable is that this is being pulled off by an historically smaller and smaller base of people using the Internet. All because the regular Republican organization across the country is demoralized, demobilized, and eviscerated.

Read the whole thing. Get off your butts and take back the party. Quit complaining about how it’s too “RINO” if you aren’t willing to do something. If you don’t take back the GOP, real RINOs will.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again until it sinks in: when you disengage and do nothing, you GET nothing. That goes for your level of support for John McCain, too - if you do nothing but hold your nose and vote, how on earth are you ever going to have your voices heard? People have complained for years about the influence of the “Religious Right” on the party (whether you agree with that or not), but they’re organized and at least until now, have reliably made their views relevant by donating, organizing, and activism - at a level disproportionate to their numbers. And now we have the paleolibertarian truthiness wing of conservatism speaking up. If they were to get behind McCain, they’d have a voice in a McCain administration too (of course, they won’t get behind him, because just like RP, they’re ineffectual absolutists). We of the “Silent Majority” can afford to be silent no more, not in the age of the internet and instant communications.

Pinging Nice Deb and This Ain’t Hell so they get this update to their posts.

Thanks to my friend Ralph, for the tip on the news from Nevada.