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Title: GOP Rules Committee Rapidly Moving to Shut Out Grassroots at 2:00 p.m. Today
Source:
Red State
URL Source: http://www.redstate.com/2012/08/28/ ... t-grassroots-at-200-p-m-today/
Published: Aug 28, 2012
Author: By: Erick Erickson
Post Date: 2012-08-28 13:13:52 by SJN
Keywords: None
Views: 5345
Comments: 18
At 2:00 p.m. today in Tampa, the Republican National Committee, led by Team Romney, is moving to shut down conservative grassroots activists. I’ve been on the phone with several individuals involved in the fight who tell me that the fight is not over, it is only just starting. Specifically, the media is reporting that the rules fight is over because Team Romney is abandoning Ben Ginsberg’s effort to allow candidates to control delegates. Under an initial proposal, delegates would, in effect, be chosen by the presumed nominee’s campaign and not based on votes in the states and delegate selection processes in the states. That issue appears resolved, but several people I’ve spoken to this morning make clear that Team Romney and the RNC establishment are using that compromise as a red herring to distract from two major rules change proposals that would decimate Republican grassroots and prevent upstart political campaigns. Reports that the floor fight threat is over might be designed to calm the grassroots and get them to ignore what is coming at 2 o’clock. The first rule to be proposed is one that would give the Republican National Committee the power to change rules between conventions with a three-quarters vote of the RNC. One source tells me, “With a Republican President, of course this is doable. Everybody will roll over if a President Romney asks them too. They’ll be able to get Ben Ginsberg’s proposal next year.” In other words, if Team Romney prevails in this rules change, they don’t have to worry about Ben Ginsberg not getting his way today on the delegate changes. They’ll be able to do it later when the press and grassroots are not watching. The second rules change would front load winner takes all primaries. Grassroots conservatives point to both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as reasons to stop this rule. Had there been front loaded winner takes all primaries, neither the Gingrich nor the Santorum campaigns would have been able to get any traction. “This is going to be a fight on the floor if they don’t back down. They have too much pride to back down and we’re going to humble them,” said one delegate to the convention. Another tells me, “They’ve gotten social conservatives comfortable with the platform and now that they’re placated [Team Romney] is going to undercut them with this change.” Speaking to one person familiar with the rules changes who supports them, I’m told a number of people support the changes because they see the current rules as efforts by Michael Steel to “liven up” the process, but all it did was run up the cost and drag it out. “Are we really going to keep the status quo because the guy who brought the convention to hurricane country in hurricane season thought they were a good idea?” the delegate asked. The Rules Committee will meet at 2:00 p.m. today in Tampa to consider the rules changes. If they make it through the committee, delegates are telling me they promise a huge floor fight and there’s no guarantee Team Romney will get its way given the current make up of the delegates in Tampa.
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#1. To: SJN, *Ron Paul for President* (#0)
Basically, Newt and Santorum have joined the Ron Paul revolution. They're all paultards now. Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
So did Mark Levin last night.
Let's not let the fact that the VAST majority of repubs voted for romney in the primaries get in the way of the people who nobody wanted in office getting their way. Friggin dead end crybabies having a temper tantrum.
So has the RNC liberty caucus and Freedom Works. I wonder how they're doing over on LP with this news. I bet they're peeing their pants and standing behind the GOP's power grab.
You LOST get over it.
She's on top of it, go forth and contact your GOP people of your perspective states NOW, before it's too late. I'm getting news that all mail boxes are full around the nation. My own states as well.
Basically, this so-called “compromise” on delegate selection in Rule 15 means nothing as long as Rule 12 allows the RNC to change the rules without oversight. Rule 12 would enable an RNC chairman to enact almost any rules change he or she desired, centralizing control of the party and removing the input of grassroots activists. This is an insider, establishment shell game at its worst. Please call your state’s Rules Committee delegates here and ask that they oppose the “compromise” on Rule 15, oppose the changes to Rule 12, and support the full Minority Reports on the Rules. Thank you. More: According to www.preservetheparty.com, a website started this week by delegates to help raise awareness on this issue, proposed rule 12 reads: “The Republican National Committee may, by three-fourths (3/4) vote of its entire membership, amend Rule Nos. 1-11 and 13-25. Any such amendment shall be considered by the Republican National Committee only if it was passed by a majority vote of the Standing Committee on Rules after having been submitted in writing at least ten (10) days in advance of its consideration by the Republican National Committee and shall take effect thirty (30) days after adoption. No such amendment shall be adopted after September 30, 2014. The language of rule 12 makes the compromise on Rule 16, which would essentially allow a candidate to hire and fire delegates as they see fit, a farce, the RNC can simply go back and rewrite the rules once the convention is over. I spoke with Jeremy Blosser, a Texas delegate, who is furious over the compromise because it does not address proposed rule 12. “Some are answering that Rule 12 has checks and balances, but far too much is being made of these. There’s no “emergency changes only” requirement, and it’s clear from the debate offered in the committee that the intention is to not restrict it to emergency changes but to allow consideration of substantive and controversial changes that the candidates prevent being discussed during the convention media cycle. There’s no ratification requirement such as requiring a number of State Executive Committees to ratify, or the next national convention to ratify. There’s no attempt to preserve the strength of the individual states.” If this rule stands it will operate as a contingency plan for the RNC, should Grassroots organizations gain more influence than RNC leadership is comfortable with. This must be stopped. The vote is happening today. Please call your state’s Rules Committee delegates here and voice your opposition to the “compromise” on Rule 15, as well as to the changes to Rule 12, and support the full Minority Reports on the Rules. ___________________________________________________________________________ Update 12:23pm Eastern Rush Limbaugh weighed in this afternoon: “The establishment GOP wants to kick conservatives out of the party.” Update: Freedomworks’ Michael Duncan reports a purge may now be underway: just got off the phone with a concerned Florida activist, Laura Noble, who informed me that both of Florida’s Rules Committee members, Peter Feaman and Kathleen King, have been removed from the Rules committee and replaced with Romney-appointed delegates. Clearly anticipating a grassroots backlash against the “compromise” on Rule 15 and the changes on Rule 12 has caused the Romney camp to preemptively replace delegates to ensure they have support on the Rules Committee. It’s enough to make your blood boil. Please call your state’s Rules Committee delegates here and ask that they oppose the “compromise” on Rule 15, oppose the changes to Rule 12, and support the full Minority Reports on the Rules.
You WON, four more years of Obama.
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
Rules Committee delegates above.
The link above supplies email addresses. Get off your butts and at least email your guys/gals. NOW!
"The only hope of defeating this is for the delegates to refuse to vote unless the proposed rules are dropped and struck. A general strike for freedom would be a damn site better than the totalitarian rule of the progressive Romney wing of the party. If these rules pass there will be no place for conservatives in the Republican party and the only choice will have to be a viable third party."
UPDATE: Delegations we should be focusing on include the following states: North Carolina, Oregon, Indiana, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Title>> Tampa RNC rules change - NO, NO, and NO The California Delegation needs to STFU when Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich delegates are speaking. And vote NO on rules changes, you disgusting neocon bushbot MitTard liberals! A California registered Republican voter, xxxxxxxx x. xxxxxxxx Alright, I did it, now quit yer nagging. ;)
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
That will get their attention.
I'm going to regret it, when they start spamming my email with MitTard propaganda!
Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
Update 2:50pm Eastern…The Rules Committee just voted 78-14 to accept the Romney-approved deal on Rules 15(16) and 12. There is now an effort to gather enough signatures to force a floor vote on the minority report. 25 percent of committee members are needed. Apparently, the Virginia delegation was stuck on a bus and didn’t make it in time for the vote.
No vote on the minority report. FW’s Dean Clancy observes: “If @SpeakerBoehner had been wielding the Speaker’s gavel instead of the GOP convention gavel, he wouldn’t have gotten away with that trick.” And the show went on…GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn just declared that “this has been a great exercise in grass-roots” and that GOP stands for “Great Opportunity Party.” Rob Port: Watch until about 2:39:00 when Speaker of the House John Boehner takes the podium and asks for a voice vote on the rules. The “nays” from the floor were at least as loud as the “yeas,” but Boehner approved the rules “without objection.” What a joke. Meanwhile, a North Dakota delegate texted me from the floor of the convention saying that they were instructed to chant “USA” (you can hear it during the video) to drown out the dissenters. Well that's it for me. I will not be voting for Romney. The GOP just kissed my vote good bye. To HELL WITH THEM!!!!
The Virginia delegation bus was in and then out of the security perimeter three times, and ended up missing the whole thing. They were hijacked. The Maine delegation walked out. The Nevada delegation nearly got into a fistfight. "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." http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/28/rules-fight-sparks-drama-at-rnc/ Obama's watch stopped on 24 May 2008, but he's been too busy smoking crack to notice.
Grassroots conservatives point to both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum as reasons to stop this rule
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#2. To: hondo68 (#1)
#3. To: SJN (#0)
#4. To: hondo68 (#1)
#5. To: hondo68 (#1)
#6. To: All (#4)
michellemalkin.com/
#7. To: All (#0)
Update: And the latest from Freedomworks….
#8. To: calcon, *Yukon neo-Progressive Vermin* (#5)
You LOST
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#9. To: All (#7)
www.eagleforum.org/alert/...ofBusinessContactInfo.pdf
#10. To: All (#9)
#11. To: All (#10)
#12. To: All (#11)
#13. To: SJN, *The Two Parties ARE the Same* (#10)
(Edited)
To: info@marybono.com
obrien.robert@arentfox.com
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#14. To: hondo68 (#13)
#15. To: SJN, *Ron Paul for President* (#14)
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
#16. To: All (#14)
#17. To: All (#16)
Update: 4:34pm Eastern Well, that was…something else. First, Maine delegates were replaced with Romney people. Then, rules chairman John Sununu and GOP Speaker of the House John Boehner stood on stage at the RNC to rule on the compromise rules report. No minority report was mentioned. When asked for yeas and nays on the report, the room seemed equally divided. Boehner forged ahead and approved the report over loud boos and calls of “point of order” from activists on the floor.
#18. To: SJN, *Yukon neo-Progressive Vermin* (#16)
(Edited)
Apparently, the Virginia delegation was stuck on a bus and didn’t make it in time for the vote.
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 Maine delegation ended up walking out.
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul
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