Former CO GOP Chair: Message We're Sending Is "Your Vote Doesn't Matter And Your Voice Doesn't Count"

Source: Real Clear Politics
Published: Apr 11, 2016
Author: Ian Swartz
Post Date: 2016-04-11 17:47:41 by Orthodoxa
Views: 2227

Former Colorado state Republican party chairman Ryan Call talked to Laura Ingraham today to explain the delegation-selection process works and how it "cuts out any semblance of democracy or the popular will." Call said the statewide convention that chooses the delegates reinforces all the worst stereotypes of the party.

"The very time we should be opening up our doors and being more open and transparent, and welcoming people into our Party, we’ve essentially made the decision to close it off and make it more cumbersome and more difficult. And, to prevent the ability of people to have their voice heard in this process. You’re reinforcing all of the very worst stereotypes about the Party and I, frankly, am very concerned about the way voters are going to feel," Call told Ingraham.

Transcript, via Laura Ingraham Show:

Ingraham: The August 25th announcement that they would no longer do the presidential preference poll at their caucus, my spidey-senses went up when that happened. Was I correct to, at the time, note that this was a sign that they were not going to be bound by the people of Colorado selecting Trump. If that was a risk, they wanted to cut that off at the pass in August. Am I correct in stating that?

Call: That’s exactly right. While the caucus votes we’ve held in previous elections in 2008 and 2012 were always straw polls, they didn’t bind or allocate the delegations. They at least were a snapshot into where voter sentiment is in the state of Colorado, and the decision by the state Republican Party to cancel that vote taken in connection with the caucus really did cut out any semblance of democracy or the popular will in connection with the delegate election event. It became an entire party insiders game with getting delegates to go to county assemblies in the state convention. While Colorado has over a million registered Republican voters, the only votes that really counted were that of the 3,900 delegates that gathered down in Colorado Springs.

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Poster Comment:

More of the interview transcript is at the link. This open and in-your-face corruption is sickening.

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#1: Vicomte13    To: Orthodoxa (#0)

This open and in-your-face corruption is sickening.

It won't win in the end.

One of two things will happen: the disgust will mobilize people for Trump now, and get him over the hump to 1237, OR the manipulators will succeed in stopping the Republican Party, resulting in Democrat rule.

Vicomte13 posted on 2016-04-11 17:53:26   Reply   Private Reply


#2: misterwhite    To: Orthodoxa (#0)

The GOP tells us Trump hurts the "image" of the party, then they go and pull this crap.

misterwhite posted on 2016-04-11 18:21:18   Reply   Private Reply


#3: Stoner    To: Orthodoxa (#0)

" This open and in-your-face corruption is sickening. "

It is dangerous !

Stoner posted on 2016-04-11 18:26:44   Reply   Private Reply


#4: Tooconservative    To: Orthodoxa (#0)

Former Colorado state Republican party chairman Ryan Call...

...will shortly be removed as a delegate to the Republican national convention in Cleveland for badmouthing the state party on national media.

These state parties are very tight little clubs.

Call: That’s exactly right. While the caucus votes we’ve held in previous elections in 2008 and 2012 were always straw polls, they didn’t bind or allocate the delegations. They at least were a snapshot into where voter sentiment is in the state of Colorado, and the decision by the state Republican Party to cancel that vote taken in connection with the caucus really did cut out any semblance of democracy or the popular will in connection with the delegate election event. It became an entire party insiders game with getting delegates to go to county assemblies in the state convention. While Colorado has over a million registered Republican voters, the only votes that really counted were that of the 3,900 delegates that gathered down in Colorado Springs.

But the old system which he recalls so fondly was just as undemocratic fundamentally. If they didn't bind the delegates, then they were meaningless and no better than Colorado's current system.

If they want bound delegates running for delegate slots for particular candidates, then they can do that. Other states do.

I think the CO GOP is still struggling to recover from the Tancredo disaster. They did lose major party status under Colorado law for an entire election cycle. I would guess that has a lot to do with them making Colorado's delegate selection the way it is.

And Colorado is not alone in this. At least 3 island territories and Wyoming and North Dakota hold no popular vote at all to bind delegates to particular candidates. And other states have some bound delegates (usually by congressional district) and some who are at-large and unbound. In New York as an example, only a dozen or so get assigned at-large and the rest are 3-delegates-per-CD, at least in my understanding.

And I think that all the states and territories have 3 unbound delegates: the state chairman, the national committeeman and the national committeewoman. Which amounts to 168 delegates.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-11 18:31:51   Reply   Private Reply


#5: misterwhite    To: TooConservative (#4)

"But the old system which he recalls so fondly was just as undemocratic fundamentally."

It was Democratic in that the people voted.

Sure, if the people voted 80% for Trump, all the delegates could vote for Cruz. But I think the party would then have some explaining to do.

misterwhite posted on 2016-04-11 18:52:23   Reply   Private Reply


#6: Orthodoxa    To: misterwhite, TooConservative (#5)

It was Democratic in that the people voted.

Sure, if the people voted 80% for Trump, all the delegates could vote for Cruz. But I think the party would then have some explaining to do.

Exactly!

The Ruling Class prefers this new system where the peasants never have a chance to even register their opinion, and that way they can pretend that their insider choices are the ones that the people would have voted for anyway.

This is getting to the level of Soviet-style politics, where the nominees are literally just chosen by the Party bosses with no voter input whatsoever.

Orthodoxa posted on 2016-04-11 19:03:46   Reply   Private Reply


#7: A K A Stone    To: Orthodoxa (#6)

The Ruling Class prefers this new system where the peasants never have a chance to even register their opinion,

Just like establishment cock sucker tooconservative.

A K A Stone posted on 2016-04-11 19:07:30   Reply   Private Reply


#8: Tooconservative    To: misterwhite (#5)

Sure, if the people voted 80% for Trump, all the delegates could vote for Cruz. But I think the party would then have some explaining to do.

It was a ridiculous straw poll.

This talk is just a bunch of sore-loser Trump people trying to attack any state that doesn't vote for him, attack any candidate who is beating him. And Trump and his fanbois do this every time he loses.

Every. Time.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-11 19:19:38   Reply   Private Reply


#9: Orthodoxa    To: TooConservative (#8)

I'm sure that you will be posting much of the same if Cruz gets into the White House and starts implementing his wife's North American Union plan without having any input from those pesky voters as well.

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Orthodoxa posted on 2016-04-11 19:30:29   Reply   Private Reply


#10: Tooconservative    To: Orthodoxa (#6)

This is getting to the level of Soviet-style politics, where the nominees are literally just chosen by the Party bosses with no voter input whatsoever.

GOP voters in CO are just as free as anyone else to participate in the state GOP at the district/county/CD/state conventions.

And what of Trump himself? He has not set foot in Colorado. He has not set foot in Wyoming. He has not set foot in North Dakota.

Ted Cruz went to all those places and built up party contacts and machinery.

As a result, Ted Cruz won all those delegates.

Didn't Woody Allen once say, "90% of life is just showing up."?

Well, Ted showed up. Donald didn't. End of story other than Trump's inevitable claims that the whole process is corrupt.

What about those states where Trump won more delegates than he was entitled to by the vote share he received.

As Rush pointed out:

RUSH: Actually, you know, you may have a point in a related way. NBC News has a story. I know, I know, NBC News. But their headline is this: "Despite Complaints, Delegate System Has Given Trump a 22 Percent Bonus." And their point is that Trump leads with 756 delegates, or 45% of all delegates awarded, yet he's won 37% of all votes. Meaning Trump's delegate support is greater than his actual support from voters. As a matter of Republican Party math, Trump has been awarded a delegate bonus 22% above his raw support from voters.

But has Cruz played sore-loser and cried "corruption" because Trump scored more delegates than votes in those states? Did he make accusations that Trump "stole" those delegates? No. Because Cruz is not a whiny crybaby like Trump is. And he does play by the rules as they are written.

Trump is trying to delegitimize the entire GOP with his sore-loser antics, and over contests he refused to even show up at like WY/CO/ND. It may not end well for the GOP perhaps but they will never forgive Trump for this stuff. When Trump attacks the process and the state GOP parties, he is attacking all of the Republican party.

Trump has gone way way beyond anything Cruz ever did to piss off the GOP.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-11 19:38:58   Reply   Private Reply


#11: SOSO    To: Vicomte13, Orthodoxa, All (#1)

One of two things will happen: the disgust will mobilize people for Trump now, and get him over the hump to 1237, OR the manipulators will succeed in stopping the Republican Party, resulting in Democrat rule.

I live in CO and this action did not in any way drive me toward Trump. It only reinforced my decision to no longer register as Republican here.

The manipulators to which you refer is Trump and his backers, i.e. the Clintons and DRat Party.

SOSO posted on 2016-04-11 19:43:54   Reply   Private Reply


#12: SOSO    To: TooConservative (#10)

Didn't Woody Allen once say, "90% of life is just showing up."?

The PTB in the CO REP Party did not allow the voice of the people to show up. They specifically changed the rules this go around to make certain that they would not be bother by what We The People in CO wanted. F*ck them all.

SOSO posted on 2016-04-11 19:46:14   Reply   Private Reply


#13: GarySpFC    To: TooConservative (#10)

Because Cruz is not a whiny crybaby like Trump is. And he does play by the rules as they are written.

But Cruz does have a very long nose.

GarySpFC posted on 2016-04-11 19:47:28   Reply   Private Reply


#14: Tooconservative    To: GarySpFC (#13)

Maybe he's a witch.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-11 19:53:06   Reply   Private Reply


#15: GarySpFC    To: TooConservative (#14)

Maybe he's a witch.

I make allowance for non-Christians, but I expect more from who wear the label Christian.

GarySpFC posted on 2016-04-11 19:58:05   Reply   Private Reply


#16: Tooconservative    To: GarySpFC (#15)

So you're saying that you have high standards for Cruz but none at all for Trump.

Okay. I already pretty much had that figured out. It's not uncommon among religious people supporting Trump. Trump gets away with stuff that no GOP candidate in the last century or more would get away with as a result.

I'm sure it's all God's will.

Tooconservative posted on 2016-04-11 20:06:49   Reply   Private Reply


#17: rlk    To: Orthodoxa (#9)

I'm sure that you will be posting much of the same if Cruz gets into the White House and starts implementing his wife's North American Union plan without having any input from those pesky voters as well.

It's not just his wife's plan. It's also his. You marry someone who is philosophically compatable with you, not an antagonistic irritant. What they have is a unifying mission and vision between them. They are both entranced passengers on the same ship.

rlk posted on 2016-04-11 21:48:34   Reply   Private Reply


#18: Vicomte13    To: rlk (#17)

You marry someone who is philosophically compatable with you, not an antagonistic irritant.

You are obviously not French!

No, no. You marry the most beautiful woman you can get to marry you, and then you hold on for a wild and often times unpleasant ride.

Vicomte13 posted on 2016-04-11 23:56:43   Reply   Private Reply


#19: Roscoe    To: misterwhite (#5)

But I think the party would then have some explaining to do.

The explanation: But it's the flexible rules! Just like the USSC mandating pervert marriage.

Roscoe posted on 2016-04-11 23:56:49   Reply   Private Reply


#20: rlk    To: Vicomte13 (#18)

You are obviously not French!

You are right. I m not. I am not compatable with French women. I find them shallow.

rlk posted on 2016-04-12 01:34:49   Reply   Private Reply


#21: misterwhite    To: Orthodoxa (#9)

Trump's first move as President -- Send in the DEA and the National Guard and shut down every marijuana dispensary and store in Colorado as violating federal law. Then arrest every Colorado lawmaker who voted for this and charge them with sedition.

misterwhite posted on 2016-04-12 18:34:56   Reply   Private Reply