(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)
The little voices will not be silenced! From TPM2012‘s Benjy Sarlin, Monday at 6am:
As Chaos Mounts, Ron Paul’s Convention Plans Remain Mysterious
Mainstream Republicans afraid Ron Paul’s steady accumulation of delegates will cause chaos at their national convention in Tampa just received a terrifying preview of what a worst-case scenario might look like.In Oklahoma on Saturday, Paul supporters and Romney supporters reportedly came to blows as the Paul side fell short of electing their slate of delegates amid cries of foul play, including the use of a voice vote instead of a more painstaking roll call to decide the outcome. Speaking at the event, Romney surrogates Tim Pawlenty and the state’s own governor, Mary Fallin, drew jeers.
At the state convention in Arizona, also this weekend, the presumptive nominee’s son, Josh Romney, was booed off the stage by Paul supporters, some of whom derided his father as “the white Obama.”
At this point it’s way too late to keep Paul from having a sizable presence at the Republican National Convention, and likely control of enough state delegations to put his name up for a floor vote against Romney. But it’s still an open question just what these delegates and other Paul activists planning events for the national convention will do when they actually get there….
Benjy Sarlin, timestamp Monday 2:35pm:
The Revolution Retreats: Ron Paul Partially Suspends Campaign
Ron Paul is shutting down all operations in upcoming primary states, dramatically scaling back his campaign due to a lack of resources.“We will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted,” Paul wrote in an e-mail to supporters Monday. “Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have. I encourage all supporters of Liberty to make sure you get to the polls and make your voices heard, particularly in the local, state, and Congressional elections, where so many defenders of Freedom are fighting and need your support.”…
Paul has yet to make clear what he plans to do with his delegates at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, and activists planning on attending have expressed differing views and sometimes confusion as to what their goals will be heading into the event….
A political cynic might consider the narrative line between these two stories and ponder what kind of blistering RNC emails greeted the good Dr. Paul when he padded downstairs in his fluffy goldbug slippers this morning. Or what the RNC shills eventually offered him in return for dialing back the crazy from 11 to, say, 6.5. The RonPaulistas are not cynics of this stripe. The comments to Sarlin’s second article are a rich buffet of… let’s call it eleven-dimensional multifocal global strategerizing:
This is such garbage! He is not suspending anything. This is no different then when he ignored Florida and a couple other early states before their primaries. He is focusing his money on Tex and Cal., and he will continue to help out at the local level so that he can continue to rack up delegates in caucus states and primary states that hold separate conventions. Nothing has changed folks. But he is getting some free press. :) Surprise! He’s still here! :P
*This is the only way the press will cover him!!!! Let’s see what happens at Tampa……….Man, I guess this idiot reporter has a journalism degree and all Humm? NO CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN SUSPENDED STUPID, go back to school you need it, I hear Obama has students loans available. If you can’t report the truth without misleading headlines to maximize impact, you don’t have what it takes to be a journalist. LOL Moron! Ron Paul President 2012.
I didn’t see a “suspension” of a campaign in this article either. Not spending money unnecessarily – let’s not forget Dr. Paul is a freaking financial expert – is an intelligent move. Besides, WE are going to make sure people know who he is, REGARDLESS as to whether he has money in his coffers. And the media is covering him more than ever, even if it is all trying to make us look like bad little “citizens” for insisting on our right to participate in the way we are “governed”.
It just tells me, he’s going to bid his time and save some money. Then he’s going to march into the convention like Palin and demand some respect…or else the armed mob outside will start making some noise.
*He’s going to march into the convention, release his delegates to Mittens and then Rand Paul will be selected as VP. Watch.
*That fails on the fact that a Paul supporter will never vote for Romney.. released or not. And haven’t you heard… all delegates are unbound anyway. And official RNC lawyer has stated so.MSM lied about Ron Paul dropping out since they know Paul is leading in the majority of unbound delegates, so Obama has more popularity when it’s Paul vs Obama.
I’m not sure I completely follow the logic on that last one, but then, I am neither a ‘freaking financial expert’ or an accomplished RISK role-player. (Incidentally, would you believe that this blog does not have a category for ‘nutpicking’? Guess it’s a little late to start one now.)
Murphy the Trickster God does not love me enough to give the RonPaulistas an on-camera role at the Tampa convention, but I will cheer every monkeywrench they throw into the Romneybot’s coronational machinery along the way — and every dollar wasted by the Permanent Republican Party on quelling the Paulista peasants that would otherwise be used against Obama.
TheMightyTrowel
I vote new category. Stat. What’s the worst that could happen?
Spaghetti Lee
the presumptive nominee’s son, Josh Romney, was booed off the stage by Paul supporters, some of whom derided his father as “the white Obama.”
But libertarians are color-blind! They don’t even see race! I know this because they told me so.
One of my favorite Ron Paul statistics is that, in the 111th Congress, he voted with the GOP 80% of the time. That’s like the equivalent of a bunch of Democrats saying they’re rebels and renegades by supporting Dan Boren or Mike Ross for president. There’s also the little fact that Mr. Small Government has been drawing a government paycheck, off and on, since 1976.
I just don’t get it. If you want a genuine libertarian kook for president, there’s plenty of them across the IT Departments and homeless shelters of America. Why settle for such an inferior model?
The prophet Nostradumbass
For all the talk about Romney belonging to a cult, take a look at the Ronulans. Those guys are practially Moonie-level nuts.
Citizen_X
PAULTARDS ATTACK!
Bwah ha haha hah! That’s beautiful.
I don’t think you can “nutpick” that which is already pretty nutty. HE IS NOT SUSPENDING HIS CAMPAIGN. He’s just shutting it down nationwide, lol moron!
RadioOne
The Ron Paul campaign for President is the absolute weirdest American Presidential campaign. I’m not a neoconservative hawk who favors war with Iran, but the idea that the Constitution prohibits us from being incapable of our nation influencing the rest of the world is fucking ridiculous. Watch this CGI video from 2008 and add in the fact that in life nobody “minds their own business” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEov7B5ewdk
srv
Greece bails next month. Der Austarians panic with Spain and firebomb the EU. Libertechnarians uncover the rest of Romney’s skeletons in time for the convention. Wall St plunges, Obamanomics blamed. St. Paul, Warrior for Freedom, becomes our Savior.
Remember, cults always end with massacres.
James E Powell
If there is no Paul insurrection and no Palin-like VP spectacle, what will the Republicans do for a convention? Three days of nothing but Romney will kill his campaign.
TheMightyTrowel
@James E Powell: IF memory serves, the convention is being held in Rick Scott’s Florida and dude’s already said that he’s not rescinding laws
permittingencouragingmandating concealed guns. I think they’ll have plenty toshootdo at the convention.Anne Laurie
@James E Powell:
According to Politico, Tampa’s the Lap Dance Capital of America. Maybe the question should be “If the delegates are all off making their own fun, what will the television media do for a convention?
Steve in DC
@James E Powell
I’m guessing what they want is three days to talk about defending capitalism and the American way against socialist Democrats. Toss in a good bit of “Obama is attacking business” for good measure there. Trot out several retired military people to talk about Iran, Israel, and America losing our power. Grab some of those retired Navy SEALs that blame Obama for bragging about them and getting their SEAL brothers killed and screwing them over. Trot out a few business leaders to talk about the evils of regulation and the need for more oil. Finish it off with a social conservative to talk about attacks on religion and the church.
Blend it all together to unite the party and set their message for the general election.
The problem is that Paul might extract some speaking time, that’s when shit goes nuts. Paul goes up there and rails against the fed, wars, and drug use and blamo, the entire thing goes to shit. The message is thrown off and now you have an internal party fight. Or they don’t let him speak and you have all the Paulites boo’ing and yelling and causing a mess.
It’s hilarious because they created this situation. They’d love to have this nomination be a coronation and to just trot out attacks on Obama and blame everything on him. But the Paulites, Tea Party, and evangelicals all want their pound of flesh to play nice. They can either let them speak and risk the entire thing turning into a circus, or shut them up and face rebellion.
It’s going to be hilarious.
gex
There’s nothing like watching the business-fiscal conservative folks go nuts supporting a man who endorses the gold standard. “We love the global economy! Now let’s collapse it by pretending it’s the 1800’s again!”
gex
@Anne Laurie: When St. Paul was selected as the host of the 2008 GOP Convention, I had to wonder…
I mean, when the GOP was in NYC, that city had to import prostitutes to satisfy the GOP conventioneers. There’s no way St. Paul had enough. I’m guessing Tampa would be needing to import hookers too.
piratedan
colorado has joined ranks as making civil unions illegal, guess this election will be about the culture wars after all… wars about how the rich have more rights than anybody else, pregnant women, minorities, people of differing sexual orientation… and then they’ll still sell the lie about how obamacare is gutting Medicare
freelancer
Ron Paul’s main appeal and talking point is LIBERTY!
He fund-raises from white supremacists.
He gives speeches about Federalism in front of Confederate Flags.
He named his son after his Objectivist idol Ayn Rand out of his impression of her political ideology.
He an OB medical doctor that is stringently anti-choice, has yet to be heard on gay equality and just as recently as last week, his son and Paultard heir to the libertarian/theocratic throne Rand said: “Obama’s view on marriage couldn’t get any gayer!”
Fuck Ron Paul. Fuck Rand Paul. And especially FUCK THE PAULTARDS who think that the libertarian movement under their umbrella will mean that these two parochial fucktards in charge of the GOP will result in anything close to a “Road to Damascus” moment for the Republican Party. It’s all a smoke-screen, shit’s gonna change, I promise! revolution until you see that only the neo-Confederates were with them all along and even racists and homophobes and the other white forms of bigotry were smart enough to see that bankrupting the nation fighting drugs and the Middle East was money and resources down the toilet.
That’s how backwards the GOP is. They can’t even co-opt the fucking retarded Symbionese Liberation Army-esque fringe equivalent of their own wing’s practical suggestions and acknowledge them as anything other than an anathema. They want some of the right things for the wrong reasons. The GOP can’t stomach that unless they want the wrong thing for the wingnut reasons.
Fuck them all. Wingnuts and Paulites stand arm in arm until I hear Ron or Rand tell them to fuck off.
HobbesAI
“I’m not sure I completely follow the logic on that last one…”
It’s supposed to read:
…so Obama has more popularity when it’s NOT Paul vs Obama.
HobbesAI
Unless the commenter meant that Paul will emerge from the convention as the republican party candidate, and that saying that Paul suspended his campaign will make Obama more popular in an Obama vs Paul election.
Both seem far-fetched to me, but I guess someone could believe it.
Calouste
@James E Powell:
Rick Santorum will give a speech, and people will say that it sounded better in the original Latin. And then some Arizonan will advocate for a 50 foot high wall from the Pacific to what is now still known as the Gulf of Mexico, and for a policy to shoot on sight everyone with a hue darker than toothpaste within 10 miles of the border.
Citizen_X
How many divisions does The Paul have? I guess we’ll find out.
Ecks
@Calouste: stop the thread, the internet is won already at 17.
karen marie
This one is my favorite.
I can see it now — Ron Paul marching into the convention with his retarded son on his hip.
Danack
q: what can the RNC actually do if a ‘bound’ delegate refuses to vote for the nominee that they’re bound to?
a: Probably bugger all.
karen marie
@Steve in DC: It really should be fun, as long as you’re out of shooting range. I may have to in fact buy some popcorn. Something I never do. But I think the GOP convention will definitely be popcorn party time.
Jax6655
@piratedan:
Well, they won’t be able to blame this one on “the blacks”
Danack
Does anyone have anything remotely approaching the number of delegates that are Ron Paul supporters that have been selected – including those that have been selected that should actually be voting for Romney at the convention?
It looks like he needs the majority of delegates from 5 states to have him nominated and so be able to make a speech, but the majority from 6 states to alter the rules of the convention which is where the real shit-stirring can occur:
”
RULE NO. 32
Suspension of Rules
A motion to suspend the rules shall always be
in order, but only when made by authority of a majority
of the delegates from any state and seconded by a
majority of the delegates from each of five (5) or more
other states severally.
Rule 39
Each candidate for nomination for
President of the United States and Vice President of the
United States shall demonstrate the support of a
plurality of the delegates from each of five (5) or more
states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of
that candidate for nomination.”
MikeJ
@piratedan:
Not really. They didn’t make them illegal, like NC recently did, they defeated the bill that would have made them legal. Which is bad, don’t get me wrong, but failure to do the right thing isn’t quite as horrible as actively doing the wrong thing.
Also too, the gov forced the Republicans to actually vote on it after they tried to skip town without acting on the bill. The very fact that CO republicans didn’t want to go on the record with their bigotry, and then were forced to, is a slight ray of sunshine. No, it doesn’t help people who are being discriminated against right now, but it does indicate that this is an argument the Republicans don’t want because they know they’re going to lose.
Patricia Kayden
I guess I’ll read about the Repub Convention via leftwing blogs. Cannot stomach so much bile and lies.
NotMax
Since Ron Paul announced last summer that he will not seek re-election to the House, he can spend the next few years fluffing his son to run yet another losing national campaign.
Ash Can
@TheMightyTrowel:
The worst that could happen is that Cole flips his shit. So, yes! Do it!
Jay C
@Steve in DC:
I’m sure your first-paragraph scenario is pretty much how the GOP PTB (the national Party honchos and the Romney campaign) want – and are planning for – the Convention to turn out: a placid coronation padded with Republican boilerplate. What’s not clear, though, is whether they will be able to manipulate circumstances to get there:
1) Since pure hate (focused on Obama/Democrats/liberal/modernity in general) is pretty much the main driver of republican politics, they will have a hard time keeping the tone decorous enough to avoid media scrutiny.
2) Inside the hall, they will have to find a way to deal with disaffected factions (the Paultards and hardcore teabaggers) without seeming to cave too much to their nuttery.
3) Outside the hall, they will have a raft of potential embarrassments to taint the “brand” – what’s the over/under on an actual cross-burning going down in Tampa this August?
I look at the parallels, and it reminds me of nothing so much as Chicago in 1968: a national Party set to nominate a “safe” – if uninspiring – Establishment candidate: but faced with a significant – if politically weak – extremist faction willing to make noise and cause trouble to get their message out: and utterly uncaring of its perception by the general voting public.
Let’s just hope the parallels of violence and rioting don’t crop up as well…
Omnes Omnibus
@Citizen_X: “I just think that the.. uh.. their appeal is becoming more selective.”
Ian Faith, Spinal Tap manager.
elm
When did that happen?
Last week a Paultard told me that he’s a Constitutional Scholar because he thinks the Interstate Commerce Clause prevents states from outlawing birth control (less scholarly folks, like myself, think it’s Griswold v. Connecticut instead).
This must be how the cult of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il began.
JPL
Where’s Doug or Tom? David Brooks has written a column today that can’t be ignored. It appears that the reason the President is even close in the polls is because of single woman and the unchurched. He didn’t say whether or not they were one and the same.
danielx
He’s not suspending his campaign…he’s just keeping his supporters in suspense. It’s good for them, keeps their adrenaline levels up.
Since when did logic have anything to do with the wingnut thought process? If they were logical, they would have figured out a long time ago that the Marquis was/is the anointed candidate. The teabaggers mistook their role…which is to end up supporting whoever the money ends up supporting. That wasn’t going to be Santorum, or Gingrich, and it sure wasn’t going to be Ron Paul. When in doubt, follow the money.
amk
Well, FL is a stand your ground fucked up drainhole. The teahadists & paultards should bring their multiple guns to the convention and shoot the fuck out of mittbots and rove, if they try to evict them.
kay
I don’t understand why libertarians are unhappy. They’ve gotten 90% of their economic agenda enacted or promoted within the GOP.
Privatize everything, no public investment, no taxes, destroy organized labor, gut environmental regs, free trade, lower wages for working people, limit capacity to enforce civil rights and voting rights and allow unlimited campaign cash. How does any of this differ than the platform of the GOP?
They haven’t gotten anything on foreign policy or civil liberties, of course, but on economic policy they’re 90% there. It’s not a mystery why the Koch brothers call themselves libertarians. They are.
kay
@Steve in DC:
The Seals for Truth marketing doesn’t seem to be holding up
There’s a poll you won’t see on Politico.
Tony J
OT – But speaking of horrible people who may or may not come through for even worse people depending on what they’re offered in exchange for silence.
I give you, one unhappy woman.
lacp
The campaign is only suspended, not ended. It awaits the appropriate ritual of reanimation at the convention.
“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming…”
Shalimar
@freelancer:
Ron named his son Randall, a mainstream Texan name having nothing to do with objectivism. The son named himself after Ayn. Though admittedly, if Ron had named his son Joe Bob Paul there would be no room for confusion.
Barry
@Steve in DC: “It’s hilarious because they created this situation. They’d love to have this nomination be a coronation and to just trot out attacks on Obama and blame everything on him. But the Paulites, Tea Party, and evangelicals all want their pound of flesh to play nice. They can either let them speak and risk the entire thing turning into a circus, or shut them up and face rebellion.”
I don’t think that anything Paul says will be noticed. Most of it will be standard right-wing whackaloon garbage, which will fit in with the howling Id show of the other speakers. The parts which don’t fit the narrative (non-interventionism) can be ignored.
Heck, we’ve just seen Romney speak at two major right-wing fundamentalist colleges, even though they wouldn’t admit him or his sons due to their religion.
Barry
@Danack: “q: what can the RNC actually do if a ‘bound’ delegate refuses to vote for the nominee that they’re bound to?”
OTOH, the GOP has a long history of voter disenfranchisement.
keestadoll
@Calouste: “Rick Santorum will give a speech, and people will say that it sounded better in the original Latin”
ROFLMAO
Barry
@Jay C: “I look at the parallels, and it reminds me of nothing so much as Chicago in 1968: a national Party set to nominate a “safe” – if uninspiring – Establishment candidate: but faced with a significant – if politically weak – extremist faction willing to make noise and cause trouble to get their message out: and utterly uncaring of its perception by the general voting public.
Let’s just hope the parallels of violence and rioting don’t crop up as well…”
Except that by now, the standards for brutality might be back down to Chicago in ’68. I have a feeling that the GOP leadership is figuring out how and when they would drop the physical hammer on Paulists.
Hal
And here I thought that was the reason so many conservatives liked Romney. He’s the white version of what they wish they had, minus any progressive policies and with far more hatred of the pink menace of course.
Cacti
I think Papa doc’s strategy is to get Baby doc the VP nom.
Grandpa goldbug has been very careful not to be critical of Willard throughout the primary. Now, why would he do that unless he was looking to demand something from him in the end?
Egg Berry
@Calouste:
Fixed.
NCSteve
Democrats had LaRouche and LaRouchites. They pointed and laughed and treated them like the cultist fringe nuts they were and eventually, the tax evasion chickens came home to roost and mostly put them out of our misery.
Republicans have Paul and Paultards. They don’t care at all for the way they fail to fall into lockstep and follow orders the way good Republicans have always done, but they’ve been more willing to import their crackpot crank theories into the heart of Republican dogma.
Mr Stagger Lee
@Barry: Has he ever spoke at Bob Jones University?
S Clayton U
You said it, they stink on ice.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
Keep your eye on the Paulites.
When the GOP’s inevitable collapse does finally come, the Paulites will be first in line to replace them.
Barry
@Mr Stagger Lee:
“@Barry: Has he ever spoke at Bob Jones University?”
IIRC, ~two weeks ago.
gbear
LIMITED CORPORATE CASH!
VICTORY!!
Ken
@Cacti:
Naw, that would mean Ron cared more about another human being than himself, which is antithetical to libertarian principles. If the ticket’s Romney/Paul, it’ll be Papa. Not that I think it’ll be any Paul, because of the announced Romney strategy of going with a safe boring VP choice.
S. cerevisiae
@lacp: Paging Dr. West, Dr. Herbert West…
Morbo
A political cynic might posit that Paul was only ever in it for the money all along and that is the reason that his campaign isn’t spending its contributions. But I’m told he’s the last honest man in Washington, so that can’t possibly be the case.
Jay C
@Barry:
Naahh, I don’t think so – one thing that hasn’t changed in 44 years is that national political conventions are heavily covered by the national media – and said coverage has only gotten more widespread and intense since 1968 – and that the PTB that run these things are as adverse to negative publicity stemming from violent rioting at conventions as they’ve ever been. So as cheery a prospect as Paultard head-bashing might be, I have a feeling said “leadership” is going to work for peace (heh!)….
Jay in Oregon
@Barry:
Plus, the GOP is not above changing or outright ignoring inconvenient rules when it comes to pushing the predetermined outcome.
They will develop a collective amnesia about the ruling the RNC’s legal team issued in 2008 that the YouTube clip referred to (which says that the RNC considers delegates to be free agents able to vote their conscience) and tell Paul’s delegates they have to vote according to the outcome of the primary/caucus. What are they going to do, revolt? (Oh, wait…)
Another Halocene Human
So this happened:
A libertarian organization that paid for plane tickets and other expenses for Rep. Ron Paul says after an audit that the Texas Republican defrauded the group for about $20,000.
The Liberty Committee, a nonprofit headed by former Paul aide David James, said in an April 16 letter that about two-thirds of the 63 airline tickets the group reimbursed Paul for were also paid for by taxpayers.
AxelFoley
Is it me, or does that cartoon of Paul look like Gollum?
Jebediah
@Danack:
I see Rule 32 and Rule 39… does the RNC have a Rule 34?
Yutsano
@Jebediah: I hear it involves two wetsuits and a dildo.
Patricia Kayden
Still trying to figure out how Romneybot is the “White Obama”. Romneybot is going to be happy to hear that.
burnspbesq
The Paulistas have always been revolting. The news is that they are rebelling.
Precision in the use of language is a feature, not a bug.
El Cid
@burnspbesq: I think it’s the History of the World Part 1 double-entendre joke:
So, when used in such a manner, this language is especially precise, given the cultural specificity of humor.
dsale
@Jay C:
You have a noble heart. I, on the other hand, am positively salivating at the prospect of watching live on CNN as these loons find out what can and does happen to political protesters on the other side of the spectrum…
Anne Laurie
@El Cid: That is indeed the joke. Although it was old even when Mel Brooks used it — I first ran across it in a Wizard of Id cartoon strip back in the 1960s, when I was a child & Jonny Hart was still funny.
Mike S.
Do the bloggers at Balloon-Juice believe the current President to have ‘common sense’?
The absolute refusal by DoJ to hold the banks accountable for egregious criminal fraud? (Remember the US AG serves at the pleasure of POTUS, as does the head of the SEC who was formerly general counsel of Deutsche Bank…)
The Heritage Foundation’s health care bill?
Indefinite detention?
Execution of citizens w/o trial?
(Does ‘Magna Carta’ mean nothing around here?)
Rep Paul might be a racist gold-bug, but let’s not pretend that Obama has a shred of ‘common sense’ or ‘common decency’.