It looks like Mitt Romney wins elections the old fashioned way... he steals them. Here in brief is the story on the Mass delegation. Ron Paul supporters read the rule book (something Romney's people apparently didn't bother with) and made sure they had enough people elected to the state convention to take it over. Once in control of the state convention (legally) they packed the state delegation to the national convention in Tampa with Ron Paul supporters.
Not surprisingly Romney's people cried foul. They pointed out, fairly enough, that he won the popular vote in the Bay State's primary. But what they failed to grasp is that state conventions are often the last word in party rules and the assigning of delegates. Embarrassed to have lost his home state to a cleverly organized coup de main he promptly set about figuring out how to retake the state delegation. Except that he couldn't, at least not legally.
So Romney being Romney, he simply ordered it to be done and so it has been. A Republican committee assigned to oversee things like delegate selection disqualified 17 Ron Paul delegates from the Bay State. Their rational; the delegates had failed to deliver in a timely manner a sworn affidavit, signed under penalty of perjury, promising to vote for Romney. The only problem being that nowhere is there any rule requiring such an affidavit. Nor has such an affidavit ever been required in the past.
The GOP chair would not explain why affidavits were required this year. He also declined attempts by the Boston Globe to interview him. But according to the Globe the chairman sent out an email saying that Governor Romney had the right to reject delegates for "just cause."
Oh really? Where is that right found in the GOP's bylaws and rules?
Giving credit where it is due, Romney has reversed Ron Paul's brilliant (and legal) take over of a large part of the Massachusetts delegation. My only quibble is that he did it using the playbook straight from Tammany Hall.
"It doesn't matter how many votes you win. What matters is who counts the votes."
-Joseph Stalin
Imitating Christ: Being a Stranger and Sojourner
12 hours ago
2 comments:
Funny. I was thinking of The Big Mustache as I read the article.
Not surprisingly Romney's people cried foul. They pointed out, fairly enough, that he won the popular vote in the Bay State's primary. But what they failed to grasp is that state conventions are often the last word in party rules and the assigning of delegates.
Isn't there a widespread expectation nowadays that the assigning of delegates is a democratic process, even if, technically, it isn't? If I cared, I would be disgusted with both Paul's and Romney's actions here.
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