The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Matt Kibbe Of FreedomWorks Sounds Dismayed With The RNC

Posted on | August 28, 2012 | 21 Comments

by Smitty

I believe that the Republican party has made a huge mistake by effectively disenfranchising grassroots activists who want to be a part of the party process. If the party sincerely wants the support of citizens, shutting them out of the process is not the way to do it. Sooner rather than later the Republican establishment needs to come to terms with the decentralized nature of grassroots organization circa 2012. The terms of engagement can no longer be dictated from the top-down.

Oops.
Weigel says ‘No biggie‘:

You’ve been talking about aesthetics and how carefully Romney’s people shaped this thing. The Great Ron Paul Revolt may not affect any of that. Come Wednesday, the heavily reported stories of RNC rules 12 and 15 will be forgotten. Ryanmania will be our guide.

I don’t know, David. People are. . .noticing. This whole Internet memory thing is affecting politics in mysterious ways.
More detail:

At issue: two rules dubbed Rule 16 and Rule 12.

The first is a compromise of an earlier proposal, named Rule 15, that was vehemently opposed by many grassroots activists, including many Ron Paul supporters. It addresses delegate selection in future Republican presidential primaries – instituting stronger enforcement mechanisms to compel delegates to vote as they are bound by their states. In the original proposal, future presidential candidates would have had veto power over who could become a delegate.

The second rule concerns the RNC’s ability to change its rules in between its conventions.

Both rules were adopted on the convention floor by a voice vote. Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, chairman of the Rules Committee and a top surrogate for Romney, presented the rules. House Speaker John Boehner held the audible floor vote to adopt them.

Though the voices “for” and “against” sounded about the same, Boehner declared: “The ayes have it.”

That caused opponents on the floor to erupt in a chorus of boos.

Having looked at some of the local fracas, I can see where centralizing control is appealing. I can also tell you that feelings of betrayal will lead to unforseen consequences. I hope that Mitt has the acumen to look at all this and offer some reassurances.

Update: Bill Quick plays the realpolitik card straight up. His point is well taken. I suppose, perhaps from naivete, I’m willing to give Romney the benefit of the doubt. Mainly because, with the Internet, the amount of shenanigans anybody can pull will be somewhat diminished. Absent the Internet, I’d agree: we’re baked.

Category: Freedom Works

Comments

21 Responses to “Matt Kibbe Of FreedomWorks Sounds Dismayed With The RNC”

  1. Nick Robbins
    August 28th, 2012 @ 10:49 pm

    I think they say what happened at the last two Maine conventions, and other Paul-ite caucuses, and saw things that[rightly] scare them. For all the cries of being run roughshod over, the Paul-ians have done their own share of embarrassing the state parties by running roughshod convention takeovers. Maine’s delegation was almost denied entry to the RNC this week over it. They finally got thrown in the nosebleed section behind Guam, but they have not earned much right to complain about stuff like this.

  2. JeffS
    August 28th, 2012 @ 11:10 pm

    I’m not happy with Ron Paul and his supporters. But the RNC takes the approach of Big Government, and punishes everyone for the crimes of a few.

    Bad move, RNC. Bad, bad, bad BAD move.

  3. BLBeamer
    August 28th, 2012 @ 11:48 pm

    The only rule I care about is Rule 5. If Mitt touches Rule 5, he is dead to me.

  4. Bob Belvedere
    August 28th, 2012 @ 11:55 pm

    GOP Delenda Est!
    OPERATION: WHIG Commences 07 November…
    WOLVERINES!

  5. Adjoran
    August 28th, 2012 @ 11:59 pm

    Look, the Paulbots who are looking for a reason not to support the ticket would have found one if they hadn’t already. They outmaneuvered both Romney and Santorum for the delegates slots both had won in several states, putting their people in place. Very clever, and well organized.

    But as the saying goes, if you set out to kill the King, you better kill the King. They failed and should have expected that this method would be blocked somehow for the future.

    I’m not happy about Rule 12, but seriously, the convention delegates’ actual powers haven’t amounted to anything since McGovern stomped back Humphrey’s attempt to throw the convention open in 1972. For the Republicans, 1964 was the last year they had real power beyond the reach of the nominee.

    Anyone who uses either of these rules as an excuse not to support the ticket against Obama wasn’t very serious about it in the first place.

  6. JeffS
    August 29th, 2012 @ 12:21 am

    Then the RNC should pay heed to what Chris Christie pounded into the brains of the convention attendees, and tell the truth:

    Ron Paul and his followers know how to whip up a crowd, but they don’t know how to win an election, let alone run a country. And that their high school prom queen election tactics are turning our election process into a joke. So it’s time to say good night to the GOP high school prep squad.

    And not piss on other grass roots activists who don’t play the Ron Paul game. Who, by the way, is retiring this year.

    Until then, color me a great deal less than impressed.

  7. Wombat_socho
    August 29th, 2012 @ 12:30 am

    I don’t think there’s any question that the Paulbots outsmarted themselves in a number of states, but these rule changes – by the Establishment, for the Establishment – set a very bad precedent and move the GOP further away from its grassroots. There’s also no question that we need to kick Obama and Reid out of their jobs and work on reversing all the crap they’ve dealt these last three years.

  8. Orrin
    August 29th, 2012 @ 2:04 am

    Nevada has been one of the hardest hit by the Paulestinean guerrillas. Today they “voted” 17-5 for Paul, in spite of the fact that Paul came in third here and they were supposed to be proportionately bound (20-8 for Romney). If this is what it takes to make sure the will of the primary electorate is honored, I’m pretty OK with it. If grass roots groups want to have power and influence, put up a candidate who can win primary elections.

  9. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    August 29th, 2012 @ 4:27 am

    That is the third rail of the blogosphere.

  10. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    August 29th, 2012 @ 4:29 am

    Really dumb move by the RNC. So what if Ron Paul supporters go a bit nuts. It is not like the entire country has not seen that before. To be fair, Ron Paul supporters respect private property and tend to be well behaved. So lighten up.

  11. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    August 29th, 2012 @ 4:29 am

    Well said.

  12. Shawny Lee
    August 29th, 2012 @ 4:37 am

    Ron Paul should never have run as a Republican. Period. But since he did, his supporters should have been prepared for the fact that the RNC does not play nice or fair. It’s clear by all of the caucus fraud and hijinks that there was no way in hell the RNC would have allowed his nomination, nor the media. When you have Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart calling out the blatant bias of our own conservative mainstream and alternative media, you’ve got a damn problem skippy. Changing ANY of the rules at the last minute reflects very badly on the RNC and they should expect to lose support because of it.

  13. Shawny Lee
    August 29th, 2012 @ 4:51 am

    Our election process is a joke. Ask Hillary Clinton how we got Obama. The DNC primaries are just as bad. I’m guessing they always have been but now with the age of YouTube instant video reporting of the election fraud which takes place it’s documented and harder to hide. If we ever want good folks to run we should all be working toward killing this two party, establishment, monstrosity.

  14. elaine
    August 29th, 2012 @ 5:53 am

    The GOP establishment has distrusted the Tea Party ever since it formed. This rules change proves that will never stop. They’ll cynically use us and try to sweet talk us, but they’ll never HEED us.

    Time for us to show them who’s boss, and it won’t be by taking over their little party…

    Sure, we’ll vote out Barry and his Marxist pals, but then we need to go after the GOP.

    No quarter given.

  15. elaine
    August 29th, 2012 @ 6:21 am

    From Jennifer Rubin’s WaPo piece on 10 myths of conservatives:

    1. The GOP has been taken over by tea party. In 2012 the
    Republicans chose the least conservative candidate. If anything, the tea
    party has been absorbed into the GOP and accepted direction from party
    leaders.

    Could it possibly be that Republicans “chose” the least conservative candidate because of the way the Establishment has a chokehold on the primary process? Allow a bunch of unelectable conservatives to crowd the field, with one strong Establishment candidate running against the sorry lot. And viola! Instant winning RINO! And if a decent conservative or two manages to rise the top of the pack, a well-placed lie or two will end that, pronto.

    Don’t kid yourself, Ms. Rubin. Plenty of pundits on the left and the right have proclaimed the death of the Tea Party. You’ll soon learn just how wrong you’ve been. And you’ll WISH you still had us to kick around. Without us, your beloved GOP is nothing.

    No quarter given!

  16. Bob Belvedere
    August 29th, 2012 @ 8:44 am

    Well put Elaine and Wombat.

    As I Tweeted yesterday evening:

    Going forward:

    1) Get Romney & GOP Congress elected

    2) Take over local GOP orgs & form new party

  17. Meanwhile, Back In the Real World | Daily Pundit
    August 29th, 2012 @ 10:30 am

    […] Back In the Real World Posted on August 29, 2012 7:30 am by Bill Quick Matt Kibbe Of FreedomWorks Sounds Dismayed With The RNC : The Other McCain Having looked at some of the local fracas, I can see where centralizing control is appealing. I can […]

  18. JeffS
    August 29th, 2012 @ 11:01 am

    I know quite a few Ron Paul supporters who are quiet and polite about their beliefs, and respectful of others as well. These I get along with nicely, such as in the local Tea Party.

    But then there are the hardcore supporters who earn the title “Ronulans” for very good reasons. Up to and including being batshit crazy.

    Between them, their implicit support from the rest of the Paul crowd, and Ron Paul’s blatant crowd manipulation and gaming the electoral process, any disdain heaped upon the Ron Paul movement is well earned.

    This is not unlike conservatives who voted for Clinton or Obama. Work hard, and regain that self-respect.

  19. Wombat_socho
    August 29th, 2012 @ 5:18 pm

    And what good will that do if the RNC arbitrarily decides not to seat those delegates because the fix is in?

  20. Wombat_socho
    August 29th, 2012 @ 5:20 pm

    I part company with you only on 2b. We must take over the local orgs and BECOME the party, to paraphrase Ron Paul.

  21. Wombat_socho
    August 29th, 2012 @ 5:21 pm

    It’ll be a lot easier just to take over the GOP and purge the Establishment types. Ask the Libertarians how much luck they’ve had upsetting the two-party applecart. Or the Reform Party.