Originally Posted By TomSawyer <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/169618/his-supporters-treated-atrociously-ron-paul-refuses-back-romney" target="_blank">http://www.thenation.com/blog/...k-romney</a> The GOP changed the rules on entering nominations in order to prevent Ron Paul supporters from putting his name into the running for the nomination. There were delegates from 5 states that were putting Paul's name into nomination which is what the rules said was needed, but at the last minute GOP leadership changed the rules to require 8 states. Many Paul supporters left the convention in disgust and at least some are either going to sit the election out or vote for Romney's opponents. Ron Paul himself has refused to endorse Romney. One of the Paul supporters that the media interviewed said that the convention was actually a coronation. I wonder why the party leadership did this, why they would run the risk of losing Paul supporters in an election where every vote is going to matter? Were they worried that Romney might actually lose the delegate vote if it came down to it? Worried about protecting their image that the GOP is fully behind Romney when they actually aren't? Ron Paul is the most popular GOP candidate among voters under 30, and the party just threw them under the bus. The GOP is trying to change the rules so minorities can't vote, and they just changed the rules of their own convention so the delegates don't have a choice of who to vote for.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Dumb move. They wanted the look of a unified convention, but only cable (maybe only C-span at that!) shows the whole ritual - which I used to love as a kid - of the state by state roll call where the states divvy up their delegates. The Romney folks wanted to look completely unified, with no other candidate getting any of those delegates (and Paul, though getting more than you might think, didn't have near enough to win). So they threw Paul and his supporters under the bus, probably conceded even the libertarian-leaning youth vote to Obama, and ticked off the Paul-lovers royally... all to maintain appearances for a ritual no one watches any more.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I'm not so sure that the Democrats would have done it any differently: the one thing that seems to scare the two main parties much more than their opponents winning is anything that disrupts the two-party system in the US.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer The Democratic convention in 2008 was exciting because of the roll call vote, and then the moment of Hillary Clinton passing her delegates on to Obama and making him the first non-white presidential candidate in US history. It was a great moment. And this convention could have had Ron Paul making the same gesture, handing over his official approval to Romney. But, instead, the GOP just pissed off the voters that they would otherwise be counting on to be their next generation.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>And this convention could have had Ron Paul making the same gesture, handing over his official approval to Romney. But, instead, the GOP just pissed off the voters that they would otherwise be counting on to be their next generation.<< Not to mention alienating voters who might have held their noses while casting their vote for Romney, and who will now probably vote 3rd party.
