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As we see it right now presidential candidate Ron Paul will not be speaking at the Tampa Republican National Convention. Romney and his allies may have invited Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul to speak, but that is more of a Bud Light compared to a Budweiser to many Ron Paul supporters.
Ron Paul and his campaign have helped get people into the Republican Party. Ron Paul has made people want to stay for county and state party organizational meetings so they can become the leadership in their local Republican Parties. Ron Paul has motivated young voters to consider becoming part of the Republican Party.
I know Mitt Romney would like to see a non-contested convention where he can have his message out without any rain on his coronation. I know people do not want to see another Pat Buchanan situation in 1992, but Ron Paul would have a better hopeful speech than Pat would ever make. There can be a compromise that would make more people happy and less people wanting to vote for Gary Johnson or leave their ballot blank for President. Give Ron Paul a mid-day speaking spot. If Rick Santorum could have a speaking spot, give Ron one as well.
Personally as a political enthusiast I used to watch the conventions from sunrise to dawn, but it seems the conventions are now just as unreal as an episode of MTV’s the Real World. With the Republican National Committee trying to overturn delegations that Ron Paul won, it feels like the RNC is just as fabricated as a rigged quiz show. When countless people can see the invisible puppet strings controlling the scenes it will make it difficult for astute individuals to ever trust the Republican Party.
The 2012 election cycle was flawed with a debate system that excluded qualified candidates from speaking on the stage such as Gary Johnson and Fred Karger. Republican Party regulations should also make it where if candidates win a state, you do not need a secondary convention to assign delegates as with California. Unfortunately for Romney he needs to play by this year’s rules. If the secondary convention in states such as Maine and Massachusetts flipped the delegates to Ron Paul they go to Ron.
If we want to unseat President Obama we have to recognize that Ron Paul’s voters hold the cards in making sure the swing states in the Electoral College go to Romney. The platform needs to have planks in the importance in auditing the fed, planks in Internet liberty such as making sure SOPA and CISPA go down the dustbin and making sure we reduce the drones invading our skies. Romney needs to recognize that Paul’s voters are the king makers and they can easily turn Romney into a ringer where Obama gets easily re-elected.
We need to let Ron Paul in the convention and his delegates with open arms, even if it forces two or three rounds of voting at least there will be a semblance of legitimacy to the Republican Party in the United States. Or does Mitt Romney want to pretend that he is Vladimir Putin for another dog and pony show?
*Hey, we are sending in our money to the Paul Ryan for Governor campaign….
any State! But he probably does know the way to Lake Minetonka……ya think?
Has it occurred to you, Matt, that Romney may just be confused — and thinks that Paul Ryan and Rand Paul are the same person?
I have bad news for the Mitt Romney campaign. NOBODY who supports Ron Paul will, would or COULD vote for him. He is the problem (as is Obama) and Paul Ryan as VP is a joke. Way to piss off the people who DO vote (the elderly – and in numbers). When they start to talk about cutting back our military adventurism FIRST then perhaps we can have a conversation but as long as they believe that war is the answer to everything that ails us and that the wealthy need tax breaks at the expense of the middle class and poor, there can be no conversation. Finally, war is the enemy of liberty and liberty is what drives we humble supporters of Ron Paul. I, personally, will write Ron Paul in on the ballot if necessary. Many will vote for Gary Johnson. Many will simply not vote for president and many more will vote for Obama simply because we want OUR MAN, Rand Paul, to have a shot in 2016.
So the short, short? Forget it Mittens? You don’t have our vote. You don’t have the vote of the retirees and you don’t have a shot at the presidency. Given a choice between you for 8 years (another 8 long years of war and loss of liberty) or only 4 long years of Obama, you lose and hopefully, in the end, liberty wins.