“He has the delegates, but he doesn’t have the hearts and the minds of the people”
Steve Watson Infowars.com June 20, 2012
Congressman Ron Paul has appeared on two major news networks and declared that there is “no way” he will endorse Mitt Romney for president.
On last night’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, Paul said that despite his own son’s endorsement for Romney, he would not be throwing his hat in with the former Massachusetts governor.
“Well, it looks like he has the delegates, yes,” Paul told Blitzer. “But he doesn’t have the control of the hearts and the minds of the people. And right now a lot of people — a lot of delegates who are pledged to vote for Romney are actually very strong supporters of ours and will be strongly supporting us when we want to put things into the platform that say, hey, we don’t need another war. Yes, we do need to audit the Federal Reserve. Yes, we ought to really cut spending.”
Despite assurances from Rand Paul last week that he had discussed the Romney endorsement with his father, the senior Paul said he was not ready to fade away and vowed to fight on with his campaign all the way to the convention, even though victory is now impossible.
“I think it’s legitimate for us to continue to debate,” Paul said. “I know they don’t want the debate at the convention. Everything has to be smooth and proper.”
“But, you know, I helped pay for the convention because the taxpayers pay Republicans $18 million-plus. And Obama gets $18 million plus to have these grand parties. I think we should be serious and discuss differences.”
The Congressman also declined to oppose a lawsuit that has been brought against the RNC by his supporters. The suit, challenges the GOP’s “binding delegate” rule that enforces delegates in certain states to vote for the candidate who won the state primary. It argues that delegates have the “Constitutional right to vote their conscience” at the national convention.
“If they have a legitimate argument that they can make and that’s what they want to do, I’m not going to say ‘Don’t do it’,” Paul said.
Watch the video:
Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, Paul repeated that he would not endorse Romney.
“I would say he has core convictions, but I just disagree with them,” the Congressman said.
Paul also outlined his desires for the national convention, noting that although he will not have enough delegates to “take over the convention”, he would relish a speech on the floor or failing that an on site “meeting” to influence the party platform.
“All I want to do, if I don’t get a speech on the floor in the convention, all I want to do is have a meeting and say, ‘Look, we have numbers, we have people, we have enthusiasm, we believe in something. Why don’t you pay a little attention?’ And actually I think they are. They don’t know quite how to handle it.” Paul urged.
“I think [the GOP] has lost its way. I think a long time ago. I can’t see the difference” between Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, Paul argued. “They’re both very militaristic, interventionist, pro-war… do Republicans really stop welfare expansion? No. Do they really cut back and balance the budget? No, they usually introduce bigger budgets.”
“When it comes to the philosophy of government, there’s not enough difference for me,” Paul concluded. “I would like to change those convictions of the Republican Party because there were times when they had much better positions. And there’s no reason why we can’t restore those and improve upon them.”
“I think it’s legitimate for us to continue to debate,” Paul said. “I know they don’t want the debate at the convention. Everything has to be smooth and proper.”
“But, you know, I helped pay for the convention because the taxpayers pay Republicans $18 million-plus. And Obama gets $18 million plus to have these grand parties. I think we should be serious and discuss differences.”
Noting that his above comments and more on that subject during the CNN Blitzer interview are at 6:56-7:41 of the first posted video.
In the next video, he comments on that again during the MSNBC interview at 9:19- 10:35.
This is a FoxNews.com article published November 09, 2011:
The Federal Election Commission announced this week that each major party has received $17.7 million for the 2012 conventions, and that another $600,000 or so could be forked over in early 2012.
In exchange for the money, the respective political committees are held to certain rules
i.e. Claims that the parties are private clubs and that their nomination elections for the Federal office of President are their own business, exempt from FEC regs = not so.
11 CFR 100.2(e): [sic] A caucus or convention of a political party is an election if the caucus or convention has the authority to select a nominee for federal office on behalf of that party."
&
42 USC 1971 - Sec. 1971. Voting rights: [sic] "No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any other person for the purpose of interfering with the right of such other person to vote or to vote as he may choose, or of causing such other person to vote for, or not to vote for, any candidate for the office of President"
The Republican party is [My note: somewhat] a private party. A legal voter/delegate is also considered a private party. These private parties are separately governed by numerous federal and state laws (depending on their location).
The Republican National Convention; however, is a federal election made up of multiple private parties which serve to nominate a candidate for the office of the Presidency (which is a federal office position).
The Republican National Convention itself is a federal election bound by federal laws.
These two federal laws alone SHOULD prove that no state law or private party rule can force an individual to vote against their own free will for any federal election.
Another discussion at dailypaul.com suggests that the Lawyers for Ron Paul lawsuit be inclusive of claimants regarding the Electoral College, as those assemblies might also have been rigged through coercion, intimidation, and uncounted votes in the delegate election process, affecting the outcome of which electors were chosen by delegates or not to be Electoral College representatives of their States for the national election in November.