The Other McCain

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

Ron Paul Is Out To Flog Mitt Romney With The Hillary Stick

Posted on | January 2, 2012 | 34 Comments

by Smitty

Now there is a provocative read:

Ron Paul — poised to finish strong in the Iowa caucuses – has begun to implement a quiet, complex plan to force a long battle with Mitt Romney for delegates to the Republican National Convention in August. His advantages: Experience, organization, and the legacy of the 2010 Tea Party revival, which convinced Republicans that anti-government figures like Paul just aren’t as weird as they’d thought.
Paul is following the roadmap set by Barack Obama’s 2008 strategy: Start early, learn the rules, and use superior organization and devoted young supporters to dominate the arcane but crucial party procedures in states your rivals are ignoring — states where caucuses and conventions that elect the delegates who will ultimately choose the Republican candidate. The plan begins in places like Minnetonka, Minnesota, a Minneapolis suburb where Paul has based his state headquarters, and where staffers have already begun running “mock-auses” — practice runs for Minnesota’s February 7 caucuses.
Paul’s rivals dismiss his chances. “Ron Paul’s not going to be our nominee,” Mitt Romney said flatly in December.

This is really an argument against “Arcane Rules”. We all love to hate on professional politicians, but it is truly a full-time job just to understand the basics of how the sausage is made. Complexity favors the insiders. We love to hate the IRS, but no one is really talking about killing the 16th Amendment or offering a tax code other than one putting the ‘b’ in Byzantine.

The two things we have to do, going down the road, are: involve more people, and stamp out complexity. Systems need to be as simple as possible, but no simpler.

As for the Paul candidacy: irrespective of anyone’s personal opinion of the newsletter utterances, you have to know, with total clarity, that the MSM would utterly, endlessly pillory Paul over that issue, while simultaneously touting an unexpected new hip-hop release by Jeremiah Wright as some sort of cultural achievement, just for the recreational hypocrisy of it all. Also, Ron’s foreign policies are unworkable, and would cause a big fat war, into which we’d be dragged.

So, even though Virginia’s primary is going totally South Park, I’m left to pray for a Santorum triumph, as a way to avoid the centrism of Romney, and the left-libertarianism of Paul.

via Huffington Post

Category: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul

Comments

34 Responses to “Ron Paul Is Out To Flog Mitt Romney With The Hillary Stick”

  1. richard mcenroe
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 3:09 pm

    Rick Santorum and Stacy McCain take Manhattan! 
    http://tinyurl.com/7e4l56v

  2. Pathfinder's wife
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 3:35 pm

    Romney would do well to lay off the “he’s not going to be the nominee” remarks.  Dude’s already got a problem with pushback from people who don’t want him yet think the fix is in.  This just shores up that opinion…and makes a lot of people react negatively (aka. not voting for) him.

  3. Dave
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 3:54 pm

    At this point I’m pretty much reduced to hoping that Paul grabs just enough delegates to force a brokered convention where maybe, just maybe, we can nominate a good candidate – Jindal, Walker, Ryan, Palin, Pence, DeMint…someone like that. Otherwise we’re doomed IMO. DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMEDDDDDDD!

  4. Dianna Deeley
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 4:00 pm

    “We love to hate the IRS, but no one is really talking about killing the
    16th Amendment or offering a tax code other than one putting the ‘b’ in
    Byzantine.”

    Speaking frankly, I’ll grit my teeth and bear income tax, and I’d trade even my mortgage interest deduction for not sweating and swearing my way through the damned tax form. I’m pretty good at both accounting and IRS tax forms, but I have terrible, cold, frightened moments when I bolt upright in bed, sure that I made a stupid error and the IRS is going to send a SWAT team after me.

    Offer me a simpler tax code. Please.

  5. Mike Tuggle
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 4:22 pm

    ” Ron’s foreign policies are unworkable, and would cause a big fat war, into which we’d be dragged.:

    Say what? We’ve got nancy boy Santorum puffing himself up with threats to bomb Iran, but Paul’s policy of minding our own business would CAUSE a war?

    Please ‘splain.

  6. richard mcenroe
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 4:27 pm

    So you don’t believe a nuclear Iran is a threat?

  7. ThePaganTemple
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 4:52 pm

    When did Santorum threaten to bomb Iran, other than if absolutely necessary as a last resort to protect our interests, or if that was the only available option to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

    And whether you like it or not, the Persian Gulf, and every minutiae or activity that goes on there, *is* our business.

    We’re permanently past the days when all we had to do was sit on the front porch under the shade of magnolia trees sipping lemonade while the slaves picked our cotton. We’re big boys and girls now.

  8. Mike Tuggle
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 5:44 pm

    No. Iran has never threatened us.

  9. Mike Tuggle
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 5:47 pm

    The days that are now forever gone are those days when the US can bomb at will and imagine there will be no repercussions.

  10. Dave
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 6:01 pm

    Brilliant point. Of course Iran has been at war with us since 1979, but I don’t believe that they’ve ever threatened us.

  11. Adjoran
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 6:02 pm

    Idiot.  They are behind most of the terrorist attacks on Americans, and have now been shown to have had a long and close association with al Qaeda as well.

    They declared war on us in 1979 and have renewed the call regularly since.

  12. Adjoran
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 6:09 pm

    The problem with the Obama strategy, which was actually the old McGovern 1972 strategy, is that the Democrats had a far smaller percentage of delegates selected by primaries than Republicans do.  They also reserve 20% of the seats for officeholders, party bosses, union leaders, etc.  Obama was able to bully those delegates by threatening a black revolt “if the leader in delegates isn’t the nominee.”  Of course, the Super Delegates were created to prevent anyone from rolling through the process without review, but in the end they couldn’t stand up to the race card.

    Paul may well have such a plan, but it is no more realistic than any of his other ravings.

  13. ThePaganTemple
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 6:15 pm

    It is noted you didn’t answer my question. Again-

    When did Santorum threaten to bomb Iran, other than if absolutely
    necessary as a last resort to protect our interests, or if that was the
    only available option to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons?

  14. richard mcenroe
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 6:24 pm

    That is a blatant and overt lie.

  15. Mike Tuggle
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 9:32 pm

    Ever hear of  Google?

    http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/santorum-says-he-would-bomb-irans-nuclear-plants/

    He’s assuming those eeevil Iranians, who’re complying with IAEA inspections.

    Israel, BTW, has over 200 nuclear devices and is not an IAEA member.

  16. Mike Tuggle
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 9:33 pm

    You forget that it was the US and Britain that helped overthrow Iran’s democratic government and imposed the Shah.

    So maybe they have good reasons not to like us.

  17. ThePaganTemple
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 9:46 pm

    I didn’t ask Google, I asked you. You are the one talking smack, not Google. And you still haven’t answered my question other than to denigrate the idea Iran might get a nuclear weapon. Why don’t you just come right out and say they have as much of a right to have one as we do, like your crazy Uncle Ron?.

    I’m sure if Santorum threatened to bomb them over anything it would be that, and probably as a last resort. He wouldn’t advocate, for example, wiping Iran off the face of the earth. But hell, nobody’s perfect.

    Why am I not surprised you would bring up dem Jooos and Dimona? When you go to sleep tonight look under your bed and in your closet, there might be a Rothschilde skulking around waiting to get you.

  18. Shawn Gillogly
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 9:52 pm

    It’s rather amusing to hear Romney whining about Paul using “arcane rules” to contest the ‘inevitable’ Mittens coronation. This is the guy whose surrogates broke election law to move Primaries around and end the nomination process prematurely so they could ‘get on’ with losing the general election.

    In any case, I can see why Mittens would be so upset about this. It gives him a chance to flip-flop on another issue, hypocrisy and hubris being his two dominant political traits.

  19. Dave
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 9:58 pm

    Ahh, revisionist history. It’s all our fault. You are one of Luap Nor’s finest, aren’t you?

  20. Mike Tuggle
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 10:03 pm

    It’s a blatant fact. Look it up.

  21. Pathfinder's wife
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 10:07 pm

    Then again, a lot of Iranians now miss the Shah.  The theocracy thing hasn’t really worked out well.

  22. EBL
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 10:11 pm

    We need to face that it might be in all our interests to reach out to Odd Uncle Paul. 

    It may not be possible.  Many of Paul’s positions are non starters.  But not all of them are.  

  23. EBL
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 10:12 pm

    That is possible.  A long shot but better than what we have going on now.  

  24. Michael Bates
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 1:31 am

    The rules are only arcane to those who don’t bother to read them. Iowa’s rules are simple: precinct caucuses elect county convention delegates, county conventions elect state convention delegates, state conventions elect national convention delegates and alternates (three each by the delegates from each  congressional district, the remainder by the full convention). What confuses the ninnies in the press is that Tuesday night’s “vote” is a non-binding straw poll, so there’s no correlation between straw poll percentage and the presidential preference of Iowa’s delegation to Tampa, which won’t be chosen until June.  As I explained on my blog recently, Ron Paul could easily “win” Iowa but wind up with zero Iowa delegates.

    Different rules in each state reflects federalism, and the freedom each state Republican Party retains to decide how to apportion its allotted number of delegates. The Democratic National Committee imposes certain rules on all states, requiring proportional representation for caucuses as well as primaries.

    Every Republican presidential campaign should have at least one supporter  in each state with enough state party experience to understand how the system works and what the rules are. If a candidate can’t muster a single savvy activist in a state, probably best to skip it.

  25. Mike Tuggle
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 9:13 am

    ThePaganTemple,

    Your desperation is showing if you have to impute anti-Semitism to a position on foreign policy.

    Truth is, we’re letting ourselves being fooled once again into supporting a war of aggression WE CANNOT AFFORD by the same crowd of liars and war profiteers that lied us into invading Iraq. “Saddam has WMD! He’s supporting al Qaeda!”

    When will we learn?

  26. WyBlog - Tuesday Trepidation, what if Ron Paul wins Iowa?
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 10:12 am

    Tuesday Trepidation, what if Ron Paul wins Iowa?…

    But alas much of what TheCL views as positive is in actuality more than sufficient to fear a Ron Paul candidacy….

  27. ThePaganTemple
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 10:47 am

    Hey you’re the one that brought up Dimona, I never mentioned word one about dem Jooos until you said that. Israel is more than capable of taking care of itself, if they want to kill every Arab in the region, salud. I only give a shit about the oil.

  28. Mike Tuggle
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 11:40 am

    My point exactly. Israel can take care of itself.

    So, you’re voting for Paul now?

  29. ThePaganTemple
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 11:56 am

    No, if I vote for anybody it will be the GOP nominee, which will be Mitt Romney.

  30. Michael Todd
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 1:20 pm

    “It’s all our fault.”

    Oh, puh-leeze … What’s with this “our?” Is ObamaCare “ours?” Are TSA molestations “ours?” Is the progressive income tax “ours?”

    No, of course not! It is theirs, the federal governments.

    Jeez o peet. Have the citizens of a country founded in bloody revolution against their own government been reduced to mere collectivist sycophants for the state?

    Where’s Thomas Jefferson, HL Mencken, and Russell Kirk when you need them?

    Collectivism to the left of us, collectivism to he right … the individual stuck in a grave.

  31. AngelaTC
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 3:48 pm

    “…the left libertarianism?”  He’s got a 100% ACU rating, you know.  And although I was young, I certainly remember the days when it was the Democrats who were branded the war party.  Grabbing that title isn’t anything to brag about, much less cling to.

  32. AngelaTC
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 3:49 pm

    What interests do we actually have in Iran?    What proof do we have that Iran is even pursuing nuclear weapons?  And finally, why is diplomacy entirely off the table?

  33. AngelaTC
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 3:55 pm

    What part is he lying about?  

    Google ”
    TPAJAX Project” – that stuff isn’t classified any more. Our CIA overthrew their leader because Iran wanted to nationalize their oil, something that BP was firmly set against.   The puppet leader we installed was a brutal dictator. Although years of British occupation had left Iran as the most Westernized nation in the Middle East,  our heavy handed power plays enabled the theocrats to gain the support they needed to pull off the  revolution.

    (Now is the part where ya’ll start crabbing because I ‘blame America” which is apparently vastly different than the conservative principle of accepting responsibility for your actions.)

  34. Mike Tuggle
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 3:59 pm

    And you’re right about that.

    The good news is that Paul’s amazing run reveals a growing realization that the war party is running out of steam.

    Know hope.