The GOP Establishment are rushing to anoint their chosen one, but not all Delegates are prepared to 'shut up and move on'. I quote Mike Huckabee:
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has a message for Ron Paul supporters who say they feel "disrespected" by the Republican Party's delegate allocation process: You lost, move on
From Yahoo:
On Monday morning, at a meeting of more than 100 Texan delegates and alternates at the Saddlebrook Resort 20 miles north of Tampa, one topic got the crowd more fired up than any other. Delegate Melinda Fredricks read aloud a letter condemning recent changes to the national Republican party's rules that would allow the GOP presidential candidate to veto and replace state delegates.
"Our delegates are in shock that such an amendment even would be presented before the Rules Committee much less passed into rule," Fredricks said. "Please know from the Texas delegation standpoint that the only way a floor fight can be avoided is for this rule to be stricken."
At that point, the entire Texas delegation stood up and applauded.
Funny how suddenly certain GOP members are worried about disenfranchisement and all, but I probably do not have to go into the hypocrisy of that. The Paul/Romney feud has been coming to a boil for a while now, and this latest move by the Romney campaign:
Mitt Romney's campaign lawyer Ben Ginsberg proposed the rule last week
has not just Texans, but South Carolina, Colorado, Louisiana, and Virginia delegates talking mutiny.
It is no wonder that Ron Paul will not endorse Mitt:
Ron Paul says he turned down an offer to speak here at the Republican National Convention because he didn't want to endorse Mitt Romney or clear his remarks with his ex-rival's campaign.
"It wouldn't be my speech," Paul told The New York Times in an interview. "That would undo everything I've done in the last 30 years. I don't fully endorse him for president."
9:48 PM PT:
Instead, Bopp has agreed to compromise language. The RNC Rules Committee will meet Tuesday to approve the replacement language, Bopp told ABC News.
"The leadership of the Republican National Committee and the Romney for President campaign has heard the concerns of the conservative grassroots voices in our party and has crafted an amendment to the Rules adopted on Friday to address these concerns," Bopp wrote in an email to Republican National Committee members. "At the same time, the revised language closes a loophole in our party rules, which previously failed to include a penalty for delegates who break their promise to vote for a particular Presidential candidate as required by state law or state party rules."
Bopp explained the impetus for the proposed change, in the first place, as fear that Ron Paul supporters bound to Mitt Romney would break party rules and instead vote for Paul. The rule sought to prevent that risk at future conventions, Bopp said.
But....
The deal likely will not, however, allay some concerns of Ron Paul supporters.
The same new rule effectively bans future implementations of Paul's campaign strategy - of organizing and amassing delegates at state conventions - by requiring states to allocate delegates by statewide vote. Bopp's deal does not change that.
While no countermeasure will likely come up on the convention floor, Paul supporters will likely still be unhappy with the new rules
http://news.yahoo.com/...
Update x2: Over at Redstate our good buddy Erick Erickson says the compromise was a ruse and Romney is trying to seize power:
I’ve been on the phone with several individuals involved in the fight who tell me that the fight is not over, it is only just starting.
Specifically, the media is reporting that the rules fight is over because Team Romney is abandoning Ben Ginsberg’s effort to allow candidates to control delegates. Under an initial proposal, delegates would, in effect, be chosen by the presumed nominee’s campaign and not based on votes in the states and delegate selection processes in the states.
That issue appears resolved, but several people I’ve spoken to this morning make clear that Team Romney and the RNC establishment are using that compromise as a red herring to distract from two major rules change proposals that would decimate Republican grassroots and prevent upstart political campaigns.
Specifically:
The first rule to be proposed is one that would give the Republican National Committee the power to change rules between conventions with a three-quarters vote of the RNC. One source tells me, “With a Republican President, of course this is doable. Everybody will roll over if a President Romney asks them too. They’ll be able to get Ben Ginsberg’s proposal next year.”
In other words, if Team Romney prevails in this rules change, they don’t have to worry about Ben Ginsberg not getting his way today on the delegate changes. They’ll be able to do it later when the press and grassroots are not watching.
The second rule would allow winner take all primaries early on, harming upstart/grassroots campaigns. Imagine that...