Ron Paul Nevada Delegates Voted for McCain Too
Writes Ken Harwood: “As you know:
“About a dozen Massachusetts supporters of the Texas Congressman and GOP upstart decided to back McCain only an hour before the delegates began to cast votes for the presidential pick.“We decided the best course of action was to give a little to get a lot,” said Chris Blanc, a Cambridge resident who supports Paul. “The Massachusetts GOP really wanted to show unanimous support.”
“The four Ron Paul Nevada delegates all voted for John McCain, too. Then they claimed victory: we showed them that they can’t take us for granted.
“Huh? Mass madness.
“One of those four had even solicited (& received) donations from the Las Vegas RP Meetup Group to help pay her way to St. Paul.”
Washington — In the end, the revolution would be fought from within.
Nevada’s loyal supporters of one-time presidential hopeful Ron Paul, who pushed so hard for a seat at the table at the Republican National Convention, decided when their moment arrived last week to break bread rather than dishes.
On the third night of the convention, when the state Republican Party chairman stood in the hall and announced Nevada would be casting all of its 34 delegates for Sen. John McCain, it was because the Paul supporters made it so.
Paul delegate Chris Bunce said Friday they decided not to spoil the party. Bunce knew Republicans from Nevada, a swing state this election year, wanted desperately to present a unified front for McCain.
The Paul supporters had to decide — make a point or make peace?
Their few votes would not bring the congressman’s suspended campaign for the presidency any closer to its goal. Nor would they stop the ascension of McCain. Had they abstained, which under party rules was the only act of opposition they were allowed, it would be a symbolic act.
So Bunce and the other Paul delegates decided to use the political capital they had gained during the months-long war with the state party to try to generate a little more.
“We gave an olive branch,” he said.
This was not an easy gesture.
The Paul contingent has battled the state Republican Party all year. After a few of them were ultimately invited to St. Paul, they arrived only to feel like unwanted cousins.
Bunce and Chris Dyer tell a funny story about trying to sit next to each other on the floor of the convention, only to be told by state party leaders they must sit in their assigned seats, separated from each other.
When the state finally relented on the last night of the convention, Bunce was already on a plane home.
“I understand their fears,” Bunce said. “They think we’re all crazy.”
Bunce ends a lot of sentences that way — with the acknowledgment that most people think the Paul people are crazy.
They’re tired of being kooks. They want to be players.
I really don’t know what to say about the Nevada delegates, especially after I used up a lot of my energy being upset with the similar route the Massachusetts’ delegates opted to take.
They caved, plain and simple.
Weak. Disappointing. Heart-breaking.
