How the political machines cheat, lie and steal an election. We don’t live in a republic or a democracy. We live in a corporate fascist state where the few decide what’s best for you. The appearance of choice is a joke.
How the GOP Establishment Stole the Nomination From Ron Paul
by Jaret Glenn
If you follow mainstream election coverage, you might think Mitt Romney has coasted to an honest, easy, well-deserved Republican nomination. Unfortunately for Republican voters, nothing could be further from the truth. The primary process has been an all-out slugfest and many of the delegates Romney has won may be the result of dirty tricks and even election fraud. The following narrative includes links to reports, first-hand testimonials, and video evidence highlighting actions taken by the GOP to ensure a Romney victory, at the expense of fracturing the party just prior to the general election. Party leaders at the county and state level have changed or violated party rules, cancelled caucuses, changed vote counts, thrown out entire counties of votes, counted public votes privately, called-in the SWAT team, and inexplicably replaced Paul delegates with Romney delegates to block Ron Paul from winning the nomination.
Iowa: Days before the caucuses, Paul held a commanding lead in the polls and all the momentum, with every other candidate having peaked from favorable media coverage and then collapsed under the ensuing scrutiny. Establishment Republicans, like Iowa’s Representative Steve King (R), attempted to sabotage Paul’s campaign by spreading rumors he would lose to Obama if nominated. Even though the Iowa GOP platform reads like a Ron Paul speech, shortly before the caucuses, Iowa Governor Terry Barnstad told Politico , “[If Paul wins] people are going to look at who comes in second and who comes in third. If Romney comes in a strong second, it definitely helps him going into New Hampshire”. The message from the Governor to voters of his state was: a vote for Ron Paul was a wasted vote.
Huffington Post reported that Paul was ahead by one point over Romney and Rick Santorum in entrance polls conducted by Edison Media Research for the AP before the caucuses. For the first time ever, the Iowa GOP changed the final vote count to a secret location . After the caucus, results from 8 precincts (including those with colleges, in a state where Paul won 48% of the youth vote) went missing. Interestingly, these were all precincts Romney lost in 2008. In addition, GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts. Though polling in a comfortable first place, Paul finished third in this non-binding straw poll, behind Romney and Santorum.
Iowa originally reported Romney in first, Santorum in a close second, and Paul third. After the recount, Santorum was named the winner with Romney in second. No mention was given to how the recount affected Paul’s vote count. Iowa GOP chairman, Matt Strawn, later resigned and was replaced by Paul supporter, A.J. Spiker and Paul went on to win the majority of delegates.
Florida: The Florida GOP broke party rules by switching to a winner-take-all state before the date allowed, which favors the candidate with the most money for advertising and attack ads. Senior Advisor to the Ron Paul campaign, Doug Wead, claims this was done specifically to favor Romney.
Nevada: There is bad blood between Paul’s supporters and establishment Republicans in Nevada. This dates back to 2008, when Convention Chair, Sue Lowden and her enlisted delegates got up and walked out of the convention when it became apparent Paul’s supporters would claim a majority of the delegates. She claimed she would reconvene at a later time, but instead approved the McCain slate of delegates. This year, Paul supporters expected shenanigans; so his State Chairman, Carl Bunce, planned to win by outworking Romney. Just before the caucuses, he claimed to have “more IDs than Romney had votes in ’08″. This means through canvassing door-to-door and phoning voters, he had identified about 25,000 voters committed to show up and vote for Paul.
On caucus day, the media was denied access to most caucus sites and the few that were permitted were not allowed to take photos. Others were even ejected from sites. This CNN clip shows GOP staff preventing a Paul supporter from entering the premises to vote at a special caucus that was set up at the last minute for Newt Gingrich backer, Sheldon Adelson. Here, participants were asked to sign an affidavit (under penalty of perjury) stating they were Jewish and couldn’t vote earlier in the day due to “religious reasons”. CNN showed live coverage of votes being counted at this event, with Paul amassing nearly 60% of the votes. In some precincts in Clark County, the largest in Nevada, the number of ballots did not match the number of voters signed in at the caucus. Though votes were to be counted publicly, they were largely counted in private. The vote count was also inexplicably dragged out for several days, leading to a victory for Romney. Nevada State GOP Chairwoman, Amy Tarkanian resigned the day after the caucuses.
Another interesting note is that Paul’s 2012 votes had doubled, tripled, and more than quadrupled his 2008 votes in every state leading up to the Nevada caucuses, yet Paul received only 88 more votes there. Of all the places for this to occur, Nevada, the country’s most libertarian state; is the last in which anyone would expect this.
In spite of these irregularities , Paul won 22 of 25 state delegates and replaced state party officials with Paul supporters. Romney supporters then formed their own state party, called “Team Nevada”. The RNC then bypassed the official state party in order to organize for Romney and send all funds to Team Nevada.
Colorado: Romney supporters were caught passing out fake Ron Paul slates at the state convention. The RNC has not investigated or even commented on the matter.
Minnesota: Doug Wead, claims the state party instructed members not to vote for any delegates under age fifty because most young delegates support Paul.
Missouri: WXIX Cincinnati’s Ben Swann covered the fiasco in St. Charles County. Temporary Chairman, Eugene Dokes, started the meeting by banning video recording devices, a first for this event. Robert’s Rules of Order require the temporary chairman to accept nominations and elect a convention chairman to run the event. Instead, he appointed a chair of his choice. The crowd immediately erupted with booing. Shortly after, Dokes adjourned the meeting without the required two-thirds majority, called the police on attendees, and left. In adherence to state rules, Paul supporter, Brent Stafford, along with one of the top parliamentarians in the state, reconvened in the parking lot and attempted to resume the event. Shortly after, the SWAT team arrived and arrested Stafford, who was following state party rules. Dokes later admitted on talk radio that he and other state party officials deliberately broke the rules to prevent Paul from winning.
Maine: Ben Swann reported on shenanigans in Maine . Even though only 84% of votes had been counted; State GOP Chairman, Charlie Webster, declared Romney the winner over Paul by less than 200 votes. Hancock and Washington Counties hadn’t voted yet because Webster cancelled the caucuses due to an impending snowstorm, promising they could vote later and their votes would be counted. The snowstorm never occurred and he later reneged on his promise, telling voters in those counties their votes would not be counted after all. Washington County was Paul’s strongest in the state in 2008. Though other states with close outcomes held recounts, this was never a consideration for Maine.
At least one of the counties that did vote claims the state party recorded its tallies incorrectly. Matt McDonald, pastor of a small community church in Belfast, was nominated as the chairman of his caucus. He says the state instructed the caucus chairmen not to read any of the vote totals aloud, but rather to send the results straight to Augusta without a public reading. McDonald made a motion to change this rule, and it was approved unanimously. McDonald says 22 voters showed up, resulting in 8 votes for Paul, 7 for Santorum, 5 for Romney, and 2 undecided. When he called the votes into Augusta, he was told they already had the results and the totals read 9 for Romney, 5 or Santorum, and 2 for Paul. When McDonald told her the tally had been counted publicly, he says “her voice changed and she said”we’ll record this”. Doug Wead claims, “On every occasion, the votes that were lost were Ron Paul votes and the person responsible for reporting them were Mitt Romney supporters”in one case the votes were actually transferred from paper to”a computer and the lady doing the transfer was a Mitt Romney person”. To date, these tallies have not been corrected and Romney is still credited with the straw vote win while the media continues to report that Paul never won a state contest.
Arizona: The Examiner’s Kevin Kervick reports ”ballot stuffing, rule violations, and improper vote counting that occurred behind closed doors” at the convention. In addition, Paul supporters allege threats of physical violence from Romney supporters.
Michigan: Doug Wead reports, ” Michigan, unlike any other state”had a special party rule forbidding any precinct delegate vacancies from being filled at county conventions until after the state delegates and alternates were chosen. In other words, countless Ron Paul supporters attending county convention were forcibly blocked”because they weren’t elected precinct delegates in 2010-long before the Ron Paul 2012 campaign began”. Wead also claims “documented instances in multiple counties where county party officials “edited” the state delegation lists after the county conventions adjourned”.
Reprinted with permission from OpEd News.
August 8, 2012
Jaret Glenn is a Central Florida native and a graduate of FSU and Nova Southeastern university. He’s a freelance political writer and activist. Visit his website.
No Field Five says:
Wait. So you mean the Republicon establishment is crooked? I am impressed by the breadth of the corruption, but not by its presence. When will the Ron Paul party be established? How much more will people really put up with? Will we survive four more years of this nonsense to see if Mr. Paul can give it one more go round? With his son going on to claim other fortunes, will he name an heir apparent to libertarian sect of politics? Stay tuned for the next episode of “As the Turd Swirls” (the toilet bowl).
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8th August 2012 at 7:56 pm
Nonanonymous says:
Hey, at least we have the best politicians money can buy.
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8th August 2012 at 8:01 pm
Ron says:
Considering our country is run by war makers i can see where Ron Paul isnt popular.
His campaign stunk also.Funny i still think he could win if he hired someone who spoke well to put across his case he could still win,Obama and Romney arent that great,most republicans arent all that crazy for romney,his voting record is to much like Obamas,someone had a chart here on TBP showing this once. It would be easy to show what kind of a job Obama is doing.
I recommend someone everybody likes as the speaker,ummm Al Pachino? Tom Selleck?
I did recommend that RP have a well built women on one side of him and a handsome man on the otherside of him,to get people to look forward to seeing him interviewed.to bad he didnt listen.All people remember is RP laughing and joking around.They thought he was old and goofy.
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8th August 2012 at 8:03 pm
Zarathustra says:
Hilarious anti- Paul ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBnozQW5_wM&feature=player_embedded
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8th August 2012 at 8:54 pm
Zarathustra says:
Let me try that again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9B0giJLlEU&feature=player_embedded
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8th August 2012 at 8:56 pm
AWD says:
Truly frightening what the power brokers can do. They pick the candidate, they run things, and it doesn’t matter a rat’s ass what people want.
Ron Paul has had a pathetic team supporting him. He needed people to fight these corrupt power brokers, consolidate support, raise more money, and get the word out. They failed RP miserably, as they did in 2008.
And so, we race toward collapse, the only person that might have saved us, Ron Paul, fading into the sunset. We had a chance and blew it.
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8th August 2012 at 9:37 pm
Hey You! says:
Just a single election chain which emphasizes why I don’t bother voting.
Elections have too much taxpayer money (and political fraud proceeds) riding on outcomes to be left to voter choices.
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8th August 2012 at 9:51 pm
Persnickety says:
The corruption doesn’t surprise me at all. That so much of it was clumsy and out in the open is the only real surprise. Bunch of fucking amateurs – Chicago could teach them a thing or two.
“The only winning move is not to play.”
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8th August 2012 at 10:35 pm
harry p. says:
There is too much at stake to leave the election up to the voters.
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8th August 2012 at 11:14 pm
Colma Rising says:
Utter foolishness. People may say I’m leaving the Republican Party and helping Obama by not voting for Mitt…
Oh stuff it. The Republican Party deserted me, and many voters like me, and Mitt’s antics took votes away from himself.
Ron Paul represented young, poor folk who simply wanted an honest, free playing field without ridiculous approaches to wars they would have to fight with their interests not represented.
By acting in this manner, the “Establishment” Republicans just shit on their future, shit on the concept of Republicanism, shit on what semblance of integrity may have been retained and therefore they can count me out.
While my state will certainly go blue, removing any real sense of urgency, I will under no circumstance support Mitt Romney as any alternative to Obama. Untill some ammends are made by Romney… not just hollow campaign promises…. I simply cannot fall into line behind such a campaign.
If they thought he’d get my vote anyway, they thought wrong. I am not alone. I am a citizen and a voter, not a bleating sock-puppet.
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8th August 2012 at 12:17 am
Nonanonymous says:
@Colma, except they didn’t just do it, they’ve been one party in a two party system where there’s no difference between the two except on what they want to spend borrowed money. Case in point, Ronald Reagan, on who’s watch the deficit began it’s current exponential rise.
In fact, your argument belies the denial in which most Americans find themselves, almost without exception.
Let’s pass a balanced budget amendment, then debate on what to spend it. We’ll only be debating crumbs, then maybe the feds will lose their pre-eminence and people will go about their lives in a de-centralized manner. We can end this mess by taking back the presses from the fed, printing $15T and pay off the US debt, maybe another $5T or so to pay off everyone else’s with the stipulation of balanced budget amendments. Unfunded entitlements will also have to end.
It’s not rocket surgery, but there is the Devil with whom to contend.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” Psalm 33:12a (ESV)
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8th August 2012 at 8:51 am
Purplefrog says:
John McCain redux.
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8th August 2012 at 9:03 am
ThePessimisticChemist says:
Heh, and my stomach was already queasy this morning.
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8th August 2012 at 9:37 am
Persnickety says:
Trying to turn around the US at this point would be like righting the Titanic after it’s broken in half. Ain’t gonna happen.
If you want to be practical and forward-looking you need to start considering how your life works when the federal government starts dissolving into irrelevance, which probably starts in less than 12 months. I would suggest Dmitry Orlov’s book “Reinventing Collapse” for a comparison between the end of the Soviet Union and what we have in store, and the writings of Fernando Aguirre “FERFAL” about living through Argentina’s economic collapse.
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8th August 2012 at 9:43 am
Steve says:
Dear Democratic AND Republican parties,
You were BOTH in Congress and controlled congress during the Internet bubble, real estate bubble and now the federal debt bubble. You support inefficient health care, wars, elitist corporatism, an overly complex tax code and an industrial military complex with appropriations in every state. You are BOTH responsible for our huge debt and deficit spending. And on top of all of this your Congressmen are all bought. They spend on average about 75% of their time raising money. You don’t make any hard decisions. You take no responsibility for ALL your bad decisions. The entire system is a corrupt cesspool of idiots who only care about getting re-elected and gaining more power. It’s no wonder they all come out of office rich when the rest of the country gets poorer.
Where is the humility? Where is the intelligent decision making? Where is the leadership? Both parties have duped the entire country into thinking that all the diverse and complex issues have to fall into one of two parties. It’s just insanely stupid.
BOTH parties are just authoritarian parties fighting for more power. There really is no difference between them anymore.
So to the Democratic AND Republican parties ……. F#%@ YOU!
Sincerely,
Steve
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8th August 2012 at 9:46 am
Ron says:
Steve quit pussyfooting around and say what you mean. Its so bad i think a military coup with new elections for congress with no encumbents would be a good idea. I would make Ron Paul the president also.
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8th August 2012 at 10:32 am
Wyoming Mike says:
This is the tip of the iceberg. They also: Passed out slates illegally, delayed voting 4 hours to allow Tag to call us out for being unamerican if we didn’t vote for Mittens, among other hasbeen policitian speakers, didn’t verify the # of votes coming back in, changed the nominating rules BEFORE & AFTER the nominating committee meeting without proper approval. Even with all the cheating, fraud, and shenanigans, they only “beat” us by an average of 15 votes.
Fuck em, I’ll have fun in Tampa!
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8th August 2012 at 11:57 am
TeresaE says:
@ Steve, please add
And TeresaE too to the bottom of that.
Nice rant, thanks
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8th August 2012 at 12:36 pm
Kathy says:
“That the Republican Party will seemingly stop at nothing to ensure their selected candidate is the nominee should be deeply troubling for all Americans.”
Your article suggests it is the REPUBLICAN PARTY stopping at nothing…to be fair….it is the RNC thank you. I have spent months educating the public on the right and only man for the job of
President 2013…..NEWT GINGRICH….maybe you should report on those efforts (republican efforts).
Thank you….
Hot debate. What do you think?
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8th August 2012 at 9:14 pm
Administrator says:
Newt Gingrich is a warmongering, cancer hating, cheating blowhard.
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8th August 2012 at 9:39 pm
ThePessimisticChemist says:
@Kathy – Newt is too stupid to even hide his hypocrisy from the common American. Thats pretty damned stupid.
I don’t know how he even gets elected to public office these days, the man has made a career out of being a giant fuck up and waste of space.
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8th August 2012 at 9:48 pm
On the Road Again says:
No comment yet from FBD? He eats shit anyway.
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8th August 2012 at 12:27 am
Llpoh says:
OTRA – shut the fuck up. You go to every thread to post that? What a moron. OTRA follows FBD around to pick the corm out of FBD’s shit for his evening meal. What a dick.
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8th August 2012 at 1:16 am
dilligaf says:
chuck baldwin gets my write in vote.
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8th August 2012 at 1:57 am
Zarathustra says:
If Newt Gingrich is the answer, the problem isn’t worth solving. On the other hand from a moral perpective, maybe he should run with John Edwards as his running mate.
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8th August 2012 at 4:34 am
Where Is Obama? Why Isn't He Saying This Guy Should Drop Out? says:
[...] [...]
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8th August 2012 at 9:44 pm
Jerry says:
The Republicans have taken US into a black hole, from which I fear there will be no recovery.
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8th August 2012 at 5:46 am
Stan says:
Jerry
I hear ya. But you greatly err, neither knowing the greatness nor the power of Obama! He can do all things. Just look how far he has brung us in 4 short years! Nothing short of miraculous
Yes the republicans are evil and stupid. Yes they put us in a terrible mess. But we now have both hope and change! And it is Forward from here. He fixed our economy and gave us all healthcare. He has made the world safe again and is gonna get rid of those nasty guns so our children will be safe in their schools.
Jerry, take heart, and never forget: With Barack Hussein Obama All things are possible.
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8th August 2012 at 6:38 am
BUCKHED says:
WOW I’m so surprised !!!!!!!! Really guys do you expect high powered folks in TPTB group to support someone who will end their corporate crack ?
Do you think the FSA will ever support someone who id going to take away their easy way of life >
As a wealthy friend once said…we don’t care who wins…we own both sides !
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8th August 2012 at 10:31 am