Mitt Romney Trying To Prevent Mutiny At The 2012 GOP Convention

Although the GOP National Convention is starting up on Monday, there is a lot of action going on behind the scenes. Much of the drama is around Ron Paul's supporters who have wormed their way into becoming delegates at the convention and are still dreaming of a brokered convention in which they can crown Ron Paul as the GOP nominee. 

However, Ron Paul did not agree with his supporters that it was a good idea. Moreover, even if he wanted to get a brokered convention, it would not have worked since he hasn't won any delegates in any of the 2012 primaries including Louisiana. To prevent a mutiny at the GOP convention, Mitt Romney is currently in discussions with the the Ron Paul delegates in which Mitt Romney will allow some disputed Ron Paul delegates to be seated at the convention. Yet at the same time, Romney is also working to eliminate some of the delegates as well. and to possibly include some items on the GOP platform. Thus, the old rumors that Mitt Romney might be adding Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" campaign to the GOP platform might be coming true as Mitt negotiates with these delegates. 

Although Romney might be allowing certain disputed delegates to sit at the convention, Mitt and the Republican party are doing whatever they can to ensure that the proper candidate is nominated as the GOP nominee Paulbots. They have amended the rules to require delegates to vote for the person that won that state's primary or to vote for the candidate they pledged to vote for:

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, led by top Romney lawyer Ben Ginsberg, forced through a major change the GOP nominating process on Friday in response to Ron Paul supporters’ efforts to win delegates to the Republican National Committee..

The Republican National Convention Committee voted 56-40 to make it impossible for supporters of one presidential candidate to override the will of voters at a state convention, as Ron Paul supporters did in Iowa and Nevada.

The purpose of the change, Ginsberg said, was “to correct what we saw as a damaging flaw in the presidential election process in 2012.”

The rule forces statewide presidential primaries or caucuses to determine the ultimate allocation of delegates, preventing takeovers like Paul executed in Iowa by eliminating unbound delegates in statewide contests. States would be allowed to decide whether to give all their delegates to the winner of the primary or caucus, or distribute them proportionally according to the results.

“Iowa will have to change the way they do it,” said a GOP official.

A second component of the amendment would require delegates to be approved by presidential candidates, lessening the chances of technically pledged delegates voting for a different candidate.

Another step that Mitt Romney and the Republican party are taking to prevent shenanigans from the Ron Paul delegates is to move up the day the formal nomination takes place. Typically, the nomination occurs on the third day of the convention but due to concerns over the weather and a possible mutiny from the Paulbots, they are moving the formal nomination to the first day of the convention. However, the Romney Campaign are denying that they are moving up the date of the nomination.

The Romney campaign are also taking other aggressive steps such as making it clear who is being nominated at this convention: 

Using a mix of charm and procedural hardball, Mitt Romney’s campaign and his allies who control the Republican National Committee have ensured that the Texas congressman will neither speak nor be formally nominated at next week’s convention. It’s a significant victory for Romney, who could have been faced with a raucous rebellion from the Paul crowd if he hadn’t extended an early, and diplomatic, olive branch to what’s become a key constituency.

However, there are reports that there will be a filmed tribute to Ron Paul as a way of making the Paulbots happy. 

I understand that politics is about the art of compromise and negotiations. It irks me that the Romney campaign has to do what it can to please the Paulbots without making people wonder if the convention about Ron Paul or Mitt Romney. 

However, politics is also the art of winning. Mitt Romney went through a grueling nomination process and won. Mitt Romney shouldn't be wasting time trying to battle the Paulbots ahead of the convention,  preventing an uprising and making sure he won the nomination. The real battle is to unseat Obama but  I'm getting the feeling that this isn't the top priority of the Ron Paul supporters. It boggles my mind why the Romney campaign is even engaging in this ridiculous drama with the Paulbots in the first place. 

Another thing that annoys me is that there are no reports of Ron Paul stepping in to help resolve the situation but is letting his supporters go wild. At least Newt Gingich has the good character of giving his delegates to Mitt Romney. Ron Paul should follow Newt's lead and tell the delegates to support Mitt Romney. 

Perhaps what bothers me the most is that there is a reason why Sarah Palin not being invited to the GOP convention or why she hasn't been allowed to have an opportunity to speak at the convention. You can't expect to be invited to an event if you intend to undermine that event and have not been supportive of the GOP nominee. I think the same policy applies to Ron Paul and his supporters. You should not be allowed to participate in the event if you plan to undermine the event and still not supportive of the nominee even though that candidate won the necessary delegates to become the GOP nominee.