Discussion
  • Read More
    Brendan O'ConnorBrendan O'Connor
    6/28/16 1:37pm

    Here is the full email from the Minnesota GOP to its delegates:

    From: Katie Boyd

    Date: Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 5:50 PM

    Subject: Potential proposal to unbind delegates

    To:

    Dear MN National Delegates and Alternates,

    (CC: all State, CD, and BPOU officers)

    As you may be aware, a group of national delegates from around the country is discussing a possible rule change that would “unbind” delegates on the first ballot vote for the presidential nominee.

    The proposal being circulated would allow what they are calling a “conscience exemption” for those delegates bound to a candidate they don’t support.

    (Note: A somewhat similar idea has been proposed in the past saying that delegates should never be bound at a national convention, but the RNC’s legal team does not agree with their rationale, and the RNC Standing Rules Committee has voted it down on more than one occasion.)

    It is important to remember that we worked with our grassroots in Minnesota and agreed to the binding rules and primary/caucus calendar adopted by RNC vote in 2015, and also the State Executive Committee’s vote and RNC certification of Minnesota’s caucus voting and delegate binding process in October, 2015. And importantly, each national delegate and alternate candidate signed the affidavit of candidacy before running, which designated the candidate whose slot they were running for and certified their agreement with the binding rules.

    So a “conscience exemption” in the national convention rules would not exempt a Minnesota delegate.

    Other states may have had different rules and processes for assigning delegates to candidates, but here in Minnesota every delegate and alternate understood the binding rules, certified in writing to abide by them, and went before their convention’s delegates and won their election for national delegate or alternate with a clear understanding by all of the binding rules in effect.

    So, regardless of a “conscience exemption” or not, our Minnesota delegation will vote 17 for Rubio, 13 for Cruz, and 8 for Trump on the first ballot, per our caucus night presidential preference vote.

    At this point, the only thing that could change Minnesota’s vote on the first ballot would be a rule change regarding ballot access wherein a candidate with bound delegates would not appear on the first ballot. While we have not heard of any such proposal, in such a case, rather than casting spoiled ballots for a candidate no longer on the ballot, those delegates would be unbound on the first ballot. This is exactly the way it always has been for Minnesota delegates.

    It’s unclear what kind of rule change could possibly retroactively undo the agreements and rules of our grassroots caucus and delegate elections, but at this point the proposed “conscience exemption” does not change anything for Minnesota, especially given each national delegate’s/alternate’s signed pledge to abide by the binding.

    If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

    Regards,

    Keith Downey, Chairman

    Janet Beihoffer, RNC Committeewoman

    Chris Tiedeman, RNC Committeeman

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      markitzerodonnieBrendan O'Connor
      6/28/16 3:00pm

      The question answers itself. Gwenyth Paltrow of course. She's the only one I've ever heard that unbinds or uncouples. Every normal person... just splits man.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Murry Changmarkitzerodonnie
      6/28/16 8:05pm

      +1 regular mom

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    CatdogWhispererBrendan O'Connor
    6/28/16 2:54pm

    Looking at the picture above, I can’t tell if Trump’s son looks more like a sexually deviant taxidermist, or an experiment of one gone horribly wrong.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      reoneCatdogWhisperer
      6/28/16 3:10pm

      Lol, that’s so awful...but I can totally see either..

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Canuckistanislausreone
      6/28/16 3:50pm

      Yes, absolutely — or else he’s a waxwork figure of a 1980s yuppie-type sociopath, whether real (Ted Bundy, e.g.) or fictional (Patrick Bateman).

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Cam/ronBrendan O'Connor
    6/28/16 3:01pm

    I found it odd that Apple’s Tim Cook recently hosted a fundraiser for Paul Ryan. You don’t suppose..nah.

    http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/artic…

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Nixon's UmbrageCam/ron
      6/28/16 3:06pm

      My current bets are on pretty much everybody trying to unbind delegates, but especially this guy:

      GIF

      That is unless Jeb! Has been playing the long-con all along and will reveal his true hideous form soon.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Dave Nixon's Umbrage
      6/28/16 3:14pm

      LOW ENERGY MY ASS BITCHES!
      —Republican Nominee Jeb Bush

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    dothedewBrendan O'Connor
    6/28/16 3:07pm

    Lonegan said the “most critical” step is airing ads for delegates who are “under duress” from state party officials or others for speaking out against Trump or in support of a change to the convention rules.

    Aside from the fact that Lonegan is a dishonest tea party asshat who is funded by the Koch brothers, if the “most critical step” of your strategy is airing ads on tv and radio, you may need a new strategy.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      25% Meaner Godzooks - BACK TO EVENdothedew
      6/28/16 3:38pm

      New strategy...

      GIF
      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      dothedew25% Meaner Godzooks - BACK TO EVEN
      6/28/16 3:43pm

      You’re a monster. You know Lonegan is blind and hasn’t been able to enjoy a game of Go Fish in decades.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Richard PunchBrendan O'Connor
    6/28/16 3:16pm

    What do you think the chance is that Trump ACTUALLY is the nominee after the convention is over? 40%?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      TheRealFrying_slothRichard Punch
      6/28/16 3:21pm

      80%

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Gamebuff3Richard Punch
      6/28/16 3:24pm

      100%. The GOP is being suicidal if they don’t give it to him, they are basically telling people the primary is pointless and the only guy that is still running and got most of the votes loses anyways. And Trump supporters aren’t known for their calm and reasonable nature, or faith in the party. No one knows this more than Reince Priebus, who is going crazy trying to support someone he obviously loathes.

      Trump may or may not actually want to be president, it is really a losing proposition for him - either blow away his aura of being a “winner” or actually win and spend 4 years doing stuff he doesn’t want to do (anything that doesn’t involve making money) while the country recoils at the state of the GOP. I get the feeling he doesn’t really think that far ahead, and depends on being able make things up as he goes along - which cannot happen as president.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    marmeladeBrendan O'Connor
    6/28/16 3:37pm

    This seems to me to be, obviously, a pretty bold instance of a political party triangulating against its own presidential candidate in order to protect its down-ballot candidates.

    Huge sums of dark money are going into the sacred cause of Republican dominance in federal, state and even local races (Charles Koch understands that it’s virtually as important to buy up the local school board as it is to buy judges and members of Congress), and the presence of Trump as the nominal head of the party is jeopardizing that effort.

    Because of his stunning vulgarity and his unprecedented incompetence as a candidate, he has potentially endangered Republican rule in the Senate and weakened support for Republicans in the states. Some wild-eyed pundits have even suggested that because of the Trump Effect, the House could be in play, although no, not really.

    By triangulating (almost cleverly, actually) against not just Clinton but Trump as well, Republicans hope to hold back the tide.

    From the standpoint of the Republican right the presidency is a relatively unimportant office. It almost doesn’t matter who occupies the Oval so long as they can hold on to the Senate, allowing them to continue to block federal judicial nominations and torpedo spending and policy initiatives, while tightening their grip on the states.

    That’s where so much Republican mischief has been made in recent years on multiple fronts: the erosion of environmental regulations and workplace protections, the elimination of the few fragile gun regulations that somehow survived Heller; the dismantling of public education systems; and the privatization of roads and prisons. And tax cuts for the very wealthy, of course.

    Republicans are eminently willing to scuttle Trump for the greater good of the Party. An added bonus is that tactic this allows them to promote the illusion that there is somehow a genuine, meaningful ideological difference between Trump and any other Republican candidate (hint: there isn’t).

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Charitybmarmelade
      6/28/16 4:42pm

      There are some meaningful differences between Trump and the others, but amusingly it’s the other candidates who come off worse. Cruz for example is virulently anti gay and anti transgender rights, and embraces the Culture Warrior tropes wholeheartedly; Trump hasn’t made those things part of his campaign at least not during the primaries to his credit.

      Likewise, a lot of conservatives like Trump have been attacking him from the right, arguing that his real flaws are that he might secretly be more tolerant and compassionate than he appears. This is ridiculous, but it underscores the true horror of what we’re dealing with; an entire group of people concerned that Trump is not hateful and spiteful enough.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Brian, The Life ofBrendan O'Connor
    6/28/16 3:34pm

    Wait. Wasn’t the very cause of the GOP’s slow slide into oblivion caused by “voting based on their religious and moral convictions” (heavy air quotes there) in the first place? No. You fuckers made your bed and now you get to sleep in it. Trump is your monster, you miserable “party before country” shitheads. YOU get to learn this lesson the hard way. Now, reach down and grab those bootstraps you're so fond of so you can more easily kiss your sorry asses goodbye from the national stage for the next 8 years (minimum).

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      RogerMurdockBrendan O'Connor
      6/28/16 2:52pm

      Who Is Really Behind the Anti-Trump Delegate Unbinding Movement?

      A: Prunes.

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        Dave RogerMurdock
        6/28/16 3:16pm
        GIF
        Reply
        <
    • Read More
      BrtStlndBrendan O'Connor
      6/28/16 3:40pm

      Someone really needs to gif up Jeb’s head on Cersei’s body and replace the Sept of Baelor with the Quicken Loans arena.

      Reply
      <
      • Read More
        weirwoodtreehugger3BrtStlnd
        6/28/16 3:56pm

        Don’t forget the barrels of wildfire.

        Reply
        <
    • Read More
      PutinOnDaRitzBrendan O'Connor
      6/28/16 3:39pm

      This all seems like too little, too late.

      I left the GOP years ago when it became apparent they felt kicking a beehive was a better strategy than nurturing the flowers.

      This outcome should have been predictable to people much smarter than I (me? See what I mean?).

      They are scrambling to undo their mess. But, alas...

      Reply
      <