Though both Ron Paul and Rick Santorum have ended their campaigns for the Republican nomination, they are holding on to their delegates and seeking as much influence as they can have over this year’s convention. That probably includes a fight for speaking slots, but also over the content of this year’s Republican platform.
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Santorum explained that the reason he wants his delegates to go to Tampa and have influence on the platform is to protect conservative principles, not change the platform in a specific way.
“I like the platform that we have right now,” Santorum said. “I am concerned that, you know, Ron Paul and some of his supporters out there are looking for a platform fight and I want to make sure that we have strong, principled conservatives there who stood with me in our primary fight to go there and counterbalance the effect of the Paul folks.”
There are some major differences between those two groups when it comes to what the platform should say and what Republicans should care about. The Ron Paul folks generally don’t care much about the anti-gay stuff, while the Santorum people are practically obsessed with it. There would be big differences in terms of foreign policy, defense spending, military interventions and much more as well. Could be an interesting fight.
20 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
busterggi
June 12, 2012 at 2:57 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There won’t be any fight over the Repub platform. Just take the most crazy, theological, narrow-minded, bigoted positions on everything and the Repub dittoheads will vote as they are told.
dingojack
June 12, 2012 at 3:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Nah, both will roll over for the Republican cause with only a symbolic fight.
Both will say in the wash-up: ‘I fought the good fight, but had to give in to the majority, reluctantly. I really I distance myself from the position I negotiated, I am truly ‘mavricky’ and stuff’.
You just wait.
Dingo
Stevarious
June 12, 2012 at 3:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Actually, we’ve seen at the caucuses lately that there very much seems to be a pitched battle over the platform. Like, with actual violence.
http://wikiprotest.com/blog/cops-arrest-and-assault-duly-elected-gop-chairman-during-louisiana-caucus/
tacitus
June 12, 2012 at 4:08 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I would be extremely surprised it the GOP allows anything to disrupt or distract from the coronation of Mitt Romney at the convention.
I suspect the days when anything meaningful happened at party conferences beyond that which is ordained by the party leaders are long gone.
Trebuchet
June 12, 2012 at 4:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Rand Paul has endorsed Romney. That’s a sure sign that a deal has been struck to keep Ron Paul from disrupting the convention by giving him some platform planks he wants. If Santorum fights those planks he’ll be the one disrupting things, which won’t stand him in good stead with leadership. Not that he’s particularly in good stead now.
d cwilson
June 12, 2012 at 4:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Expect this to be the most anti-gay, anti-government, anti-middle class, theocratic, and batshit crazy platform the GOP has come up with in decades.
I predict both the theocrats (Santorum) and the faux-libertarians (Paul) will dig in until they get what they want. Santorum’s folks will get language saying that teh gay is responsible for the ruination of America while the Paulites will get a declaration that 3/4 of all federal agencies are unconstitutional and should be abolished.
geraldmcgrew
June 12, 2012 at 5:17 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I was listening to “The Power Hour” on our local AM Radio station yesterday, and from what I could tell (and from their website: http://www.thepowerhour.com/schedule.htm), the host, the guest, and virtually all the callers are all Ron Paul supporters. They were so angry that Paul ended his campaign that they saw an armed revolution as their only recourse, with not voting or voting for Romney being seen as no-go alternatives.
Ron Paul may seem like a reasonable politician on some issues (and rather goofy on others), but many of his followers are downright crazy.
Michael Heath
June 12, 2012 at 7:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
d cwilson writes:
While I won’t make a prediction I concur there’s an excellent chance of this happening.
d cwilson writes:
Ron Paul is an exemplar of libertarianism as its practiced by those with power, he’s certainly not, ‘no true Scotsman’. Movements evolve and just like conservatives now reject Burkeism to the point they despise the best contemporaneous example of a Burkean politician, Barack Obama, Paul vividly illustrates the politically powerful of libertarianism. Throw in the Koch brothers and you’ve completely explained the influential wing of libertarianism.
BrianX
June 12, 2012 at 7:47 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Now, see, the Paulistas really seem to have it in their heads that Paul is having the presidency stolen out from under him. Their entire platform is righteous delusion.
M Groesbeck
June 13, 2012 at 2:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“The Ron Paul folks” might not, but Ron Paul does — heterosexual-supremacy is his preferred domain to pitch the resurrection of the rotten corpse of “states’ rights uber alles“. “The Ron Paul folks” will just cheerfully go along with the points of agreement between Paul and Santorum, because anything that Paul supports must be steps towards all the things that Ron Paul folks have convinced themselves that Ron Paul supports even if Ron Paul himself legislates as just another vicious theocratic corporatist.
csrster
June 13, 2012 at 2:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There’s Santorum on the platform? Ewww!
Joey Maloney
June 13, 2012 at 3:48 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Possibly the only thing that could get me to watch the TV coverage of the convention.
Raging Bee
June 13, 2012 at 8:19 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Oh goody, more right-wing stupidity and insanity for Romney to cave to!
There would be big differences in terms of foreign policy, defense spending, military interventions and much more as well.
Are you fucking kidding me? Both loony-right scumbags are equally ignorant and uncaring about world affairs, both are adamantly opposed to any form of foreign aid, humanitarian assistance, or support for any sort of progressive movement abroad, and neither one wants to draw any attention to the consequences of past Republican foreign policies. You really think Ron Paul is any different from the rest of that lot? Dream the fuck on.
d cwilson
June 13, 2012 at 8:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I was not employing the “no true Scotsman” fallacy there. I was merely remarking about how Paul’s approach to libertarianism is not consistent. His anti-gay views is one example. Another is the fact that he has no problem with tyranny, so long as it comes from the states instead of the federal government. A more accurate description of his views is a states rights conservative, but Paul doesn’t want to use that label for obvious reasons.
d cwilson
June 13, 2012 at 8:53 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s hard to pin down what the “Ron Paul folks” really want as they are really an eclectic mix of conspiracy theorists, gold standard advocates, pot heads, racists, and assorted nuts, not that all of the above are necessarily mutually exclusive. The only thing that unites them is a bizarre feeling of worship for “Dr. Paul”.
Raging Bee
June 13, 2012 at 9:38 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The only thing that unites them is a bizarre feeling of worship for “Dr. Paul”.
And a breathtaking lack of any clue about what kind of person they’re worshipping. Sort of like all those evangelical Christians waving their Bibles around like flags (of convenience), without ever knowing what their precious (excuse me, “preciousss”) book really says.
Marcus Ranum
June 13, 2012 at 10:10 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
the reason he wants his delegates to go to Tampa and have influence on the platform is to protect conservative principles, not change the platform in a specific way.
Have influence but not change sounds pretty changey to me!
Trebuchet
June 13, 2012 at 11:05 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’ll go out on a limb and make a prediction: The Republican convention will be every bit as boring as the Democratic one. There will be no fights about anything. Romney and the RNC have already made peace with the Paul camp (not the ardent followers, of course, but Ron & Rand themselves) in exchange for a platform plank or two and probably a speech by Rand. Santorum will soon get in line for a similar, and perhaps less generous, deal.
d cwilson
June 13, 2012 at 1:46 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
If you’re watching the convention on TV, you’ll see the same boring, stage managed spectacle we’ve grown used to in the last 40 years. The real wrangling and fighting will happen in the committee meetings where the platforms are drafted and away from the cameras.
democommie
June 14, 2012 at 7:26 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
With any luck the Paulistas will gather in a park near the convention and make a ruckus so that the Hillsboro County SD has to wade in with the truncheons and pepper spray.
Come to think of it, the absolute bestest scenario would be for Tampa to experience one of its periodic smackdowns at the hands of mother nature and watch all of the GOPervs tread water and SCREAM for federal assistance.