Romney – Ron Paul in brutal battle !

The war over delegates at the district level last weekend descended into a brutal battle,  more like a scene from the plains of the Serengeti than a political convention.  Romney Hawks, now in complete control of his campaign (See Romney Hawks) are using strong arm tactics to shut out the Ron Paul forces.  A county chairman in New York has commissioned robo calls declaring that all other candidates have dropped out of the race except Mitt Romney.

“If Mitt Romney has won the nomination,” says one of the Ron Paul state directors, “Why are they so threatening and running so scared?  Why would they risk breaking the law or openly lying to people on phone calls?”

I reported to you yesterday on the Ron Paul success in Minnesota and  Iowa.  But only partially.  I held back the full extent of the good news.  The Des Moines Register reported that Ron Paul had won six members on the state committee.  Ahem.  There is much more to say but it is not wise to share.  But since Dr. Paul, himself, let one of the cats out of the bag on CNBC today, I will reiterate his announcement that we took 15 out of 17 members of the Iowa state GOP steering committee.

But don’t cry for Mitt Argentina.  Romneyites are using every trick in the book and then some. In one instance they literally locked the door to keep Ron Paul young people from participating.

From scattered reports of district conventions in numerous states, the Rick Santorum forces are scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.  In many places his campaign is being picked clean by the Romney forces with their “unity” slates, which are anti-prolife and anti-everything else for which Rick Santorum stood.

BTW, if you are Santorum delegate, don’t sell yourself cheap.   The Romney people are making big promises to your colleagues, don’t give away your vote for nothing.  And if you happen to still believe in something, come over to us.

In Missouri, where a Santorum-Ron Paul coalition could have split the delegation, the Santorum people flipped and moved to Mitt Romney, instead.  Depending on how one interprets the final tally, it looks like Ron Paul will get 20 of the delegates, and Romney will get most of the rest, giving only a token to Santorum.  Ironically, the socially conservative, Rick Santorum had asked his people in Missouri to cooperate with Ron Paul, a pro lifer and an evangelical Christian.  But in the end most of the delegates were Santorum supporters in name only and did their own thing, cutting a deal with Mitt Romney.

In Washington State, where Ron Paul and Santorum people are openly cooperating in some districts, the modus operandi of the Romney establishment was especially curt.  The 37th legislative district of King County is a case in point. Borrowing successful tactics used by the Romney Gestapo in Alaska, a determined King County Chairwoman, Lori Sotelo, instituted a last minute “poll tax” of ten dollars.   The Ron Paul people were not deterred.  They meekly submitted to this surprise “rule” and paid her the money.  The meeting began, late but the duly elected delegates were committed to see it through.

When the delegates in attendance, overwhelmingly Ron Paul supporters, duly elected their own Tamra Smilanich as the permanent chair of the caucus, Sotelo watched for a few minutes and then began what can only be described as a continuous assault on democracy at work.  First she interrupted the proceedings to announce that the caucus was adjourned.  She declared that Smilanich was an “operative” of the Ron Paul campaign and had turned the event into a Ron Paul campaign meeting.  Since the insurance was paid for by the King County GOP, she determined it did not cover a Ron Paul event, thus the meeting was closed.

No reason was cited to substantiate the accusation and videos now abound on the internet giving viewers a blow by blow account of events as they unfolded.  Participants insist that Smilanich operated within the Robert’s Rules of Order and her election was legitimate.  Her only fault was she hailed from the Ron Paul camp.

After Smilanich allowed for speeches and just before the body could vote, Lori Sotelo made another attempt to end the proceeding and prevent any vote from taking place.  Once more she contended that the premises had to be vacated because chairman Smilanich was acting as a Ron Paul campaign surrogate.  A few minutes later she announced that the premises had to be vacated because the place had been rented for a limited amount of time and that time was now ended.

With this ugly tug of war ongoing, the meeting dragged on for hours, relocating to different places, but, miraculously, a quorum was maintained and delegates were elected to the next round.

See: High noon in Washington State.

Of course, the establishment GOP and the Romney campaign continue to make every effort to stop or discourage the Ron Paul involvement on the grounds that Mitt Romney has won the nomination and the party should unite.

Vincent Reda, the Rockland County, New York chairman had robo phones call to all Republicans in the county declaring that all other candidates had dropped out of the race except Mitt Romney.  Where the calls made with Republican money?  If so, it was illegal.

Listen to Vincent Reda give his false message.

One wonders why the Romney forces are so nervous.  Why would they misrepresent the facts?  Why would their shills in the main stream media keep beating the drums,  saying to the Ron Paul supporters, “Get out, get out, get out.”

No one stops to ask the question that if Mitt Romney has the nomination won, why should all of these people have to get out?  Why wouldn’t the Romney organizers be saying, “Get in, get in, get in?”