I'm sorry, but if you can't point and laugh at this you have no joy in life.
The Republican National Committee is expected to debate a proposal next week that would dramatically shift the balance of power at this summer’s convention — and impose a new rulebook for selecting the party's nominee.
That's right, the committee will be debating whether to ditch the existing decades-old rules of how to run the convention in favor of a less centralized Robert's Rules of Order system. For those of you who can't imagine what this might mean, this is what it means:
While arcane, the change would have a profound effect on the convention. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, any of the 2,472 delegates would have the opportunity to raise objections, or points of order, and interrupt the proceedings.
Glorious. Outstanding. Ingenious. I can't imagine a better way to handle what's expected to be the most contentious and chair-throwing Republican convention in memory than to give every last individual attending crackpot power to interrupt the proceedings at will. Merely teaching 2,472 people Robert's Rules of Order—on live television, in the middle of a rancorous nomination battle—with the expectation that not one of them would then misuse or abuse their newly discovered powers would be entertainment in and of itself.
What's motivating this proposal is, of course, the expectation of a contested convention. The proposing RNC member believes moving to this new system would make the process of electing an eventual Somebody more "transparent"; what's less clear is whether that transparency would suit the Serious Republican Dream Plan of ditching all three of the remaining candidates and nominating somebody less likely to humiliate them all in the general election. On the contrary, it seems like throwing more power toward angry Trump and Cruz delegates would not do that.
The likelihood of this particular plan going anywhere seems slim. It does point, however, to the difficulty facing the committee as they try and work out just how this election season can be salvaged. A new rule barring the candidacies of anyone with a “T” in their name? A lottery system, in which anyone who chips in $10 has a shot at being the new nominee? Nominating a summer squash that looks a bit like Paul Ryan? By the time the convention rolls around they will have considered them all.