All the dithering about what the Democratic Convention may look like is ignoring the grassroots plan by Ron Paul Republicans to stage a demonstration over the "future" of the Republican Party at the St. Paul convention in September.
Yes, if you hadn't noticed, Paul got 16% of the PA vote. Everyone's fixated on Democratic problems, but what about a black eye convention for McCain?
The LA Times reports here:
The last three months Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upwards of one million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.
Paul has about $5 million left to spend and isn't going to go quietly.
Furthermore:
They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot. Paul, who's running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a longterm revolution for control of the Republican Party.
So eager are they to follow their leader's words, that Paul's supporters have driven his new book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto," to the top of several bestseller lists.
While Paul has consistently refused a third-party bid, he has vowed not to endorse McCain, a refusal mirrored by hundreds of his supporters who've left comments on The Ticket in recent weeks. And, no doubt, they'll flock back here today to spread the gospel below.
So going into the stretch, beyond who Obama's VP pick is and whether or not we'll have a Kennedy-Carter refusal to raise hands together as in 1980 (I don't think that will come to pass), it's the Republicans who are looking to a PR fiasco.
Could it be a reverse-Rush effect where Paultards, if thwarted from a speaking slot at the convention, devote their not inconsiderable talents to defeating McCain?
Discuss.