After their candidate managed to only get in the high single digits in the primary elections, the Ron Paul supporters are at it again, this time mobilizing to take over the Georgia Republican Party.
This email was sent out by Ike Hall, interim state coordinator for the Campaign for Liberty and former state coordinator for the Ron Paul campaign in Georgia.
01/09:Ike Hall [State]: GOP Precinct Mass Meetings
OK, it’s that time of year again. The GOP convention call has just been published and we don’t have much time.
This year is going to be a bit different than last, but no less important. This is the year that the GOP leadership is chosen at all levels. It is imperative that, even if we are not running for leadership positions ourselves, that we be prepared to evaluate the folks that are. Of course, if we ARE running for leadership positions, we’d best get our names out there!
Not all of the details have been posted at the Georgia GOP website yet, but here’s the calendar:
Precinct Mass Meetings will take place February 7, 2009 (I’m guessing 10 AM sharp) in counties with population greater than 80,000.
Precinct Mass Meetings will take place March 14, 2009 (likely at 9 AM sharp) in counties with population of 80,000 or less.
All county conventions will be held on March 14, 2009 (probably at 10 AM sharp).
All district conventions will be held on April 18, 2009, and the state convention will be held May 15-16 in Savannah.
But here’s the important part: you cannot participate if you do not attend the precinct mass meeting. And it is important to bring along as many people as possible if you want to be elected to the next level.
The C4L in Georgia will likely have several orientation sessions to explain the process. Please watch the state page for announcements.
While a standing vote by Convention Chairman Randy Evans showed the GOP delegates gathered in Columbus that the Ron Paul supporters were much louder than their actual numbers suggested.
That being said, in some counties, the Ron Paul delegates were much more effective in electing officers and generally causing havoc.
The question is, how mobilized will they be without a Presidential candidate to support? There will be no more George W. Bush to be the GOP boogeyman, galvanizing the libertarian wing of the party. We will also know be then which direction the RNC has moved towards as the Chairman’s race will be decided before the mass meetings.
Many long-term Republican activists welcomed the new people Ron Paul was bringing into the Party; that was until we saw the chaos that many of them, though certainly not all, were determined to add to the process.
The question this year is whether there will be any excitement to bring the long-time grassroots activists back to the process. If not, if the Campaign for Liberty, especially if they can build coalitions with other Republicans who are unhappy with the current administration, may have just enough numbers to turnout the current Republican leadership at many levels in the process.
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Taft,
If I’m not mistaken, McCain won a majoirty of the delegates, not a small plurality of delegates. There was no brokered convention. There was no deals made in the smokey back rooms. McCain did not have to make deals with Paul’s, Huckabee’s, Romney’s or anyone else’s people because he didn’t need their votes. If all of the Paul, Huckabee, Romney, Thompson, etc delegates had gone to the convention and voted their man, McCain would still have won.
That is not a very small group overturning the result of the election.
Furthermore, Paul stayed in to the bitter end. He didn’t exit early. In otherwords, people could choose between Paul and McCain and they chose McCain, for better or worse.
Furthermore Taft, you say, “Come on, Shep, that what a Party DOES at its convention — it puts forth a platform of principles and policies, in order to DEFINE what makes a good Republican and what doesn’t! Are you even thinking about what you’re writing before you click Submit?”
Are you bothering to even read what I wrote? The PARTY does not do that, PEOPLE do that. As I said PEOPLE serve in the PARTY. PEOPLE, by election, choose the PARTY’S candidates. The CANDIDATES, by winning, promote those principles that Jefferson speaks of.
But once again, it is the job of PARTY to get its candidates, those who paid their qualifying fee to the party to run on its ballot, elected.
To the PARTY, whether Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Constitution, American Know-Nothing, Southern, Socialist, Communist, etc, etc, the job is to get its candidates elected. It’s up to the people to decide if those candidates are worthy of election.
Just try to be a party leader trying to get people to make phone calls, wave signs, go door-ro-door, and turn out for rallies for a Republican Candidate who they don’t believe cares about the core values of the Republican Party.
And by the way, the message to the Ron Paul people wasn’t : GO HOME AND COME BACK NEXT YEAR.
The message was, “Stay around and show us you really want to help build the party and are not just a bunch of flashes in the pan.”
The one’s that have stayed involved don’t need Ike Hall’s email telling them we have conventions coming up. The Paulites who said, “I want to make a difference and work to change things.” Did not leave. They are here, active and involved. Those Paulites will likely be elected and start moving up the chain of command. Why? Because many of us who have seen them work hard for the past year want them to keep working hard.
Imagine that? The Republican base still believes that hard work is something that should be rewarded.
North Georgia Girl, with some notable exceptions, even here on PP, many of the Paulites don’t think the voters are smart enough and they need to think for the voters. That’s why they thought that, despite getting a majority of the votes in the Republican Primary, McCain shouldn’t get the nomination. They thought if people were just smarter, they would flock to Dr. Paul and all agree that he should be President. But because of Karl Rove and George Bush and Newt Gingrich, the people were brainwashed and us stupid Republicans were dupped into voting for all of the other candidates, ANYONE but Ron Paul.
This is one Paulite who wants to move up the chain of command. And I have stuck around and will through thick and thin. I believe in the traditional, Constitutional principles of the Republican Party.
Shep wrote – many of the Paulites don’t think the voters are smart enough and they need to think for the voters.
Hey, I can’t knock the voters’ intelligence, secure in the knowledge that I voted for George W. Bush in 2000. The difference between me and the GOPers is that I saw the corruption for what it was, read that rock solid conservatives like me were seeing the same things, and didn’t vote for Bush again.
What I object to is that the SO-CALLED “conservative” media ran over us completely and WE never had avenues to educate or inform the broader electorate.
We were/are the real SHEPHERDS desperately trying to redirect stampeding sheep from following the Judas sheep (A specially selected castrated male sheep).
Grow a pair and join us.
Tyler, are you the Tyler I know from NWGA?
Yes I am.
Then you prove the point exactly. If every Ron Paul supporter had done what you have done then there would be many more Ron Paul supporters in a position to take the reigns of leadership in the party. There’s no one I have talked to in NWGA who doesn’t see you as a rising leader.
Thanks for the kind and encouraging words. I’m trying to make a difference. It’s always best to start early.
Well (Insert your favorite diety here) Taft, Is Erick paying you by the word now? If not, you might want to sign up for Bill Simon’s consulting program. He could teach you how to condense all of what you wrote into the following: “F*%k all y’all, you’re wrong”
And as a slightly more serious point, what is the collective term that the followers of Ron Paul wish to be referred to if you find Ronulans, Paulites, etc offensive? When debating the general tenants of a group, or the counterproductive tactics used by said group (mostly where I’ve been the last couple of days), it’s helpful to have a collective term. If you have a preferred one that doesn’t make me gag, I’ll try to use it.
Jenny used “Paulites” somewhere.
I also think a distinction needs to be made of the rabid worshipers of Ron Paul versus those who supported him because they thought simply he was the best candidate.
Call us whatever you want. Constitutionalists like myself love freedom of speech. Fire away
Paultards was hardly a term of endearment.
I’m not sure I’ve used that one.
(Thought it, sure. But used it? not sure)
shep,
You have a point regarding the differences between Paul supporters in your 8:12.
I was among those that simply thought no better candidate was available. I tend to stay out of the LP ‘Was Barr the best candidate’ debate, as I didn’t really start following the party until after the Convention was over and really don’t know the various points and contentions among the contenders to the nomination. But I will say that by that point, it was clear the race was McCain, Obama/MAYBE Hillary, and the LP nominee.
Of those three, it was thus Big Government, Bigger Government, or Limited Government.
Hmmm…. tough choice….
Paultards–that’s what the other term was. Hilarious!!
Icarus, next time you type at me in bold, capital letters, will you please call me a Paultard?
Is there a short bus for Paultards?
No, the short bus is reserved for Bushturds.
“Is there a short bus for Paultards?’
Of course not, because the constitution doesn’t specifically authorize it.
Icarus, you are catching on. Now if you can just get the legislators to think like that, you will be my hero.
Let me teach a few more of them TO think, before I complicate it by teaching them WHAT to think.
Amen Brother Icarus!
Well, Shep… I get the feeling that you’re way too far in to be shown a way out. But we’ll all keep trying to help you, nevertheless. That’s how much we love you.
“If all of the Paul, Huckabee, Romney, Thompson, etc delegates had gone to the convention and voted their man, McCain would still have won.”
Really? Then why the h-e-double-hockey-sticks didn’t the McCain Gestapo in state conventions and at the RNC allow that to take place? Simple: because to do so would have shown the world that the involved conservative grassroots were willing to go all the way to St. Paul and vote their conscience, and Democrat McCain would have won in the face of 948 real Republicans doing what is supposed to be done at party conventions.
Instead Democrat McCain got the nomination at a well-orchestrated Nuremberg Rally instead of at a rip-roarin’ GOP convention, where we might have had a chance to stand up for actual conservative values and maybe convince the rest of America that, “Hey, maybe they stand for something real after all!”
Then, we got to witness every GOP sycophant up and down the party “leadership” to bend over, pucker up, and kiss the king’s sphincter ring. And you really thought that RP supporters were going to be willing to “stay around” during the election and help you push a Democrat for President? Real conservatives wouldn’t be worth their weight in constitutional gold if they did that.
But they didn’t “leave,” Shep. Your “flashes in the pan” have been talking, meeting, planning, and getting ready to “help build the party” — but not just as a tool without principles, the way you envision it, but as a real party that actually stands for something real — and makes sure that RINOs are exposed as the fake “conservatives” they really are.
I have to admit, you kinda made me laugh when you said, “The PARTY does not do that, PEOPLE do that.”
When you (and many like you) say things like, “it is the job of PARTY to get its candidates, those who paid their qualifying fee to the party to run on its ballot, elected,” what flashes through my mind are names like David Duke, Derek Black, J.T. Ready, Gordon Baum, Randy Weaver, Shawn Stuart… all white supremacists who ran (and some were elected) as Republicans. If what you say is true, then it doesn’t matter WHAT a person actually believes in — as long as he “paid [his] qualifying fee to the party to run on its ballot,” the Republican Party’s “job” is to get those candidates elected.
I use these hyperbolic examples to make my point a little clearer to you, Shep — that it is NOT true that the Republican Party “has one duty and that is to elect Republicans. Period. End of story.” The Party’s “primary motive,” as Jefferson firmly believed, is to push — and push hard — “a real and radical difference of political principle.” As long as the GOP fails in its duty to do its REAL job, it will be relegated to the dustbin of history. RP supporters want to make sure that doesn’t happen, and are here — and here to stay — to ensure it.
Your circuitous point that “the Party” doesn’t do stuff, “people in the party” do stuff, is, I’m sure, a shocking — shocking! — revelation to everyone here. Not. Of course it’s “people” who do all of this stuff — but those people’s job in the Party is not just to push for the election of any cadaver with an “R” by his name, it’s to make sure those “R’s” above room temperature are actually “R’s” — and that’s done by getting a platform and USING it to “decide what mixture from column A and column B makes a good Republican and what doesn’t”!
If you take that aspect of the Party’s “job” away from the Party, then you have place Party above principle, and betrayed the founders’ ideals that made this country the greatest nation in the world.
And by the way, your statement that “The ones that have stayed involved don’t need Ike Hall’s email telling them we have conventions coming up,” just doesn’t hold water. How do I know? Because I received emails from my own county chairman informing me of the same thing, and I found out that he did that because — drumroll, please — Party members didn’t know that we have conventions coming up!
I’m glad Ike reminded his peeps to stay involved, just like any good Party leaders does. In fact, I’m liking Ike more and more; maybe we can convince him to step up to the plate and help get sycophants like Sue Everhart out. One can only hope.
P.S. I have yet to meet a single person who “worships” Ron Paul. The reason he motivated and activated over a million people in the GOP was because of his ideas, not because of him. To claim otherwise is to show ignorance.
“Freedom is popular.”
Icarus – with as wide a variety of individualists as you’ll find among RP supporters, I doubt there will be a consensus on what they would like to be called. But you might want to start by using the word “Republican,” since that is where they have chosen to be active.
I would vote for “Taftites,” but it doesn’t roll off the tongue.
Oh, and Indy, re: “No, the short bus is reserved for Bushturds” — you have GOT to stop making me laugh so hard that milk comes through my nose.
Hey, I thought some folks might like to actually READ what our state Party has at its website:
Why I am a Republican
I am a Republican Because…
I BELIEVE the strength of our nation lies with the individual and that each person’s dignity, freedom, ability and responsibility must be honored.
I BELIEVE in equal rights, equal justice and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, creed, sex, age or disability.
I BELIEVE free enterprise and encouraging individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity.
I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.
I BELIEVE the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations and that the best government is that which governs least.
I BELIEVE the most effective, responsible and responsive government is government closest to the people.
I BELIEVE Americans must retain the principles that have made us strong while developing new and innovative ideas to meet the challenges of changing times.
I BELIEVE Americans value and should preserve our national strength and pride while working to extend peace, freedom and human rights throughout the world.
FINALLY, I believe the Republican Party is the best vehicle for translating these ideals into positive and successful principles of government.
Oh Taft….if you only had a clue as to some of the battles I’ve fought and the scars I have, or even the battles I still fight over the heart and soul of this party.
Both Tyler and Bill Simon are VERY aquainted with a few of them. But I still have to endure the critics like you. When I do, then I just remind of this quote. Newt at one time gave me a very nice framed copy of it:
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Shep – That doesn’t cut it.
Working hard to elect crooks, liars and theives that meet only one criterion – the GOP label – of the party rewards perfidy.
The financial meltdown tells us all we need to know about stamping AAA on a sack of excrement and pretending that it is sound money.
Oh Shep — I know most of the “battles” that you’ve fought, for I know you and what you’ve done.
If only YOU knew all of the battles I’VE fought, from inside the statehouse to inside the White House, you young whippersnapper
, and the scars I’ve got to show for it from the enemies of liberty, from radical leftists, socialists, and Marxists, to GOP party hacks that started out as young whippersnappers clawing their way to the top of a party that has abandoned its principles for the sake of power.
I’m just happy to see the fresh young faces of people passionate about the principles themselves, and willing to get involved in my Party in order to bump the hacks out and bring the GOP back to its roots. And by the way… quoting Newt is a piss-poor way to try to prove any sort of “conservative” bona fides. He abandoned real conservative principles years ago, and today is just in it for whatever he can get, trading the second-oldest profession for the oldest.
Yes, um, Shep,
Offering an impassioned speech defending your love and devotion to the party followed by Newt’s name, has the same jarring effect as watching the groom look deeply into his beautiful brides eyes, and ripping a huge fart right before saying “I do.”
jenny – that last comment made up for all the previous others where I rolled my eyes and moved on.
Bravo!
Jenny,
I was thinking similarly but couldn’t articulate it… thank you, well done!
Jenny – I would have called that ‘crude’ but then decided that ‘elegant’ fit better.
Taft
What do you call Taft Republicans who reside on the coast?
We’ve been called “Paulistas” (like Sandinistas??) because apparently there’s an image among the party hacks that there’s some type of “hornet’s nest” full of a few wild-eyed lunatics and computer geeks that spam websites, and threaten talk show hosts, and are like terrorists or something. These folks refuse to acknowledge that there’s simply a lot of us out here. But hey, I still kinda like the term.
“That’s why they thought that, despite getting a majority of the votes in the Republican Primary, McCain shouldn’t get the nomination.”
Aside from being an open borders fool, and a phony on the pro-life issue (I’m pro-choice, just pointing to the hypocrisy here) McShame was born in Panama, and despite the official party position there’s considerable doubt as to whether his candidacy would pass basic Constitutional requirements. Of course we’ve now seen these folks true colors, by who have decided to co-operate with Obama. And ignore basic facts as to his birthplace as well as the Constitution.
Totally unfair, jenny. That time, it was coffee coming through my nose. My computer screen can’t take this kind of abuse.
Taft -
Thanks.
We will keep on posting I am a Republican Because…. until they disavow it or change to something that reflects their philosophy – if they have one besides “I will head over the cliff behind whatever Judas Sheep has a GOP brand.”
Otherwise, just maybe it will be hammered home that it is something worth honoring.
Q: What do you call Taft Republicans who reside on the coast?
A: Salt water Tafties.
Wasn’t the last Taft to hold elected office in Ohio all but destroy the GOP in that state?
I’ve never even BEEN to Ohio.
Taft Republicans on the coast?
Surf Bored?
The Ron Paulers actually do have some people who can go to parties withoug pissing everybody off. Why doesn’t the GAGOP send out another questioneer? Like the questioneer for delegates that I ripped to shreds only different.
As far as Obama’s netroots. PALLLEEEEEESE. It’s a complete joke. I seriously think there should be more investigations. The mainstream media gives them the red carpet treatment, when in reality they’re doing everything they accused the Ron Paulers of doing. And just look at these conservative “experts” who talk about his netroots as if it was legit.
GF, I don’t remember that questionnaire. Remind me?
$40 convention fees
$60 victory dinner
$30 victory breakfast
No late check ins will be allowed.
Winning the convention, to lose the election? Priceless.
After spending a long weekend at the beach, I only have one question:
Who died and made Shep a front page poster?
It’s Spacey’s slot. Shep had to agree to be a girl.
The question about Shep is whether it would be easier for him to become a girl than to become a (real) Republican.
LOL
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