It ain't over yet - Cruz part 2?

[Israel Chai]

Is he running for office in Canada?

Beat it Chumptard. He's not shiny but he saves America.

[cjd]

Beat it Chumptard. He's not shiny but he saves America.

Ok. Clown... You wait for shiny 

[Israel Chai]

Ok. Clown... You wait for shiny 

Why do you want Iran and Saudi Arabia to get nukes?

JTF. there is a battle being fought now. It's complicated, most won't understand it, and it's as uphill as it gets, but literally no cause on Earth is more important right now. We can get Cruz the win, fight.

[Israel Chai]

GOP rules are on Cruz control
The Conservative Minuteman·Thursday, May 26, 2016
Ted Cruz is preparing rule changes that could slow or prevent an outsider candidate like Donald Trump.
 Ted Cruz will head to the Republican National Convention with more clout than any GOP runner-up since Pat Buchanan in 1992.
They plan to push for a series of rule changes that could slow or prevent an outsider candidate like presumptive nominee ­Donald Trump, and give more sway to the sort of conservative activists who backed Senator Cruz.
Remember rules changes go into effect before the first vote on the floor.
Some are also considering a proposal to create a “conscience exception”, which they could ­invoke if they could not support the candidate who won the nominating contests.
“We’d like to see the grassroots empowered,” said Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia ­attorney-general who is leading the Cruz backers.
“People are tossing ideas around right now. What we’re in now is the brainstorming phase.”
Cruz delegates will populate — and could make up a majority on — important committees that will determine the platform and rules at the GOP convention.
Most of his backers at the convention will be required on the first ballot to support Mr Trump as the party’s nominee, but they are free to vote how they choose on other matters, including the party platform, convention rules, and the vice-presidential pick.
Their ranks grew when Washington state held its GOP convention last weekend.
Cruz supporters won 40 of the state’s 41 delegate slots selected at the convention — even though Mr Trump won the state’s primary on Tuesday. Three other Washington delegates will be the state party chairman and the state’s two Republican National Committee members.
Senator Cruz’s campaign has been far more organized than Mr Trump’s at state conventions and his supporters continue to outflank the New York businessman even though the Texas senator’s campaign has been suspended for three weeks.
Cruz loyalists will take their cues in Cleveland from Mr Cuccinelli; Senator Cruz has given no indication that he will lead his troops.
The senator’s last conversation with his delegates was weeks ago when he thanked them — and urged them to ­attend the convention.
Mr Cuccinelli is preparing to seek changes that would incentivize states to restrict primaries to Republican Party members only, no longer award delegates from congressional districts held by Democrats, and ban lobbyists from being members of the RNC.
He said he expected to face resistance on the rules committee from Mr Trump’s supporters, though he anticipated there would be enough Cruz supporters to ensure the Texas senator’s backers are heard.
“Some people are going to be sheep, they’re going to say, ‘It’s my job to do whatever the ­presumptive nominee wants me to do’. Thankfully those are a ­distinct minority,” said Mr ­Cuccinelli.
Mr Trump made explicit ­appeals to, and won support from, independents and registered Democrats, so restricting their access to primaries is seen as a move to slow a Trump-like candidate in the future.
 “They want to be sure the party stays conservative,” said Steve Munisteri, a rules committee delegate from Texas who works for the RNC.
“Not only the platform, but also that it has a process that gives a conservative candidate” assurances they are “not disadvantaged by the process.” 

[cjd]

GOP rules are on Cruz control
The Conservative Minuteman·Thursday, May 26, 2016
Ted Cruz is preparing rule changes that could slow or prevent an outsider candidate like Donald Trump.
 Ted Cruz will head to the Republican National Convention with more clout than any GOP runner-up since Pat Buchanan in 1992.
They plan to push for a series of rule changes that could slow or prevent an outsider candidate like presumptive nominee ­Donald Trump, and give more sway to the sort of conservative activists who backed Senator Cruz.
Remember rules changes go into effect before the first vote on the floor.
Some are also considering a proposal to create a “conscience exception”, which they could ­invoke if they could not support the candidate who won the nominating contests.
“We’d like to see the grassroots empowered,” said Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia ­attorney-general who is leading the Cruz backers.
“People are tossing ideas around right now. What we’re in now is the brainstorming phase.”
Cruz delegates will populate — and could make up a majority on — important committees that will determine the platform and rules at the GOP convention.
Most of his backers at the convention will be required on the first ballot to support Mr Trump as the party’s nominee, but they are free to vote how they choose on other matters, including the party platform, convention rules, and the vice-presidential pick.
Their ranks grew when Washington state held its GOP convention last weekend.
Cruz supporters won 40 of the state’s 41 delegate slots selected at the convention — even though Mr Trump won the state’s primary on Tuesday. Three other Washington delegates will be the state party chairman and the state’s two Republican National Committee members.
Senator Cruz’s campaign has been far more organized than Mr Trump’s at state conventions and his supporters continue to outflank the New York businessman even though the Texas senator’s campaign has been suspended for three weeks.
Cruz loyalists will take their cues in Cleveland from Mr Cuccinelli; Senator Cruz has given no indication that he will lead his troops.
The senator’s last conversation with his delegates was weeks ago when he thanked them — and urged them to ­attend the convention.
Mr Cuccinelli is preparing to seek changes that would incentivize states to restrict primaries to Republican Party members only, no longer award delegates from congressional districts held by Democrats, and ban lobbyists from being members of the RNC.
He said he expected to face resistance on the rules committee from Mr Trump’s supporters, though he anticipated there would be enough Cruz supporters to ensure the Texas senator’s backers are heard.
“Some people are going to be sheep, they’re going to say, ‘It’s my job to do whatever the ­presumptive nominee wants me to do’. Thankfully those are a ­distinct minority,” said Mr ­Cuccinelli.
Mr Trump made explicit ­appeals to, and won support from, independents and registered Democrats, so restricting their access to primaries is seen as a move to slow a Trump-like candidate in the future.
“They want to be sure the party stays conservative,” said Steve Munisteri, a rules committee delegate from Texas who works for the RNC.
“Not only the platform, but also that it has a process that gives a conservative candidate” assurances they are “not disadvantaged by the process.”

Have mercy    “They want to be sure the party stays conservative,” said Steve Munisteri... Which party is that? 95 percent of the Republican party should be reclassified as liberal Democrats... Most of the parties anti- Trump ankle biters are simmering down so all this eleventh hour nonsense is just that... They are starting to see that Trump can bring in a great deal of money and will share much of it with other Republicans running...  Each day more and more of the so called conservatives are jumping on the Trump band wagon...

[Israel Chai]

Have mercy    “They want to be sure the party stays conservative,” said Steve Munisteri... Which party is that? 95 percent of the Republican party should be reclassified as liberal Democrats... Most of the parties anti- Trump ankle biters are simmering down so all this eleventh hour nonsense is just that... They are starting to see that Trump can bring in a great deal of money and will share much of it with other Republicans running...  Each day more and more of the so called conservatives are jumping on the Trump band wagon...

You keep begging for my mercy. No.

The Republican party is about 30% conservative, and then there are factions that for one reason or another do not want to become Venezuela before nuclear holocaust, so are with the Republicans.

Trump can't bring in much money at all. He has Sheldon Anderson, but his campaign is completely broke. Rubio was always a Rino.

[Israel Chai]

http://www.redstate.com/diary/blbennett/2016/05/28/flash-report-delegates-enough-votes-nominate-cruz-1st-ballot/?utm_content=buffer32f34&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer


FLASH! Report that Delegates Have Enough Votes to Nominate Cruz on 1st Ballot
Posted by blbennett on May 28, 2016 at 2:59 pm
FLASH! Report that Delegates Have Enough Votes to Nominate Cruz on 1st Ballot

(from the diaries by streiff because wishful thinking isn't a bad reaction to impending doom)

The Media have declared Donald Trump has gained the required number of delegates for nomination, plus one: 1238. This is a misstatement, because he is not officially nominated until 1237 delegates vote for him at the convention. So not only has the fat lady not sung, she’s still in her dressing room, deciding who she’ll sing for.

Thing is, many of the Trump delegates—in their hearts—support Ted Cruz. In fact, informed sources indicate that, were they allowed to vote their consciences on the first ballot, delegates believe they have sufficient votes to nominate Ted Cruz at the convention. (Numbers difficult to confirm at this time.)

Trump strikingly unfit to be president

Those sources also said that delegates live in fear of death threats from Trump supporters, and threats from Roger Stone to release delegate’s hotel rooms—something the craven GOP has done nothing about, to their shame. In social media, Trumpers even threaten people who refuse to vote for Trump in November!

His incitement of these types, and refusal to call them off is but one indicator that Trump is unsuitable for the Oval Office. We’ve also seen neo-Nazis launch loathsome anti-Semitic attacks against a Jewish writer whose GQ profile displeased “Empress Melania,” as they call her. DT refused to condemn the assault, when confronted by Wolf Blitzer.

Shockingly, other Jewish journalists have been similarly attacked by Trump followers. It is with great regret that I quote leftist outlets, but our media are busy worshipping the Golden Calf.

We must ask: Has the GOP lost its sanity? How can it field such a candidate? This Trumpian madness is already being used to paint all GOP candidates.

Convention delegates have the power – and the duty to choose the best candidate

Most state rules dictate that delegates are bound, or pledged to vote for their designated candidate on the first ballot; some on the second also. But all-important is the first ballot vote: if Trump wins 1237 delegates on that ballot, he is nominated. But if he doesn’t, ballots continue until someone does get 1237. That was the system that nominated Lincoln and that is the system today.

I’ve written several times that rules committee member Curly Haugland has repeatedly declared the delegates are free to vote their consciences on the first ballot. In a letter to the RNC membership, in March he said:  “Delegates have been bound only once in the history of the Republican Party: In 1976.”

He cites a 2006 statement by Tom Josefiak, of the RNC Counsel’s office:

“‘One of the important rules changes over the last 50 years has been the unit rule prohibited...that change was made so that an individual delegate can vote his or her conscience.’ (transcript, RNC Standing Committee on the Rules, January 19, 2006 pp 93-94)”

“That’s right,” Mr. Haugland wrote, “Every delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention is a completely free agent, free to vote for the candidate of their choice on every ballot at the convention in Cleveland in July. Every delegate is a Super delegate!”

Haugland refers to Rule 38:

“No delegate or alternate delegate shall be bound by any attempt of any state or Congressional district to impose the unit rule. A ‘unit rule’ prohibited by this section means a rule or law under which a delegation at the national convention casts its entire vote as a unit as determined by a majority vote of the delegation.”

He told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that:

“‘The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That’s the conflict here,’” He said. “The political parties choose their nominees, not the general public, contrary to popular belief,” he added.

“The United States Supreme Court has held several times that political parties enjoy protection from both the First and Fourteenth Amendments as they pursue their political objectives. The Republican Party is free to choose whether or not they want to be governed by state laws,” Haugland argued in a written statement.

“RNC spokesman Lindsay Walters told CNBC that delegates are not free to vote their consciences on the first ballot: “‘Delegates are bound according to the rules written by the state party.’" But: a CNBC study found these SCOTUS decisions support delegates’ right to vote as they choose:

“RNC rules or not, a political party has power over the states and could override their binding rules, according to two Supreme Court rulings: Cousins v. Wigoda 1975 and Democratic Party v. Wisconsin ex rel. La Follette, 1981.”

Therefore, the primary vote—much bragged about by Mr. Trump—does not give him the nomination; the delegates at the convention do. Indeed: his claim to be supported by “the people” is false: the total he got so far, is only 42% of GOP primary voters, including crossover Democrats:

Total votes:     27,900,288

Trump:            11,606,701 = 42%

Non-Trump:    16,293,587 = 58%

So where are we, the 58% who voted against him, represented? If events proceed unchecked, we will have been silenced by a minority of the party, and a clearly unfit candidate will be nominated.

Three  sources confirm Curly Haugland’s opinion

Okay. What is the corroboration for Curly Haugland’s assertion that convention delegates have the right to vote their consciences on the first convention ballot, even if bound to a candidate?

First, in 2012 that is precisely what happened at the GOP convention. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that:

“During a roll call of the states to nominate Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential pick, Paul delegates refused to vote for Romney as required under binding rules of Nevada’s GOP presidential caucus, which the former Massachusetts governor [had] easily won on Feb. 4.

“Instead, … they followed their consciences with 17 voting to nominate Paul and five more abstaining. Five Romney-loyal delegates voted to nominate him as planned.”

Second, you can read the official results on the Green Papers, in the two columns on the right. The “Hard Total” column reflects the “count of the National Convention delegates as they are formally allocated … under the rules governing the selection of such delegates in each state.”

It shows that, of the 28 total Nevada delegates, 14 were bound to Romney and 5 to Ron Paul. But the “Floor Vote” column shows that Romney got only 5 votes on the convention floor; 17 voted for Ron Paul. Mr. Haugland told the writer that happened in other states as well.

Third: Three months before the 2012 convention, Examiner.com wrote:

“In 2008, the RNC Legal Counsel legally interpreted the RNC rules and concluded that all delegates, regardless of state party rules, could vote for whomever he or she chooses at the Republican National Convention.

“The significance of this legal interpretation by the RNC lawyers is that all delegates are free to vote for any candidate regardless of any such “binding.” Because the RNC was the organization that conducted this legal examination, their ruling trumps all state GOP rules.

“In the past, ‘bound’ delegates have attempted to vote for a candidate they were not ‘bound’ to and not once have they been disallowed. Not only is there credible legal interpretation of this scenario, it has been found that there has never been a ‘bounded’ delegate forced upon his or her will to vote for a ‘designated’ candidate by his or her state GOP party.” [Emphasis added.]

The RNC legal counsel, in 2008: “The RNC does NOT recognize a state’s binding of national delegates, but considers each delegate a free agent who can vote for whoever they choose.”

The situation in 2012 was similar to that today, in that a number of delegates bound to Mitt Romney were in fact Ron Paul supporters. Haugland also told this reporter that the vote is by secret ballot, and that delegates should insist that secrecy be preserved. So delegates need not fear reprisals from Trump supporters.

The delegates need your support. Contact Reince Priebus and tell him we demand a viable nominee:

Twitter: @Reince | email: [email protected] | phone: 202-863-8500 <7> e-mail is best. It's good to put your main point in the subject line, in case they don't open the emails.

[Israel Chai]

http://theresurgent.com/to-hell-with-unity-freethedelegates/

(visit page for radio show)

To Hell With Unity, #FreeTheDelegates
By Steve Berman  |  May 11, 2016, 12:30pm  |  @lifeofgrace224

    #FreeTheDelegatesGOP


I may have made a mistake burning my Georgia GOP state convention credentials. This morning, Erick wrote that the delegates can vote to unbind themselves.

I was incredulous, and questioned him. It turns out that yes, in all but five states, if the convention votes to change the rules, the GOP can indeed unbind delegates on the first ballot.

Here’s the deal: If Trump thinks he doesn’t need to unify the GOP, then I say to hell with unity. If the delegates have the backbone and means to shut Trump out, then so be it. Let Trump go third party.

Whatever the “free the delegates” plan is, it’s a heck of a longshot.

    The idea is, at best, a complete long shot because it would require the 112-member convention rules committee to agree to such a change, and delegates on the convention floor to support it as well.

    Radio host Ian Bayne unveiled the idea, labeled Save Our Party, last Friday after Trump’s last GOP opponent dropped out.

I reached out to Bayne, who told me “If Trump (really Cruz) delegates hold out at a separate location and don’t show up for a vote, there will continue to be so many votes that eventually all delegates will be completely free to vote how they want.”

Essentially Bayne wants Cruz-supporting Cleveland delegates to hole up until after the first ballot. Written on the website saveourparty.com:

    Organize separately as delegates to the 2016 Republican convention at an undisclosed location until such a time as we can not be held to a vote for any particular candidate;

    Work together to agree upon an acceptable nominee that will, above all else, nominate a member of the Supreme Court that will serve in the spirit of our founding documents;

    Nominate a Republican candidate that will serve as a caretaker of our Constitution and our rule of law for a period of 4 years;

    We, as Delegates, are the last line of defense, and we will act within our authority to live up to that responsibility.

I’m not sure how this plan would work out–it’s for the lawyers to kick around–and I think the rules committee would have to go along, no matter what.

If the plan succeeded, I’d expect the GOP to go up in flames. I’d burn down the party to keep Trump from hijacking it. Not everyone agrees on that. At this point, conservatives are in full rout, every man for himself, with no banner under which to gather.

My brother compared it to the Union troops at the first battle of Bull Run.

    On the day of the battle, July 21, 1861, politicians, other notables from Washington society, and their wives, packed picnic baskets and drove to the hills around Manassas to witness the defeat of the Confederacy. McDowell’s attack at Bull Run Creek almost succeeded, but the Confederates stopped a last strong Union assault. Under General Thomas Jackson, who resisted the Union advance “like a stone wall” (and was thereafter known as “Stonewall” Jackson), the Confederates counterattacked, screaming the “rebel yell” at the top of their lungs.

    Already haggard by the battle in which nearly 3000 of their compatriots died, a wave of panic issued through the Union troops, who retreated in a rout back to Washington, along with the ladies and gentlemen of Washington society. However, the heavy losses also suffered by the Confederate side (nearly 2000) prevented their pursuit of the Federals. In the wake of Manassas/Bull Run, Lincoln increased the size of the army, and both sides learned the lesson that it was not going to be a quick and easy war.

The Washington society elites and routed troops jousted each other on the clogged, muddy roads back to the Potomac bridges and the safety of D.C. Along the way, they shed their weapons, picnic baskets, and whatever they couldn’t easily carry.

We have former governors Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, along with sitting Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts pulled along with the panicked crowd. We’ve got millions of conservative voters thinking about giving up on what is not going to be a quick and easy war.

I say fight. I say go full Samson. I say become William Tecumseh Sherman and march all the way from Cleveland to the sea. If the GOP wants to self-destruct, let it happen, but don’t let a charlatan hijack it.

#FreeTheDelegates

[cjd]

You keep begging for my mercy. No.

The Republican party is about 30% conservative, and then there are factions that for one reason or another do not want to become Venezuela before nuclear holocaust, so are with the Republicans.

Trump can't bring in much money at all. He has Sheldon Anderson, but his campaign is completely broke. Rubio was always a Rino.

The mercy I am asking for is from G-d not you... The Republican establishment sold their rump to the shvartza President and this is why you now have a candidate like Trump... There can be all the factions you care to find but at the end of the day there is not enough consensus between them to bring them all together behind a right wing conservative.... Why you bring Rubio into this picture now I haven't a clue... At this point I don't think he could  even carry his own state of Florida... He should be pushing around a Piragua cart in Miami because that's all he seems fit to do... I think he may be home putting one together as we speak because politically I believe he is finished.

[Israel Chai]

The mercy I am asking for is from G-d not you... The Republican establishment sold their rump to the shvartza President and this is why you now have a candidate like Trump... There can be all the factions you care to find but at the end of the day there is not enough consensus between them to bring them all together behind a right wing conservative.... Why you bring Rubio into this picture now I haven't a clue... At this point I don't think he could  even carry his own state of Florida... He should be pushing around a Piragua cart in Miami because that's all he seems fit to do... I think he may be home putting one together as we speak because politically I believe he is finished.

The establishment begrudgingly accepted him, but they don't want to give him their money:http://www.politicususa.com/2016/05/28/republicans-stunned-trump-reveals-presidential-campaign-broke.html

Rubio will give Cruz his delegates at the convention if he wants a political future. The Trump guys just want to parade him around town so they are further glorified when they execute his career.

[Israel Chai]

Ok. Clown... You wait for shiny 

The numbers have consistently what conservatives have said for the last two decades, conservatives don't win, and corrupt chicken man-child RINOs like that weirdo that sued Kris Kyle's widow are not worth a second of time or a dime of effort. I do not understand why you feel obligated to fight a guaranteed-to-lose battle for someone that represents you in no way, other than your idea that he wants his sleazy hated and envied name to be remembered very well, because you think he is being egotistical, and it's not, it's just setting the opponent up for a weak jab in conservative politics.

Right now, you can look for a way to get a conservative on the ballot and have a guaranteed win, or you can be against it and then alienate the grassroots base from the Republican party potentially for generations and have a guaranteed loss. I say if you're going to fight in a war for Israel, Torah says you should be killed if you walk out before it's over, and I believe it reflects on life decisions.

[Israel Chai]

#NeverTrump

[Israel Chai]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/talk-grows-replacing-trump-convention-000000790.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=fb
Talk grows of replacing Trump at GOP convention

   Jon Ward
June 9, 2016
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is joined by his daughter Ivanka as he speaks at Trump National Golf Club Westchester on Tuesday. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)View photos
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is joined by his daughter Ivanka as he speaks at Trump National Golf Club Westchester on Tuesday. (Photo: Mary Altaffer/AP)
More
There is growing talk on the right of replacing Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for president, and even chatter about a possible alternative.
As Trump has floundered over the past week after questioning a federal judge’s impartiality because of his Mexican ancestry, Trump’s critics within the GOP have stepped up their efforts to thwart him. Some anti-Trump conservatives, who have tried for months to recruit an independent candidate, have begun looking more closely at attempting to persuade delegates at next month’s GOP convention to nominate someone other than Trump.
“There is a rapidly moving train toward the convention to try to obstruct it at the convention. Trump in the last 72 hours has given hope to people who think it’s now possible,” said Erick Erickson, a conservative radio talk show host and one of Trump’s most resolute critics.
“He’s starting to give everybody hope that he should be stopped at the convention,” Erickson said, though he cautioned that if Trump “cleans up his act then I think that hope will go away.”
One of the central players inside the movement to recruit an independent conservative candidate also said Monday that an anti-Trump group was “actively recruiting and setting a convention strategy.”
And David French, a conservative writer who considered running as an anti-Trump independent candidate, told Yahoo News that Trump shouldn’t take his convention nomination for granted. “If Trump continues to be cocky, saying, ‘I can do whatever I want and do whatever I want because I own these people, there’s a limit to that,” French said. “I’m sorry, but there is.”
Public calls for Republicans to replace Trump grew Wednesday.
“I want to support the nominee of the party, but I think the party ought to change the nominee. Because we’re going to get killed with this nominee,” Hugh Hewitt, a nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host, said. “They ought to get together and let the convention decide. And if Donald Trump pulls over a makeover in the next four to five weeks, great, they can keep him.”
And the same day, Steve Deace, a conservative activist and radio talk show host from Iowa, reviewed Trump’s most recent missteps on his radio show and urged the 2,500 delegates to the Republican convention to “make this stop.”
“History is calling you to step up to the plate. You have not a choice but an obligation. You must save the country,” Deace said to the delegates.
A.J. Spiker, a former Iowa Republican Party chairman, tweeted on Tuesday, “The Republican Party needs a patriot to step forward, challenge Trump, work delegates and win the GOP nomination for president in Cleveland.”
Prominent Republican politicians have also started to distance themselves from Trump. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said Tuesday he would not vote for Trump despite having pledged previously to support the party’s nominee. And Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who also has said he won’t support Trump, told an Arizona radio station that there is “fear and loathing” of the party’s nominee.
“There’s not a lot of enthusiasm. There’s some resignation and some mixture of fear and loathing to think about what the next couple months will bring given the statements that he has made,” Flake said.
Amid this agitation for a Trump alternative, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s name has been increasingly mentioned as a possible replacement. Walker was an early frontrunner in the GOP primary, but he suspended his campaign last summer in the face of sagging fundraising and poll numbers.
Walker previously said he would ultimately support the GOP nominee. But on Tuesday, Walker backed away from supporting Trump, pointedly saying, “He’s not yet the nominee.”
The conservative site RedState reported Wednesday that there are “rumors” that Walker is “open” to such an outcome. And one source who has been involved in the effort to recruit an independent candidate said Walker has told those working to find an alternative that he would be willing to serve as an alternative at the convention if Trump continues to implode.
Rick Wilson, a Florida-based Republican operative involved in the stop-Trump effort, said Walker’s potential entry into the race was “speculative but widely discussed.”
For his part, Walker dismissed the speculation in a statement to Yahoo News: “Let me be clear: I am focused entirely on being governor. If there’s any campaign in the future, it’s going to be running for reelection in 2018, which is a decision that we’ll make in the months ahead following the next state budget.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks during the American Conservative Union's Conservative Political Action Conference in March. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)View photos
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks during the American Conservative Union’s Conservative Political Action Conference in March. (Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
More
Not every anti-Trump conservative thinks the convention discussion is wise. “People have scenarios of the convention. I think they are a waste of time,” said Michael P. Farris, president of Patrick Henry College. “Not that I wouldn’t wish it. I wish it every day.”
Nevertheless, many have argued that the delegates to the convention are technically free to nominate whomever they want, despite the impression that they are bound by the results of the primary votes in each state. Every convention votes on its own rules, so if this year’s GOP delegates wanted to unbind themselves, the argument goes, nothing would stop them. Numerous judicial rulings have found that even state laws, which purport to bind approximately one-third of the delegates, cannot govern the internal affairs of a national political party — such as how delegates vote at a convention.
Deace wrote in a column on Saturday that the convention rules allowing delegates to follow their consciences “are in place to protect the system from just such a leader” as Trump.
French pointed out that many of the delegates to the convention are “people who loathe [Trump], and that hasn’t changed.”
In the past few days, Trump found himself in a new firestorm after he repeatedly brought up the Mexican heritage of U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel in order to question the judge’s impartiality in a case involving Trump University.
In February, Trump linked Curiel’s heritage to the judge’s supposed hostility in his rulings so far in a lawsuit brought by people who say they were defrauded by Trump University. But the Manhattan developer began escalating that claim last week. Curiel was born in Indiana and is an American citizen.
Trump argued that Curiel had a “conflict of interest” because he is “of Mexican heritage.” Trump said that because he wants to build a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, Curiel is inherently predisposed to rule against him. As a result, Trump said Curiel should recuse himself from the case involving Trump University, a now-shuttered for-profit school focused on real estate training.
A wave of Republicans rebuked Trump’s argument. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an enthusiastic Trump supporter, said Sunday that it “was one of the worst mistakes Trump has made.” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who endorsed Trump just last week, said Monday that Trump’s comments were “a textbook definition of a racist comment.”
Trump went into damage control mode Tuesday afternoon and evening, issuing a long statement defending Trump University and his complaints about Curiel. Trump further insisted he would no longer talk about the case.
At an election night press conference celebrating more primary wins, Trump implicitly acknowledged his recent struggles by promising to do better.
“You’ve given me the honor to lead the Republican Party to victory this fall,” Trump said, reading from a teleprompter. “I understand the responsibility of carrying the mantle and I will never, ever let you down.”
Many believe Trump is incapable of showing more discipline.
“Every pivot of Trump’s is a 360,” Wilson said. “There’s no better version of Donald Trump. There’s no good Donald Trump.”


http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2016/06/08/breaking.-hugh-hewitt-calls-convention-reject-trump-full-audio/?utm_content=buffer32f34&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Whoa.

This morning talk show host Hugh Hewitt called for the GOP convention to change the rules to allow for an alternative candidate to be selected. (Full disclosure, Hewitt is affiliated with Salem Media Group which owns RedState.)



Via Mediaite:

Conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt argued Wednesday morning that the Republican Party should make an unprecedented effort to change the Republican National Convention rules to allow them to dump Donald Trump as their nominee.

“It’s like ignoring stage-four cancer. You can’t do it, you gotta go attack it,” Hewitt said. “And right now the Republican Party is facing — the plane is headed towards the mountain after the last 72 hours.”

Hewitt said he disagreed with Republican senators like Lindsey Graham and Mark Kirk who said they could not vote for their party’s nominee. “I wanna support the nominee of the party, but I think the party ought to change the nominee. Because we’re going to get killed with this nominee.”
...
“They ought to get together and let the convention decide,” he concluded. “And if Donald Trump pulls over a makeover in the next 4 to 5 weeks, great, they can keep him. It would be better if he had done so 5 weeks ago.”
For the record, Hewitt has never been a real Trump fan and there have been insults directed at him by Trump:

“A year ago you told me on my radio show — the audio and transcript are out there on YouTube — that you would release your tax returns,” offered Hewitt.

At the debate to counter Hewitt’s move, Trump preemptively blurted out, “First of all, very few people listen to your radio show. That’s the good news. Let me just tell you — which happens to be true. Check out the ratings.”

This is not the first time that a Trump-Hewitt interaction has turned sour; in September, the GOP candidate lashed out against Hewitt after a “gotcha” question on The Hugh Hewitt Show (the same one that “very few people listen to”) regarding the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The exchange called into question Trump’s readiness on foreign policy, and left the candidate scrambling on the campaign trail for several weeks afterwards.
Even so, this is pretty incredible. For all of Hewitt's strengths, his weakness has always been, in my view that he's the consummate company man. The party insider. The guy the "important" people go to get their message out. Throughout the Bush administration, Hewitt manfully bought whatever the Bush Administration was selling, no matter how it transparently bad it was, like the Harriet Miers nomination. To see Hewitt actually advocate removing Trump as a candidate is truly amazing.

[Israel Chai]

David French is onboard

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436428/republican-convention-delegates-not-bound-donald-trump?utm_source=NR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=June9French2

Those who claim otherwise would evade responsibility for his nomination. Let’s begin with a simple proposition: As a matter of law and history, there is not a single “bound” delegate to the Republican National Convention. Not one delegate is required to vote for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, or any other individual who “won” votes in the primary process. Each delegate will have to make his or her own choice. They — and they alone — will choose the Republican nominee. The paragraph above contradicts much of what you’ve been told about the presidential nominating process, and it even contradicts state law in multiple jurisdictions, but state law does not govern the Republican party. The party governs itself, and according to the rules it has implemented, there is only one convention where the delegates were truly bound: 1976’s, when Gerald Ford fended off a challenge from Ronald Reagan. In every other Republican convention ever held, every delegate has been free to vote their conscience. Let’s break this down, legal step by legal step: 1. State legislatures cannot violate the First Amendment rights of Republican delegates. Throughout the primary, pundits have reminded voters again and again that there exists a patchwork quilt of state laws that “require” delegates to follow the will of the primary voters — sometimes only through one ballot, sometimes through more. These laws are unconstitutional. A state entity cannot mandate the manner in which private citizens govern private organizations. Indeed, the notion that states can compel members of private associations to vote according to primary results is a fundamentally progressive notion, an expansion of the government into the private sphere. Yet First Amendment guarantees of free speech and freedom of association stand as a bulwark against exactly this kind of government interference. Indeed, the Supreme Court has already ruled that in a conflict between state law and national-party rules, the national-party rules take precedence. In Cousins v. Wigoda, the High Court decided a dispute between two delegate slates to the 1972 Democratic Convention — one slate (the Cousins slate) was selected according to Illinois state law; the other (the Wigoda slate) was actually seated at the convention. The Court granted review to determine whether Illinois courts were “correct in according primacy to state law over the National Political Party’s rules in the determination of the qualifications and eligibility of delegates to the Party’s National Convention.” The Court ruled for Wigoda, holding that: The States themselves have no constitutionally mandated role in the great task of the selection of Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates. If the qualifications and eligibility of delegates to National Political Party Conventions were left to state law “each of the fifty states could establish the qualifications of its delegates to the various party conventions without regard to party policy, an obviously intolerable result.” Such a regime could seriously undercut or indeed destroy the effectiveness of the National Party Convention as a concerted enterprise engaged in the vital process of choosing Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates— a process which usually involves coalitions cutting across state lines. [Internal citations omitted.] Or, to put it in plain English, the Court essentially told the states to mind their own business and let the parties govern themselves. SHARE ARTICLE ON FACEBOOKSHARE   TWEET ARTICLETWEET 2. Traditional and current Republican rules and practices allow delegates to vote their consciences. The first and most important RNC Rule to remember is the so-called “Unit Rule” — Rule 38 of the “Rules of the Republican Party.” This rule states, in its entirety: No delegate or alternate delegate shall be bound by any attempt of any state or Congressional district to impose the unit rule. A “unit rule” prohibited by this section means a rule or law under which a delegation at the national convention casts its entire vote as a unit as determined by a majority vote of the delegation. In other words, a majority of a delegation cannot cast its vote on behalf of all of the delegation. Delegates can abstain, or they can vote for different candidates. This rule and Rule 37, which mandates individual roll-call voting and permits individual delegates to challenge the count, combine to permit delegates a choice. Next, Rule 40(d) requires that a candidate for the presidential or vice-presidential nomination receives “a majority of the votes entitled to be cast in the convention.” In other words, they don’t win by receiving a majority of the votes actually cast but rather by receiving a majority entitled to be cast. The nominee has to get at least 1,237 votes to win. Each delegate will have to make his or her own choice. They — and they alone — will choose the Republican nominee. At the same time, however, the current rules purport to limit delegate discretion. Rule 16(a)(2) — adopted in 2013 — recognizes state “bindings” and thus compels delegates to vote even against their consciences. The rule states that the secretary of the convention shall record a vote in accordance with the delegate’s obligations under GOP rules, state law, or state-party rules, and if a delegate votes for “any person other than the candidate to whom he or she is bound, such support shall not be recognized.” Yet this rule was not in force in the 2012 convention, it conflicts with the principle of individual delegate choice outlined in Rule 37, and, as Curly Haugland and Sean Parnell argue in their new book, Unbound: the Conscience of the Republican Delegate, it “will expire upon the start of the 2016 convention and will not be part of the standing rules of that convention.” Which is to say that Rule 16 would have to adopted by a vote of the RNC Rules Committee in Cleveland before it even applied to this year’s delegates. Yet even if that happened, an abstaining or dissenting delegate could not be counted as supporting any other candidate for president. And this brings us to the final point . . .  3. If the Republican party wishes to bind delegates to Trump, it will have to change the rules to do so. It is inarguably true that each convention sets its own rules. It’s also true that past practice and longstanding party principles have exerted strong influence on the process. If the party wishes to truly bind delegates — and to void the conscience protections in Rules 37 and 38 — it will have to pass something similar to the “Justice Amendment” rammed through by Ford supporters in 1976, an act binding delegates that the 1980 convention promptly repealed. If the RNC follows the dominant historical precedent, delegates will be able to vote their consciences. MORE DONALD TRUMP TRUMPISM IN HOLLYWOOD, OR, DEFACING THE DEFACERS THE MATTER WITH KANSAS REPUBLICANS ARE STUCK WITH DONALD TRUMP UNTIL NOVEMBER None of this means that Trump is in any imminent danger of a delegate revolt. But it does mean that delegates do not go to the convention with their hands tied. They will be choosing to vote for Trump. Some will make that choice out of conviction, some out of a belief that they should act as the instrument of the voters, and some out of raw fear. But they will all be making a choice. If Donald Trump does emerge as the nominee of the Republican party, it will not be because anyone forced him on the GOP. It will be because every level of the GOP made a decision that he should represent its principles and values in 2016. No one can hide, and no one can run for cover. The party will decide. — David French is an attorney, and a staff writer at National Review.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436428/republican-convention-delegates-not-bound-donald-trump?utm_source=NR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=June9French2

[Israel Chai]

http://www.12news.com/news/politics/az-gop-delegate-to-break-from-trump-vote-at-national-convention-next-week/269169133

To all the patriots that didn't flip for the pathetic lies of a charlatan, America and Prez Ted will remember you.

[Shlomo]

Thank you Israel Chai for the article!

I posted this on the main page:

https://jtf.org/cruz-campaign-set-to-challenge-trump-in-texas-we-have-a-busy-weekend-planned/

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Wait so can this really happen?

[Israel Chai]

Wait so can this really happen?

It has been ruled unconstitutional to force delegates to vote for someone they don't want to in Virginia. https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/07/did-freethedelegates-just-win-its-first-victory

With just abstain on the first round, it is indeed closer to likely than possible. If it keeps getting pushed harder, and delegates can vote their conscience, it's a complete blowout for Cruz. That would be best, and is possible:

http://www.dailywire.com/news/6490/david-french-explains-how-gop-delegates-can-hank-berrien
David French, who has publicly stated he will not vote for Donald Trump and chose not to run against Trump largely because he lacked the name recognition to mount a serious challenge, has outlined another way for the GOP to eschew nominating Trump and avoid what might be a catastrophic defeat for the party as a whole in November.

French points out, “As a matter of law and history, there is not a single “bound” delegate to the Republican National Convention. Not one delegate is required to vote for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, or any other individual who “won” votes in the primary process. Each delegate will have to make his or her own choice. They — and they alone — will choose the Republican nominee.”

French notes that the only GOP convention in its 160-year history where the delegates were legally bound was the 1976 convention, when Gerald Ford’s team was attempting to prevent Ronald Reagan from gaining the nomination.

Then French delineates exactly why such a process could work:

1. State legislatures cannot violate the First Amendment rights of Republican delegates. French notes that state laws that “require” delegates to follow the will of the primary voters are unconstitutional. He states, “A state entity cannot mandate the manner in which private citizens govern private organizations. Indeed, the notion that states can compel members of private associations to vote according to primary results is a fundamentally progressive notion, an expansion of the government into the private sphere.” He cites Cousins v. Wigoda, in which the Supreme Court ruled that national party rules take precedence over state law. As French sums up, “Or, to put it in plain English, the Court essentially told the states to mind their own business and let the parties govern themselves.”

2. Traditional and current Republican rules and practices allow delegates to vote their consciences. French cites the so-called “Unit Rule” — Rule 38 of the “Rules of the Republican Party,” which states: “No delegate or alternate delegate shall be bound by any attempt of any state or Congressional district to impose the unit rule. A 'unit rule' prohibited by this section means a rule or law under which a delegation at the national convention casts its entire vote as a unit as determined by a majority vote of the delegation.” French explains, “In other words, a majority of a delegation cannot cast its vote on behalf of all of the delegation. Delegates can abstain, or they can vote for different candidates. This rule and Rule 37, which mandates individual roll-call voting and permits individual delegates to challenge the count, combine to permit delegates a choice.”

3. French points out that those who cite Rule 16(a)(2), which was adopted in 2013 and recognized state “bindings” and compels delegates to vote even against their consciences, are ignoring the fact that the rule was not in force in 2012. Additionally, according to Curly Haugland and Sean Parnell’s new book, Unbound: the Conscience of the Republican Delegate, it “will expire upon the start of the 2016 convention and will not be part of the standing rules of that convention.” French adds, “Which is to say that Rule 16 would have to adopted by a vote of the RNC Rules Committee in Cleveland before it even applied to this year’s delegates. Yet even if that happened, an abstaining or dissenting delegate could not be counted as supporting any other candidate for president."

4. The most salient point: “If the Republican party wishes to bind delegates to Trump, it will have to change the rules to do so . . . If the party wishes to truly bind delegates — and to void the conscience protections in Rules 37 and 38 — it will have to pass something similar to the 'Justice Amendment' rammed through by Ford supporters in 1976, an act binding delegates that the 1980 convention promptly repealed."

    “If the Republican party wishes to bind delegates to Trump, it will have to change the rules to do so."

    David French

French concludes:

    If the RNC follows the dominant historical precedent, delegates will be able to vote their consciences. None of this means that Trump is in any imminent danger of a delegate revolt. But it does mean that delegates do not go to the convention with their hands tied. They will be choosing to vote for Trump. Some will make that choice out of conviction, some out of a belief that they should act as the instrument of the voters, and some out of raw fear. But they will all be making a choice. If Donald Trump does emerge as the nominee of the Republican party, it will not be because anyone forced him on the GOP. It will be because every level of the GOP made a decision that he should represent its principles and values in 2016. No one can hide, and no one can run for cover. The party will decide.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

The mercy I am asking for is from G-d not you... The Republican establishment sold their rump to the shvartza President and this is why you now have a candidate like Trump... There can be all the factions you care to find but at the end of the day there is not enough consensus between them to bring them all together behind a right wing conservative.... Why you bring Rubio into this picture now I haven't a clue... At this point I don't think he could  even carry his own state of Florida... He should be pushing around a Piragua cart in Miami because that's all he seems fit to do... I think he may be home putting one together as we speak because politically I believe he is finished.

Trump is the candidate because he was the preference of the GOP establishment, despite everything the pro-Trump media has shoved down our throats. They knew that he would wheel and deal and keep up the good ol' boys system, unlike Cruz who would really end it.

Obviously most US "conservatives" are idiots, because they fell behind the candidate whose kind is most responsible for ruining their lives.

[cjd]

Trump is the candidate because he was the preference of the GOP establishment, despite everything the pro-Trump media has shoved down our throats. They knew that he would wheel and deal and keep up the good ol' boys system, unlike Cruz who would really end it.

Obviously most US "conservatives" are idiots, because they fell behind the candidate whose kind is most responsible for ruining their lives.

Each day you show a new  level of stupidity...  The Republican establishment is having a melt down to the point that even they along with many other clowns would rather see Hillary win in 2016...  I'm tired of arguing with people who are clearly suicidal... As I said before Cruz is done 2016... 2020... and by 2024 Jesus may come down... Maybe he may have a chance by then.

[Debbie Shafer]

Don't you all wonder what will happen at the Convention with Delegates....We know Black Lives Matter is going to create chaos!

[eb22]

It's not looking good.


http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/287860-gop-squashes-never-trump-proposal-in-emotional-rules-committee-hearing


GOP squashes Never Trump rules proposal in heated hearing
   
 

By Jonathan Easley - 07/14/16 10:09 PM EDT




CLEVELAND — Republicans crafting the rules that will govern the Republican National Convention overwhelmingly rejected a proposal put forth by Never Trump Republicans to unbind delegates and move to upset presumptive nominee Donald Trump.




The "conscience clause" amendment, put forth by Colorado delegate Kendal Unruh, would have freed delegates from the results of the primaries and caucuses so that they could revolt against Trump on the convention floor.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a close friend of former candidate Sen. Ted Cruz and critic of Trump, spoke in favor of the Never Trump faction. Still, the proposal received little support.

The GOP Rules Committee instead ratified a handful of other proposals that stated delegates will remain bound to the results of the primaries and caucuses.




While in high school, student body candidates for President asked Ashleigh Axios to design their posters and campaign materials. Several years later, the White House called on... Read More

A strong majority of the 112-member Rules Committee repeatedly voted against the Never Trump movement in a big win for the presumptive nominee and the Republican National Committee, who are looking to minimize disturbances caused by the rebel group.

Thursday’s votes will call into question whether the anti-Trump effort has enough support to get 28 signatures on the measure, which would ensure it gets a vote before the nearly 2,500 delegates when the full convention convenes on Monday.

The heated, emotional debate within the Rules Committee took place 14 hours into the panel's marathon session that appeared to be headed into the early hours of the morning on Friday.

Pro-Trump Hawaii committeeman Nathan Paikai, adorned in a “Make America Great Again” hat, tearfully pleaded with committee members to drop the rebellion and get behind the presumptive nominee.

“Are we going to do this together or are we going to be divided?” Paikai asked. “I’m only as good as my word and I ask you to be as good as your word. A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

But Lee, the highest-ranking elected official on the Rules Committee, signaled in his remarks that he’s not certain Trump will emerge from the convention as the party’s nominee.

“I hope whoever our nominee is this time will win over the delegates,” he said. “I say to Mr. Trump and those aligned to him — make the case to those delegates to support you. Don’t make the case that their voices should be silenced. It won’t help elect him president or help our party in the long run.”

Texas delegate Steve Munisteri responded:

“My understanding is that you represent the grassroots,” he said to Lee. “Yet you want to ignore the real grassroots, the millions of voters who voted for Donald trump and transfer that opinion to a couple thousand delegates. If we’re really representing the grassroots, we need to listen to those voters”

The “Free the Delegates” movement only had about a dozen supporters on their side for each of the votes. 
That’s perhaps not surprising on a committee made up of party loyalists and RNC members who have little incentive to upend the status quo.

Unruh, a Colorado committeewoman, claims to have the 28 signatures to keep the proposal alive, but that looks less likely after Thursday’s overwhelming rejection.

But the movement claims to have a multimillion-dollar whip operation and says it's reaching out to delegates to urge them to vote their conscience irrespective of the Rules Committee's decisions.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Each day you show a new  level of stupidity...  The Republican establishment is having a melt down to the point that even they along with many other clowns would rather see Hillary win in 2016...  I'm tired of arguing with people who are clearly suicidal... As I said before Cruz is done 2016... 2020... and by 2024 Jesus may come down... Maybe he may have a chance by then.

You honestly expect us to believe that you were not a Trumptard from the very beginning when you spout such dreck? I do not profess brilliance, but I do have a modicum of common sense. In earlier posts you yourself admitted (actually, more like boasted) the GOPE was against Cruz from the beginning, which is true--but now you are claiming they were actually against Chump? So which was it?

Frankly at this point that lunatic Paulette with an IQ of 50 and her traitor husband have more credibility with me than you. They were very open and honest about who they backed from the very beginning (except apparently with Chaim), unlike yourself who tried to play both sides like the cheap weasel you are. LKZ and I saw right through it, though.

If getting exposed hurts you, maybe you can find sympathy and support over on Infowars. Or, maybe your boyfriend Johnson Brown will comfort you!

[cjd]

You honestly expect us to believe that you were not a Trumptard from the very beginning when you spout such dreck? I do not profess brilliance, but I do have a modicum of common sense. In earlier posts you yourself admitted (actually, more like boasted) the GOPE was against Cruz from the beginning, which is true--but now you are claiming they were actually against Chump? So which was it?

Frankly at this point that lunatic Paulette with an IQ of 50 and her traitor husband have more credibility with me than you. They were very open and honest about who they backed from the very beginning (except apparently with Chaim), unlike yourself who tried to play both sides like the cheap weasel you are. LKZ and I saw right through it, though.

If getting exposed hurts you, maybe you can find sympathy and support over on Infowars. Or, maybe your boyfriend Johnson Brown will comfort you!

The only thing that has been exposed is just how politically uninformed you actually are... You should stay away from the internet sites you are trying to send me to because they have twisted what little bit of a mind you were blessed with... You remind me of an old time doll Mattel Toys use to make years ago called Chatty Cathy... Pull the string in its back and it would spout six or seven different lines of drivel each time the string was pulled... Just like you    You need a refit however... Your handlers need to put in a new disk because the one you have now is getting old... Anyway it's pointless to go on with you because later I will find more of the same old tired garbage posted here about when I decided to support Trump and my so called friend Johnson Brown Come to think of it your more like "Talky Tina" from the Twilight Zone... That doll was actually evil... Just like you...  

or
Chatty Cathy... My money is on Tina... Why not do one of your useless polls and see 

[Rubystars]

If this was a candidate that JTF liked, then you guys would be up in arms if someone was suggesting ignoring the votes of the people.  Let's say Cruz was the presumptive nominee and there was a movement to get the delegates not to vote for Cruz because he was too extreme of a conservative or something along those lines. You would be really upset if someone was trying to do this.