The new documentary Mitt, a Netflix original, is reigniting the almost smothered controversy over the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. There were an extraordinary number of GOP insiders and caucus members who smelled a rat. The trail of electioneering evidences from state to state is staggering. Many people believed that the nomination had been stolen from its deserving recipient—Ron Paul.
Now, an offhand remark in Mitt seems to confirm that suspicion. According to Romney, someone from GOP headquarters said to him:
In some ways, we kind of had to steal the Republican nomination. Our party is Southern, evangelical, and populist. And you’re Northern, and you’re Mormon, and you’re rich. And these do not match well with our party.
Say what you will, this little hint is a staggering admission in light of the available evidence. Ron Paul was a great favorite. His funding and his support were almost entirely home-grown and grass roots. Most of the candidates said regularly that they envied Ron Paul’s supporters. Everywhere he showed up, hundreds and thousands of supporters showed up too. Romney paid for supporters, as did Obama, yet they could never boast the kind of well-informed and voluntary popular support that Ron Paul enjoyed. Calling them “Paul-bots” just emphasizes the fact that they were almost cultishly zealous about their candidate. Could Romney boast that kind of unflaggingly enthusiastic support? No. So who are the real lemming automatons at the end of the day? The people who voted their conscience passionately … or the sheeple who compromised their values to vote for someone they only hated less than the alternative?
Republicans didn’t like Romney and Democrats hated him. On the other hand, Democrats respected Ron Paul (though they feared him) and young Republicans loved Ron Paul (though the old guard Republicans feared Paul as well). What does it say when both parties fear you? You’re not a party-player, that’s what. And that is exactly what made Ron Paul such a popular favorite.
Ironically, the oldest candidate on either side of the aisle was the biggest favorite with the next generation. But the old guard couldn’t and wouldn’t let Ron Paul win. They wouldn’t even name his name at the nomination convention. Why? Ron Paul was bad for business-as-usual. He was an upstanding, honest, hard-working, Constitution-loving, unbribable, unshakable, no-nonsense representative of the average productive American. He was also Southern, evangelical, and populist (by the way).
There is no doubt in my mind that the nomination was stolen from Ron Paul. There is also no doubt that the Republicans lost in 2012 because of it. Ron Paul had a much better chance of winning than Romney. Think about it. If all the Republican resources that tried to sell us a polished turd had supported the popular choice instead, Republicans could have carried the presidency.
But then Republicans wouldn’t have had a puppet in the Oval Office. The game would have ended for a time. And GOP mainstreamers would rather have the game-playing Obama in office than lose control of “their” party. That’s the bottom line. GOP mainstreamers sold this country out in order to keep from losing control. If it isn’t patently obvious by now that both parties need the boot, what could I possibly say to convince you?
Read more at Last Resistance