2008 Texas Republician Convention Report -the real story.

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Subject: 2008 Texas Republician Convention Report -the real story.
debugger 6/17/2008 12:06:11 AM

A personal account of the convention.

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debugger The Story 6/17/2008 12:31:41 AM

Sorry about the extra topics. The server said I had goofed.
The posting below is from notepad.

Revolution Update: Texas Republican Convention.

I was an alternate delegate for last weeks Texas Republican Convention. This was my first Political convention and there was a lot to see and learn. My 19 year old daughter Rebecca also came for the education. The first day was devoted to "organizing" which means numbering and credentialing the delegates. All of the alternates were seated as full delegates due to absences, even though the convention had thousands of delegates.

I am told Paul supporters are very rich.

What made going to this convention attractive was my car pool driver?s statement he had never had to pay for food at any of these conventions, further there was an organization of Ron Paul supporters who were hosting delegates. My only regret was that my $35 convention fee would be used against
taxpayers. The only food that that was free was some popcorn provided by the Governor Perry group. I don't think they cooked it at the mansion, although it would have been plenty hot for that (the governor?s mansion was burn down a day before the convention). I was unable to locate a host family so we took a chance on homeland security and slept in a doorway at the convention. This was more practical than it sounds since
we would have had to pay a cab for both directions and not gotten many hours to sleep anyway. The hotel security eventually got us so we napped a little in the lobby.

I am told Paul supporters are harmfully selfish.

We did locate one very helpful Houstonian who made many inquiries and latter offered me $50. I justified accepting it hoping it was really an illegal campaign contribution rather than charity.

I am told Paul supporters are not sophisticated.

In my Senate District group, I ran to be seated on the "Platform Committee." I was running against one experienced Republican who spoke of ending abortion and traditional values and a seemingly inexperienced single mother who said very little in her allocated 3 minutes. I mentioned my experience as a small businessman, my foreclosure publishing experiences and how they connect to today?s problems. I also mentioned my family and several television and newspaper appearances as a foreclosure expert. I mentioned my disappointment that many Republican candidates had not followed through with past platforms. When the lady was done speaking I told her that I would endorse her if I was eliminated in the first ballot. I was hoping that she would endorse me if in the same spot. I was eliminated first, endorsed her and she then won. It was latter said that those platform committees were hard work and I am sure quite toothless. The Paul delegates seem to have all sorts of lists keeping track of a great many things. Before the convention a coalition, which had Paul supporters included, filed a lawsuit regarding the term of the State Republican Chair of Texas whose office runs the convention. As I understood it the problem was according to Republican bylaws, the Chair was to be elected at the start of the convention rather that at the end of it. The dissenters lost and were ordered to pay court costs.

I am told that Republicans are very religious and conservative.

This is true but probably only mostly true of the Ron Paul supporters in terms of faith. Two of Paul?s brothers are ministers, though Paul himself doesn't wear it on his shirtsleeve. Even when he opposes abortion, he usually uses
secular language. Not so the old Republicans. At least twice on the first day I was asked to pray
to God and his one and only son. Then we were asked to pledge allegiance to "Texas, one and indivisible." Apparently they were unaware of the treaty of 1845 which allowed Texas to divide. Lastly we
were told to Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, which pledge was created by a socialist many decades ago. Being conservative means, I suppose, to support the old ways of doing things. Twice a day we were asked to stand for these prayers and oaths. I can't say this is too often, since many of the "very best" republicans in Washington and Austin break their oaths more than twice in a day.
The Declaration of Independence which commanded certain revolutionary tendencies would not be keen on such pledges. Originally the idea was to bind elected official with oaths, not the free people. Since there were many functions going on I would imagine that some delegates were asked to pledge and pray five times a day. Did you know they face Washington when they prey? Here is an original "debugger" ditty for you:

    I prey voters prey upon those who prey tell prey too much. Amen.

I am told Republicans think, while liberal feel.

My biggest goal was to talk to some McCain supports and win some over to Ron Paul. This was made painful and difficult by continuous audio visual feeds on the Citizen Kane styled theatre screens. Even when no one was speaking the music was irritating. I like the theme song from the Magnificent Seven as much as the next guy, but not ten plays worth and what does daring and independence have to do with the party whose last big muck up was the prescription drug program? One play of "Manchurian candidate, Hotel Rwanda, Jaws and Frankenstein would be more thematic. One speaker claims that Texas has produced one half of all the new jobs in x years, but the point was diminished when another speaker said Texas produced almost 40% of the new jobs in the same x years.

An early conversation really enlightened me and eliminated my interest in talking to Cainers for the time being. Paraphrasing:

He: How can you still support Ron Paul? The election is over, we should be uniting!
Me: John McCain does not meet the minimum level to get our (my) support. He does not qualify.
He: [Misses my point]
Another Rom Paul supporter chimes in: If Barak Oboma was the Republican nominee, you would be asking us to     support him over (Democrat) John McCain!

I'm planning on following up on this line of reasoning in the near future.

I am told (by AP clients San Antonio Express News and Houston Chronicle) that Ron Paul was not at the Convention and he didn?t have many supporters there.

There was a Ron Paul rally in a large ballroom on the first day of the convention. There were at least 1,200
to 1,500 people there listening to a really excellent Ron Paul imitator ( I know how to estimate crowds) The most popular and deafening chant was "ron paul, REVOLUTION, ron paul, REVOLUTION." There was at least one apparent Paul supporter (I swear) who appeared to faint and fell to the ground near me. We knew he was a Paul supporter since he had no history of supporting Oboma and would have been most embarrassed to be thought of as one. I suspect large and vibrant crowds can nick
a reserved or shy person every now and then.
The next day the truly phenomenal Ron Paul impersonator was signing books in the convention center, I even saw Ron Paul's wife near him and perhaps even some of his other relatives. The police should be notified.      The AP article said there was a button saying "If Obama is elected president, will we still call it the White house?" I looked over the booths very diligently and did not see any such or similar button but then I fell for the Ron Paul impersonator too. All 1,200 Paul Manifesto books brought to the convention were sold out.

I am told that Ron Paul supporters are not too bright.

This was also said of Libertarian Party members, a good many of whom are in the Paul camp. It must be true since the average education level of Libertarians was post-graduate level. We are so dumb we have to go back to school. Ron Paul announced that he was forming a more permanent group which would carry on the Revolution and all us dumb people seemed to go for it. I'll be supporting it too, but the convention was exceeding my budget by a good bit so we headed back to San Antonio in time for me to play in last weekends City Chess Championship. I seemed to be doing well and had I won the last game, (which I had a good advantage most of the game) I would of been the 2008 champion.

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Claymore 6/17/2008 1:13:43 AM

Ron Paul will never win in a million years. All he has done in his career in congress is vote NO and work with no one.

Sorry, for practical conservatives not hitching our wagons to that guy.

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debugger 6/17/2008 2:46:32 AM

Ron Paul will never win in a million years. All he has done in his career in congress is vote NO and work with no one.

Sorry, for practical conservatives not hitching our wagons to that guy.

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debugger durn software 6/17/2008 2:50:24 AM

OK practical conservative. The Republicans had the Senate, the House and the White house for
a few years. My Dr. Phil question is: How did that work out for you?

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Zhang Fei 6/17/2008 12:21:22 PM

OK practical conservative. The Republicans had the Senate, the House and the White house for
a few years. My Dr. Phil question is: How did that work out for you?

Better than the alternative. And that's always been how I've made decisions - when faced with two evils, pick the lesser one. To a lot of people, their ideal car is a luxury car rather than an economy car. But they settle for economy cars because that's what they can get. And that's my attitude towards politicians. I'd like one who can check off all the boxes on issues important to me. But I'll settle for the one who checks off more boxes than the other guy. Here's how I look at it - if I can't even (in a financially prudent way) get my ideal car - a decision that I can make alone, why would I expect to get the ideal political leader - a decision that a hundred million other people get some say in?

And in the case of the 2008 elections, we are looking at a filibuster-proof Senate Democratic majority, which means we could end up with a raft of new Great Society-type programs that could cost hundreds of billions of dollars a year. I am voting for McCain because I want a President who will at least attempt to stop some of these programs coming up.

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PowerPointRanger 6/17/2008 11:42:36 PM

As I've said before, as a Texan I've watched Ron Paul for many years. I respect his sincerity, but he will never be more than a fringe candidate.

That being said, McCain still has yet to consolidate his victory--that much is clear. There are a LOT of Republicans out there who distrust McCain and will have a hard time motivating themselves to vote for him.

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