Need examples like TRA overriding straw poll to endorse Santorum

[FreeTraveler]

The Tennessee Republican Assembly (TRA) overrode the wishes of the people for Ron Paul, as expressed in a straw poll, and endorsed Rick Santorum.

I need other examples where the political establishment has pulled similar stunts, ignoring the will of the people to prop up the establishment, for a hard-hitting column I'm working on. Video or links to stories would be best. If they show the collusion of the press in hiding the true nature of what's going on, so much the better.

Mostly, I'd like to focus on the political establishment, like the TRA story, but I'll include a couple of bits indicting the media as well, and for that I'm looking for the videos of the "hold the Ron Paul footage" bit and CBS leaving him out of their poll results, unless someone has a better example.

Naturally, this is the perfect place to ask for such examples. Thanks in advance to the contributors. :)

It's possible this could end up both as a column and as a video script.

ETA: Link to the article. Abstract in post below.

http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/lesson-of-athens-tennessee.html

(http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/lesson-of-athens-tennessee.html)

[slamhead]

I don't recall the exact details but the GOP in LA in 08 hijacked the results and said McCain won although the official results have never been published. I remember there were some dirty tricks back then. One of them was to identify Ron Paul supporters to disenfranchise them from the delegate selection process. There were also some dirty tricks from Nevada last election IIRC.

[djruden]

NFRA (National Federation of Republican Assemblies) convention in Des Moines Iowa 2011. Paul won straw poll with like 82%, NFRA endorsed Rick Santorum.

[MozoVote]

Who can forget the 2008 Nevada Convention. Lots of YouTube interviews and even mainstream press on that one. It went all the way to the national convention, where the GOP basically said "A pox on both your houses" and awarded most of the delegates to McCain.

[FreeTraveler]

Good examples, all. Can anyone help me document them with links to stories or news reports, even where they're reporting the bogus results? I'm not familiar with a lot of the local press that would have covered the events.

[speciallyblend]

I don't recall the exact details but the GOP in LA in 08 hijacked the results and said McCain won although the official results have never been published. I remember there were some dirty tricks back then. One of them was to identify Ron Paul supporters to disenfranchise them from the delegate selection process. There were also some dirty tricks from Nevada last election IIRC.

colorado to when they made lists of ron paul supporters and posted them all over convention, a violation of gop state rules but it was allowed and the damage was done. Then they removed them after the damage was done. the gop est makes the mob look like girl scouts. I trust the mob before i trust gop leadership.

[MozoVote]

Here is audio of a county convention in Texas where election law was completely disregarded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrOsbqQ06CM

These kinds of schenanigans, lead to grudges held within a party organization that can last for years.

The Nevada convention imbruglio and the rump convention that resulted has a long backstory, from 2008 to the 2010 senate primary. It was a key component of why ex-NVGOP chairman Sue Lowden lost her primary to be a senatoral nominee last year, and Sharron Angle became the candidate.

[speciallyblend]

Here is audio of a county convention in Texas where election law was completely disregarded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrOsbqQ06CM

These kinds of schenanigans, lead to ill will within a party organization that can last for years.

The Nevada convention imbruglio and the rump convention that resulted has a long backstory, from 2008 to the 2010 senate primary. It was a key component of why ex-NVGOP chairman Sue Lowden lost her primary to be a senatoral nominee last year, and Sharron Angle became the candidate.

No One But Paul, thanks to the gop actions while i have been a republican.

[speciallyblend]

I don't recall the exact details but the GOP in LA in 08 hijacked the results and said McCain won although the official results have never been published. I remember there were some dirty tricks back then. One of them was to identify Ron Paul supporters to disenfranchise them from the delegate selection process. There were also some dirty tricks from Nevada last election IIRC.

torchbearer has the dirty on LA

[FreeTraveler]

Here is audio of a county convention in Texas where election law was completely disregarded

These kinds of schenanigans, lead to grudges held within a party organization that can last for years.

The Nevada convention imbruglio and the rump convention that resulted has a long backstory, from 2008 to the 2010 senate primary. It was a key component of why ex-NVGOP chairman Sue Lowden lost her primary to be a senatoral nominee last year, and Sharron Angle became the candidate.

That's a damning recording. Can you fill me in a little bit on that backstory? Not deep detail, just the overview. It fits nicely with the story I'm telling.

[ rant]
And I had to find another version of that video, without the uplifted finger shot and the Paul/Ventura stuff. Why do people gum up their videos with things that will turn off the average voter?
[/rant]

[FreeTraveler]

Thanks for all the help on this. The final result is up:

The Tireless Agorist: The Lesson of Athens, Tennessee - Corruption in politics can never end well.


http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/lesson-of-athens-tennessee.html

Abstract:


“An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government.” -- Ron Paul

On January 28th, the Tennessee Republican Assembly Presidential straw poll was won overwhelmingly (http://www.tennesseeforronpaul.com/2012/01/ron-paul-wins-tennessee-republican.html) by Ron Paul, who garnered 63% of the votes cast. Rick Santorum finished second, with 20% of the vote. Later that day, the Tennessee Republican Assembly leadership announced their endorsement (http://www.dailypaul.com/209403/tennessee-republican-assembly-endorses-santorum-after-paul-landslide-in-straw-poll) of Rick Santorum for the Republican Presidential nomination. No mention was made that Rick Santorum has no delegates (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/30/bachmann-santorum-have-no-delegates-on-tennessee-primary-ballot/) on the Tennessee primary ballot, his ground game an utter failure in the state.

The Tennessee Republican Assembly leadership is apparently unfamiliar with their own state history, at least as it pertains to Athens, Tennessee and 1947.

They are not alone, however.

{more examples}

The National Press Cooperates
The national press has not only been relatively silent concerning these cases; they have colluded with the political establishment in marginalizing the Ron Paul candidacy, generally preceeding any mention of his name with "unelectable" when not using even more pejorative terms.

{several examples}

So what does all of this have to do with Athens, Tennessee?

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee
In August, 1946, the citizens of Athens and Etowah, Tennessee rebelled against their local government in the face of widespread corruption in the election process. The U.S. Department of Justice had investigated allegations of electoral fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944, but had taken no action. In the following two years, many veterans of World War II had returned to the county, where they took it upon themselves to field a slate of candidates for office in the primary and ensure a fraud-free election.

{the rest of the story}

George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist, expressed it most succinctly.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

...and that's all I have to say about that.


Full article at this link (http://tirelessagorist.blogspot.com/2012/01/lesson-of-athens-tennessee.html). Enjoy! :)

[PolicyReader]

thanks for this :)

[coffeewithchess]

Lady on the record saying the Iowa GOP would not let RP win the caucus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR2573kL3wk

Which, how in the world they lost eight precincts of votes, that are still apparently missing...is really odd, or perhaps not, and only helps verify that their plans backfired on them causing them to lose any credibility moving forward now.
http://www.insidevandy.com/opinion/columns/article_9195ef44-47cf-11e1-abac-001a4bcf6878.html