Is It Really A Good Idea For Republicans To Pick A Fight With Grassroots Activists?
As if the dispiriting presence of Mitt Romney at the top of the party’s ballot weren’t enough to depress grassroots conservatives, the war the GOP establishment is fighting against said grassroots is like salt in the wounds.
Earlier this week I asked if Republicans were trying to create a third-party problem for themselves with heavy-handed convention tactics. Those tactics continue. Jim Hoft wrote yesterday about new rules being pushed through that would, as BuzzFeed put it, give the GOP establishment “a new tool to keep at b[a]y Tea Party initiatives that threaten to embarrass or contradict party leadership and stray from a planned message.”
Today comes news that, to ensure smooth passage of these rules, Mitt Romney unilaterally removed two members of the RNC Rules Committee and replaced them with his supporters.
Hoft and Michael Duncan are urging Republican activists to contact their state’s Rules Committee delegates (information here) asking that they oppose the “compromise” on Rule 15, oppose the changes to Rule 12, and support the full Minority Reports on the Rules.
But setting aside the minutiae of convention politics, I’m amazed that Republicans are picking this fight. I understand the desire for party unity behind Romney as he seeks to defeat Obama, but this is hardly the way to inspire it.
Tags: mitt romney, republican national convention
