Category: Politics

I read both conservative and liberal blogs.

I like Digital Rules by Rich Karlgaard on the right and Robert Reisch's Blog on the left, to name just two.
In all cases I enjoy thoughtful discussion and am always depressed by extremism.

I was especially depressed recently when one of my Dad's doctors in all seriousness told us that he believes that Obama is a sleeper cell agent of terrorists. And then even more depressing the next day a blackjack dealer openly displayed her racism when she told us she was appalled that we might actually elect a black man. Both of these people are in professions that usually keeps their political opinions to themselves which makes you wonder  if they are just the tip of the iceberg. Depressing!!

For me the bottom line is in a comment I recently made on another Blog.

In either case you have to hope.
If I vote for McCain I am hoping he will be more like he used to be
before he ran for president and will not be like he is now….
pandering to the far right.

If I vote for Obama I am hoping that in spite of his liberal voting record he will govern from the center.

It probably comes down to irrational optimism in both cases. I'm inclined to believe in Obama more than McCain.

If you have been following my posts about the feud within the Nevada Republican party you know that two different groups selected delegate to the Republican National convention. It was left up to the national party credentials committee to decide which delegates to seat.

One group of delegates was selected by the party insiders. After the insiders lost control of the state convention they ended the convention and later had the central committee name the delegates privately.

The other group of delegates was elected at a second convention that was primarily made up of Ron Paul supporters. When the insiders blocked their efforts to elect Ron Paul delegates at the original state convention they held their own convention and elected their own set of delegates.

So the decision of which delegates to seat was left to be decided by the credentials committee which met in private last Saturday.

According to the Reno Gazette Journal:

"Ultimately, a national contest committee rejected both delegations and
named a compromise slate that included four Paul supporters and 27
delegates originally appointed by the party.
In its report, the
contest committee slammed the state party’s “ineptness” in mishandling
the delegate election that left out the “grass-roots”.
“The committee finds the state party’s delegate selection process flawed, inadequate and unacceptable,” the report said."

"Nevada Chairwoman Sue Lowden defended the state party…………

But she challenged the idea that "nine people on a committee" had the standing to judge the party "inept."

"It's unfortunate they would use that particular word, and I've been assured they will make it up to us," she said."

It will be interesting how this soap opera impacts the way Nevada Republicans vote in November. I used to think it would make them stay home but I have come to the conclusion that it will be old news by then and they will come out and vote for the McCain- Palin ticket.

In any case it has been entertaining to watch. I certainly have found my first introduction to party politics educational.

If you have been reading my posts about the Nevada Republican state convention or if you have been following the story in the news you know that the original Republican State Convention was adjourned after the Ron Paul delegates staged a coup. The party elite said that they would schedule a reconvened convention soon. The original convention was April 27. They finally got around to scheduling a part 2 convention for this Saturday July 26. The Reno Gazette Journal ran a story Friday saying the new convention has been canceled and the party central committee will pick state delegates to the national convention. I think this was what the party elite wanted all along after the Ron Paul supporters took over the first convention and it was clear that if the convention elected delegates they would be Ron Paul delegates not John McCain delegates. I'm a John McCain supporter but his back room politics makes me question whether I want to be a loyal Republican in the Fall!

The next chapter of this cliff hanger drama will be when the national Republican party credentials committee meets to decide whether they should seat the delegates picked by the central committee or the delegates picked by the Ron Paul supporters at the alternate part 2 convention they staged on June 28. I wonder if the meeting is open to the public. It would be very entertaining to listen to the arguments.

Update 8/8/08: I emailed the party and asked them whenthe Credentials committee meets and whether it is open to the public. Here is the answer:
Hello and thank you for your interest in the 2008 Republican National Convention.
The Convention Committees that meet the week prior to the convention are not open to the pubic.
Thank you for your questions.

Last April the Nevada Republican party held the state convention to elect delegates to the national convention. The convention didn’t go as scripted by the party bosses and the Ron Paul faction of the party was able to pass a rules change that said all nominated delegate candidates should be voted on. Soon after that the convention chairman abruptly recessed the convention, saying it would be reconvened at a later date.

I am a  state Republican delegate and since the April convention I have received announcements about two different attempts to reconvene the convention. The official party date to reconvene the convention is Saturday July 26.

Yesterday a splinter group of Republicans who feel that the state party is trying to disenfranchise them reconvened the convention on their own. Most, if not all, of them are Ron Raul supporters who feel that the Nevada Republican bosses are trying every trick in the book to make sure that the Nevada delegates to the national convention are McCain supporters.

I received the announcements about the alternate convention. I didn’t want to contribute to their numbers and to their ability to get a quorum but I was curious about  the convention so yesterday I went to it, got a visitor badge and listened for a while.

It certainly wasn’t a diverse cross section of Republicans. There was unanimous support to nominate and elect Mike Weber as chairman. I called Weber a jerk in an earlier post. I’m sorry about that. You have to admire someone who cares so passionately about politics and who is wiling to work so hard for what he believes in.

It was very clear that Weber and his friends had scripted this convention to take the steps that they believe will allow them to make a case for their delegates being recognized by the national Republican Party. Weber said that to make the case for yesterday’s convention being official they have “a small hole to get through”.

They made a big deal of the fact that a list of the delegates to the April convention was never released. They announced that delegates not present at yesterday’s continuation of the April convention are in dereliction of their duty and therefore the 352 delegates present yesterday constituted a quorum. I left before they elected delegates but Local So-and-So another Republican blogger who attended yesterday wrote a good post about the convention .

While I was there I did get interviewed by the Associated Press reporter, Martin Griffith and I got quoted in this mornings paper.  As I said to Griffith it doesn’t bode well for McCain’s chances in Nevada that 352 Nevada Republicans were willing to go through all that was necessary to make this alternate convention happen.

On the other hand, there were 1,347 delegates at the April convention. If the 352 delegates present yesterday were enough to reconvene then wouldn’t 5 also have been enough to reconvene. It doesn’t seem to me that the delegates elected yesterday should be seated at the national convention. I wonder how many people  will attend the ‘official ‘ state convention at the end of July. This saga will be continued.

Mike Weber being interviewed by AP reporter Martin Griffith.

The rest of my pictures from the convention are on Flickr  here.