In this article, Patrick J. Buchanan wonders whether the GOP base will sit at home in November because of lack of enthusiasm for their candidate. Remember, John McCain has only won 43% of the GOP vote so far, and that's including states where voting took place after Romney and/or Huckabee dropped out of the race. He lost 27% of the vote in Pennsylvania even though the media and the GOP had declared him the presumptive nominee (many times leaving out the word 'presumptive' altogether). A candidate who had dropped out and another who voters were convinced had dropped out should never have been able to capture more than a few votes between them. However, Huckabee got 11% and Ron Paul got 16%.
GOP conventions at this stage of the game are supposed to be about rallying around the party's nominee and getting ready to beat the Democrats in November. If John McCain and the GOP believe that he has the deal all sewn up, then why are they shutting down the Ron Paul supporters every step along the way? Why did they pack up and leave the Nevada state convention when they realized they'd be sending anywhere from 7 - 22 delegates to St. Paul who would rather vote for Ron Paul than John McCain. If he has the pledged delegates as reported in the media, what harm would this miniscule number of Ron Paul delegates do?
The answer is simple. They know that not all of the delegates he is claiming are truly pledged to vote for him. They know that primaries and caucuses are nothing more than glorified straw polls. The party rules state that the nominee is chosen by the delegates at the national convention. Each state party has rules on how their delegates must vote, but these rules can be changed at their state conventions. The GOP and John McCain know full well that anything can happen between now and September and that his nomination is anything but wrapped up. This is the only possible explanation for their behavior and their attacks on members of their own party to prevent Republicans who favor a different candidate from taking part in the nomination process.
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You actually think that Ron Paul will win the nomination at the convention? Even if he did, the GOP is doomed in Nov. Paul can't win. He's been averaging anywhere from 3-16% of the primary vote. (Usually about 5%). You expect 90-95% of the GOP to all of a sudden support him in the general. That's crazy. You can't hi-jack the convention just because you want Paul. You got to respect the majority of the party. That is why we have representatives and send delegates. The delegates represent the people and the people chose John McCain. I didn't vote for McCain in the GOP primaries, but you got to get behind the GOP nominee. Otherwise, the Dems win
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