America has voted. John McCain is the Republican nominee for President of the United States of America. That decision, for practical purposes, was made well prior to the Republican National Convention this week in St. Paul. But officially, the decision had not yet been made until last night. I was there to watch as history was made and John McCain was officially nominated with the votes from the Arizona delegation. What isn’t being reported, though, is the truth about how that decision was made and who actually made it.
I get the impression that Americans think their votes are counted and the person with the most votes wins. That’s not actually how it works. Yes, McCain did win the most votes, by far, but the final delegate tally was not at all a reflection of how America voted, nor how many Americans felt.
In the states with Republican primaries (i.e. not caucus states), John McCain received only 47% of the vote. Last night at the convention, he received over 99% (or maybe 100% at the end) of the delegates votes. How did that happen?
As candidates dropped out of the race, they released their delegates to vote for other candidates. In theory, that means those delegates, not the votes of the people, made the decision. In this case, the candidates who released their delegates (Romney, Giuliani and Huckabee) encouraged them to vote for McCain and, presumably, they did. Ron Paul never released his delegates. I have it on good authority that he would have if they would have let him speak. They let Romney, Giuliani and Huckabee speak last night (I watched them all). Since they decided not to let Paul speak, he did not release his delegates.
But that’s not even the whole story. What really happened is that national party officials wanted a show of unity, not an honest vote count that reflected how the people felt, nor a dialog that is open to the voice of dissent. So they did everything they could to prevent any votes for any candidates other than McCain from being counted and they did their best to quiet Paul’s supporters, though they were many and motivated.
Few news outlets are covering the delegate vote tally. Those that are covering it list the finally tally as including 5 votes for Ron Paul and 2 votes for Mitt Romney. That’s not entirely accurate, though. At the end of the first round of voting, after McCain had secured the nomination but before the results were announced, there were 13 delegates not voting (no mention of who they supported), 13 delegates for Ron Paul, and 2 delegates for Mitt Romney. Then, the chair asked if anyone would like to change their votes. When the final results were announced, it was down to 5 votes for Ron Paul and 2 votes for Romney. I have a hunch (though I don’t know for sure) those other 8 Paul delegates weren’t actually given a choice as to what they would do.
What happened next, though, was even more disturbing. Someone on the floor made a motion to show the official tally as unanimous. On a voice vote, and obviously without quorum, it passed and was accepted by the chair. Whether or not the official tally will go down in history legally as unanimous I don’t know, but now you know how America’s 47% of the vote turned into at least 99% if not 100% of the vote at the convention.
So, you see, you may vote, but you don’t decide. The Republican Party’s attitude is clear: you vote, we decide
I have to give a special shout out to the Alaska delegation, home of VP nominee Sarah Palin, for sticking to their guns, pledging 5 delegates to Ron Paul, and not changing their vote at the end. Those delegates were under intense pressure to change their votes, but they didn’t. They (and presumably the 2 Romney voters) had the integrity to go on record with for people who voted for them. And, by the way, among final the 5 delegates and their 5 alternates for Ron Paul, at least one that I know of is a Free State Project participant.
Here’s the video of Paul’s 5 Alaska votes being announced at the convention:
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