McCain Attempting To Win Backing Of Ron Paul? | |
| Steve Watson |   | ||||||||
Republican nominee John McCain and national party strategists are attempting to win the support of Congressman Ron Paul, fearing that without the votes of his supporters it may be difficult to win the election outright against Barack Obama.
That is the according to a report appearing in the Washington Times today, however, Ron Paul himself seemed somewhat confused by the idea stating "I don't know where they could've gotten a statement like that from."
The Times article suggests that the Republican National Committee and convention officials have been courting the Congressman in an attempt to try and gain an endorsement.
The report reads:
Sen. McCain and national party strategists worry that Mr. Paul's sympathizers will vote for Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate and former Republican congressman who shares many of Mr. Paul's views.
After officials at the Republican National Committee told Paul that he would not be permitted to address the national convention, because of his refusal to alter his opposition to the Iraq war, the Congressman organized his own "Campaign For Liberty" convention.
The RNC also promised to limit Ron Paul's access to the convention floor, and monitor his movements at the hall.
According to Paul's communications director Jesse Benton, the Republican Platform Committee, under the control of McCain's people, also barred Paul from speaking in Minneapolis last week because he wanted to discuss the foreign-policy planks in the platform.
Now Congressman Paul's rally, which takes place today, has sold out and the McCain campaign is seemingly worried that it will win over many young and first time voters.
The Washington Times explains that a deal of sorts was being negotiated whereby Ron Paul has said he will speak respectfully about McCain in return for the convention granting the Congressman's entourage, including his personal security guard, political aides and Benton himself access to the floor of the Xcel Energy Center.
This is as close as McCain could possibly hope to come towards an endorsement from Ron Paul, who fiercely clashed with the Arizona Senator during the debates last year and has consistently criticized his views on foreign policy.
Jesse Benton told reporters that moves to gain anything more from the Paul camp would do the McCain campaign no good because the loyalty of Ron Paul's supporters is "not transferable".
According to further reports however, Benton has said that the party is still yet to agree to the deal which would permit Paul to be accompanied by a political aide and someone to keep watch over him.
“We thought we had an agreement over the weekend” enabling Paul to circulate with two aides on the floor among some 260 delegates in his camp. “It looks like there is a hang-up.” Benton stated.
Ron Paul appeared on CNN this morning and confirmed these details, revealing that the GOP has told him he can come to the convention floor only “under very, very restricted conditions.”
Watch the interview:
It would be no surprise if the McCain campaign were indeed attempting to win over Ron Paul and his "closet sympathizers" as the Times so derogatorily describes limited government advocates, given the impact the Congressman has had over the past eighteen months.
Paul shocked the party establishment by twice setting single-day fundraising records during his quest for the Republican presidential nomination. He also effectively ended any chance Rudy Giuliani ever had of winning the nomination by consistently polling higher and trouncing him in the debates, leading sections of the neocon bootlicking media to admit he has forever "changed the GOP forever".
It now seems that the previously ever present tactic of blackballing Paul, labeling him a fringe politician and attempting to ignore his strong base of supporters is no longer thought of as an effective way of dealing with the Congressman and his campaign for liberty.
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