AUGUSTA, Maine — A national Republican committee offered a scathing analysis of Maine’s GOP convention at which a slate of Ron Paul supporters was chosen to represent the state at the national convention in Tampa next week. As a result, the full Republican National Committee voted late Thursday morning to support a compromise that would seat 10 Maine delegates pledged to presidential candidate Ron Paul and 10 alternate delegates who support Mitt Romney.
The vote follows a Committee on Contests ruling Wednesday that flaws with the way Maine’s state GOP convention unfolded in May and invalidated the selection of 20 Maine delegates committed to Paul.
“The convention was riddled with serious credentialing, ballot and floor security issues affecting the election … of delegates,” the 26-page report concluded. The problems started, the report said, when the convention doors opened at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 5 and a line of people waiting to check in stretched a quarter mile across the parking lot.
Brent Tweed, one of the contested delegates, who served as chairman of the Republican State Committee in May, said Thursday night that despite the Committee on Contests’ report and recommendations, he and other Paul supporters from Maine have not given up and were pinning their hopes on a RNC credentialing committee hearing scheduled for Friday morning.
“We’re going to propose that all the original 20 delegates be seated,” said Tweed, who was in Tampa on Thursday. “We think that facts and logic are on our side. We think we have a fair shot at seating all our delegates.”
Tweed said he hadn’t read the Committee on Contests’ report closely, but had heard during the day Thursday what it contained — namely an indictment of the way the state convention was held.
“They’re saying the convention wasn’t properly run, that we didn’t follow up on procedures,” he said. “That’s complete opposite of what happened. We held a proper convention. I think this decision is just a political decision because we don’t support the right candidate.”
The report identified a number of problems with the process that unfolded at the state convention. The credentials committee at one point during the two-day convention said 336 delegates were in attendance from Aroostook County. A delegate said that was absurd and the committee later said there were 79 delegates from The County, the report said. The delegate said that was also absurd and that the most The County had ever had at the convention was 46 delegates. A motion was made, and accepted, to change the number of Aroostook County delegates at the convention to 46.
Immediately after, a motion was made to reduce the number of delegates from Franklin County from 70 to 57, the report said.
As a result of this and other problems it chronicled, the report said, “the committee is not satisfied that the conduct of the state convention allowed the will of the body to be able to be known and expressed on the election of the … delegates from the state of Maine.”
The contest committee suggested a new slate of delegates split between Paul and Romney supporters.
The move represents another setback for Paul supporters who seek to seat all 20 Maine delegates pledged to the libertarian-leaning U.S. representative from Texas at the national convention.
Ashley Ryan, a Paul supporter who was elected Maine’s new Republican national committeewoman during the state party convention, is at the national convention site in Tampa, Fla. She reaffirmed Thursday morning that her group will not agree to any compromise.
“We were all duly elected and we should all be duly seated,” said Ryan. “When you look at the case, it would be an embarrassment to the party, to [presumptive presidential nominee] Mitt Romney and to Maine if we’re not seated.”
Peter Cianchette and Jan Martens Staples, longtime Maine Republican party leaders and Romney supporters, challenged the results, arguing that lax credentialing and security at the state convention allowed unqualified participants to cast votes.
The contest committee urged Republican leaders and Paul supporters to work out a compromise. Maine’s delegation remains the lone holdout not to have reached an agreement on how many of the disputed delegates will be recognized at the national convention.
The 20 Paul delegates remain united in rejecting any compromise proposal, Ryan told the Bangor Daily News by phone Thursday morning. The Paul delegates have received no new compromise proposal and are not in regular contact with Republican party officials or representatives of the Romney campaign, she said. Lawyers representing the Maine delegates continue to work on their behalf.
On Wednesday, Matthew McDonald of Belfast, a Paul-backing Maine delegate, told the BDN, “No compromise: Seat all of us or seat none of us.”
On Thursday, McDonald reiterated his position that the Paul delegates would not compromise and characterized the Committee on Contests decision as a “recommendation.” He noted that Gov. Paul LePage has promised not to attend the convention if the Maine group isn’t seated.
When contacted by phone Thursday morning, Brent Littlefield, a political adviser to LePage, declined to comment on whether the governor would attend the national convention. “At the point when I have a comment, I’ll issue a public statement,” he said.
Pete Harring, a Paul delegate, will attend the convention. His flight leaves Saturday morning.
“I was a duly elected delegate and I’m going to Tampa,” he said Thursday morning. He intends to be on the convention floor Monday. “It looks like this is going up to the last minute,” Harring said of whether he will be recognized as a delegate.
Ryan expects a decision from the credentials committee by Friday. If that panel rules against seating all 20 Maine delegates committed to Ron Paul, “We’ll have a meeting of the delegation to decide what we’ll do next,” she said.
If they do not receive credentials, Ryan and Harring said Thursday that the Paul delegates from Maine would explore finding someone to make a motion from the convention floor to seat them.
The Paul campaign hopes that it can have enough delegates seated to place Paul’s name into nomination during the convention, which would allow him to make a speech.
Earlier this month, Maine GOP chairman Charlie Webster offered a compromise to the Paul delegates. His deal would have let them attend the convention but obligate them to vote for Mitt Romney if Paul doesn’t have sufficient support to be nominated for president.
The Paul supporters rejected that plan.
Last week, Maine delegates who back Paul sought an injunction against the Republican National Committee to stop it from investigating whether they were legitimately chosen to represent the state at the GOP convention.
Bangor Daily News writer Christopher Cousins contributed to this report.
Romney doesn’t need, or seem to want, Maine’s few electoral votes….
“The full Republican National Committee voted late Thursday morning to support a compromise that would seat 10 Maine delegates pledged to presidential candidate Ron Paul and 10 alternate delegates, according to Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster.”
So which 10 were elected correctly ??????
Then what of the other ten…. what did they do to get the nod ???
How does the GOTea really work, then, anyway ?
ROTFLOL .
These people can’t run their own party, so why would anyone let them run a anything bigger than a bake sale, like a Nation or a State ?
The Republicans don’t elect leaders as Presidents. They want, as Norquist says, someone with enough digital dexterity to sign whatever legislation the plutocrats draft and ram through a compliant Republican Congress.
Bingo!
“Ashley Ryan, a Paul supporter who was elected Maine’s new Republican national committeewoman during the state party convention, is at the national convention site in Tampa, Fla. She reaffirmed Thursday morning that her group will not agree to any compromise.”
Clearly Ashley Ryan is the proper Republican in this. Webster is a total RINO for trying to compromise! Yuck, what a dirty word.
lol…
Nope. The Paul Cult are the RINOs…
Paul cult? Oh you mean people that want to follow the Constitution and are now finding a blockade to their voting rights are crazy? Interesting. My guess, when this country was being formed you would have been with the English fighting against your friends and neighbors who wanted freedom huh? This is not a R or D issue, it’s an issue for everyone because if you don’t think the D’s would pull this nonsense after seeing the R’s get away with it I’m afraid your sadly mistaken. Most, not all but most, of those in power are there because of the power not because they have any real sense of wanting to make this country a better place. When issues like this become partisan it’s a sure sign of how deep the divide is in this country. R’s need to be cleaning house after seeing this bs and D’s should be on their toes insuring it doesn’t happen in future elections to their party as well.
Well, in fairness to Webster, his proposed compromises, so far, have not,
and still do not make any sense for anyone.
Which ten of your proposed delegates are not the result of voter fraud, Mr. Charley ?
See, he is not really very good at it.
I’ve been looking forward to this GOP Convention ever since “NO COMPROMISE,
ever !!!!!” became measure of conservative political correctness.
I’m not disappointed, yet.
Its not going to matter Romney will not win. If the Repubs were smart they would have nominated Ron Paul as more dems and Inds would have voted for him. Instead they went with the same old boring candidates with no clue about the normal everyday American. Most people in Maine are blue collar workers and want both their taxes low and spending cut. The only way to do that was with Ron Paul. He would have cut the defense and raised taxes on the rich. Repubs are too interested in being in every country’s business and making the middle class pay for it. Can’t wait for Nov elections to shut all these clowns down.
If you cut defense spending, you do so at your own peril. This is not the time to dismantle defense spending. For our own safety, we might want to increase it, unless you prefer having your community infected with middle east terrorists. There is no second chance to get it right. Take a look at the world out there, then get back to us.
You do know that the US spends more on “defense” than the next 26 countries on the list put together, don’t you? The military budget is out of control, and needs to be cut. America is not the police force of the world. We could cut the “defense” budget by almost 60% and still have more than enough military power to defend ourselves. Take a look at the real world, and get back to us.
Please take an opportunity to review just how much we have been spending on defense just over the last decade. We have spent over 6 TRILLION dollars in the last decade while the next largest defense spender China, Barely has spent over 1 Trillion this past decade. Our technology is far more advanced and it doesn’t cost 100 Billion dollars or more to fight terrorism. Homeland security has done a good job of filling the communication gaps and capabilities that allowed 9-11 to happen. If anything we need to cut spending down to a reasonable 350 – 400 Billion a year (done over the next 5 years) which is still significantly higher than China and the rest of the world. We don’t need a standing army of 1 million+ troops. Its time to reduce and get our fiscal house in order, we can’t do this until the biggest elephant of the budget is addressed first, then fixing our messed up tax structure will go a long way in fixing our national debt.
I just saw a terrorist sneak under your bed. I suggest you load up that AK 47 and go into your bedroom with the gun blazing. If you kill one of your family members, just consider it collateral damage.
James,
Tell you what make a direct deposit from your account to the DOD. You will get 30 cents on the dollar because of the amount of waste. We will be just fine cutting the budget and placing our troops here on our soild. You could place our military police at all the airports and get rid of all the TSA agents especially the ones we hire from other countrys (go to Dulles airpoint in VA and look for yourself) This would cut Homeland security budget and most soldiers would treat people with respect. They also would do a far better job as they really want to pritect the country. We could cut the DOD budget by 25% and still out spend the next 20 countries including russia and China. Don’t be fooled by the fear and brain washing the Republicans are pushing at you. It doesn’t make sense to put money into defense which really is going into foreign countires like Pakistan and Afghanistan. Its a waste of time and frankly it make the US no safer than we were before. Pull your head out of the sand and realize this country will go broke if we keep spending on defense like we have been. Ron Paul had a vision to do stuff just like this and not spend trillions on wars that were not needed like Iraq. We are no closer to being safer now than we were 12 years ago but we are closer to being broke.
You’ve got to be kidding! The United States spent more on defense in 2011 than the next 13 countries combined – that would be China, Russia, UK, France, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, and Germany. We have a huge arsenal that no other country can match, and we waste a lot of the money that we spend on unnecessary equipment so that corporate contractors can keep raking in the dough. There is no need to increase our military spending – what we do need to do is cut it and invest that military spending more wisely.
We will go the way of the Soviet Union if we keep this up – guns before butter rarely plays well long term especially when the country is already suffering from a lack of jobs and opportunity for people.
I took a look at the world out there, and I see terrorists fighting us (on *their* soil) with pretty average guns, and some explosives. And billions of dollars in tanks, airplanes and troops don’t seem to be delivering victory. The U.S. military continues to use roughly the same structure and tactics that it used during the Second World War. September 11th was not perpetrated by a foreign army. It was perpetrated by 19 guys with boxcutters who took advantage of shoddy airline security practices.
“We have met the enemy, and he is us,” – Pogo
Seating the delegates elected at the State Convention would be both right and wise.
If the Romney folk want a fist fight out back with the Paul people, they might consider scheduling it for a month with snow on the ground.
Letting Paul get his 5 states and 15 minutes at the podium would not harm the national Republican cause.
Denying elected Maine delegates their seat at the national convention will not help the Maine Republican Party at the polls in November.
We need a Republican fist fight on national TV as Romney reads his acceptance speech amid the howling winds of a hurricane. If the hurricane rips the roof off the convention center it will make the Republican convention memorable for the first time in history.
I was kind of hoping that the RNC would build a 20 ft high cement wall around the convention to keep Ron Paul out and the hurricane would create a 25 ft storm surge!
Soooo you’re wishing that thousands of people would die by drowning… because what? They have a differing world view from yours? Wow! The grand view of the left of acceptance for all and tolerance is shining brightly from you, you sick individual.
You can’t drown in 5 ft of water!
I just want to see them get wet!
LOL
WOW Ron Paul Getting trashed. Tea Party screwing over other Republicans. Justified AKIN and RYAN Rape in the party platform. Remember according to Republicans you cant get pregnant from RAPE. Some new age Tea Party Biology. Time to vote out all these perverted, sick Tea Republicans OUT .
WOW. One crackpot from one State makes a ridiculous remark, gets soundly trounced by all Republicans that matter, and you throw them all into one lump? Generalize much? Why aren’t all the Dem’s blamed for our Dear Leader’s equally ludicrous speech about “you didn’t make that”? It’s because most are too embarrassed to bring it up!
We speak in generalities, but live in the details.
Businessmen didn’t build the roads that help them deliver products, the schools that provide them with educated employees, the fire departments that help preserve their buildings, or the police that help keep their neighborhoods safe.
Ryan supported legislation outlawing federal funding for abortion except in the case of forcible rape and the GOP platform committee just endorsed a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion, with no exceptions.
Thus the President says something that is indisputably true and you criticize him. Representative Akin clumsily pushes the Ryan/GOP extreme position on abortion and you claim he is acting alone. Get your facts straight.
ROFLMAO! Do you really think that all those services are only for someone starting a business? They are available to all! Businesses pay their share of taxes to maintain all those services Just ask the guy down the road with a repair shop with 5 employees. Where would the freakin jobs come from without them? Oh, that’s right. The government is the nation’s largest employer!
Abortion is here to stay no matter what some people have forced as a plank. Non-issue; tempest in a teapot; a distraction.
Businesses do not pay their fair share of taxes. Just a few years ago they did – 40% today its 8%. Abortion a distraction – now there is a head in the sand. Women don’t think its a distraction. The so-called christian right doesn’t think its a distration. Its the core Republican issue. In 2010 they ran on jobs, jobs, jobs. They passed not a single jobs bill anywhere in America; but they did pass 1100 bills that restricted abortion.
They pay the commercial real estate tax rate. Their delivery trucks pay road taxes plus fuel tax. My Dad with 3 pulp trucks had to pay exorbitant registrations to increase his weight limits and was shut down completely for 2 months every spring because all the secondary roads up here banned all trucks while the ground thawed putting 3 families dependent on him out a jobs. Just a couple of examples of the little guy paying his share.
I can’t believe those figures you give out since +/- 40% don’t pay any income taxes and the top 2% of earners pay 90% of the rest. You can look up the exact #’s for the ones I quoted, but since they are common knowledge, I won’t give any exact references. Can you with your figures??
“My Dad with 3 pulp trucks had to pay exorbitant registrations to increase his weight limits and was shut down completely for 2 months every spring because all the secondary roads up here banned all trucks while the ground thawed putting 3 families dependent on him out a jobs.”
What you have described is a proper response to an externality – an economic artifact that, left uncorrected, allows a business to deliver a product at a cost that does not reflect it’s true cost to society. Left unregulated, your old man’s business causes a disproportionate amount of damage to roads during the thaw. So much damage, in fact, that the list of taxes and fees your enumerate does not begin to pay for the damage incurred, leaving all of us to pay for the damage your old man’s business does to the roads. This would allow him to sell his services at a price that does not reflect the real cost of doing business, since taxpayers are subsidizing his use of the roads.
In the long run, it’s cheaper for Mainers as a whole to have your old man shut down for 8 weeks and lay off three guys temporarily than it is to repair the roads your old man’s trucks destroy.
Actually, I expect my taxes–and his–to pay for the roads to support that level of use. I know how much I’m paying in taxes, so I can only imagine what his trucks pay.
These trucks hauled 8-10 cord of 4ft softwood, not like the behemoths of today. If the State thought he caused more damage to the roads than his fees covered, then why not increase them? They didn’t seem to think that was the case…. An example of how business pay for the roads etc. more than they’re credited with.
The springtime of inactivity was an example of one cost of running a small business. We didn’t complain; it was a normal cycle.
And I ask that you retract the use “old man” when referring to my late father, or anyone else’s for that matter.It shows you in a poor light (or is that normal for you?).
Businesses do not pay taxes. they pay a tribute to the powers that be and then pass that cost to their customers, who then pay the tax.
Can you create a law that would create jobs that are not government paid? If you can, you need to run for office.
Go look up the essential historical meaning of ‘E Pluribus Unum’ and then come back and tell us, again, how Obama misspoke.
While you’re at it, go listen to what he actually said in the speech you reference.
Before you go at it, go back and see who he got the speech from. Elizabeth Warren of Ma. espoused the same thing months ago…..’K
Had you read President Obama’s full speech, rather than the snippet Faux News and Romney have trumpeted, you would have realized that was what the President was referring to with his “you didn’t build that” comment. I could not survive as a businessperson without government services. The small increase in taxes I might have to pay with a repeal of the Bush tax cuts is worth what I receive in return. Those services are for all, but they don’t come for free.
As to abortion, were Romney to be elected and name a replacement for a retiring Justice Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade would be overturned.
Leave your Fantasy Island and join the real world.
Obama was actually parroting a speech given by Elizabeth Warren (months ago) who’s running against Scott Brown for “Ted Kennedy’s seat” in Ma. where I live. So, you see, the story goes much deeper than you seem to be aware of….
And there ain’t no way that RvW would be overturned in its entirety! Partial birth might be an exception. Get off the partisan kool-aid. I did back in the Nixon era.
I have watched the video of Warren’s powerful speech given to a small group of supporters one of whom had her camera going. You needn’t think you have to educate me.
I exercised discretion in not pointing out that your original post claimed the quote was “you didn’t make that” rather than “you didn’t build that.” As the word “build” referred to the highways the President discussed in the preceding sentence, your misquote is telling. One builds highways, but makes products. It is passing strange that you think a future Supreme Court might some day uphold a partial birth abortion ban. It did so in April of 2007 in Gonzales v. Carhart. It reversed its earlier decision largely because Alito had replaced O’Connor. With one more change of justices, Roe v. Wade will likely be history. Enjoy your Kool-Aid. I will continue dealing with reality.
Build vs makes?? What a ridiculous grammatical call out. Employees build cars for the auto maker.
They espose that businesses would be impossible to start without ALL the government ‘amenities’ provided by the taxpayer (is that word ok, or should I check my thesaurus?). I’m glad you took the time to research Granny Warren….
He must live in North Mass.
You misquoted the President, not I. She is soon to be Senator elect Warren to you. I presume you have educated yourself to Gonzales v. Carhart?
I have to say (as others have already) that you seem to be a pathetically obnoxious and condescending individual who is also painfully unaware of how Ma. fells about Scott Brown.
“Only someone so educated can hold an idea so stupid.” G Orwell
That would be funny if not so full of spin.
Obama has never made a speech, he just repeats what the idiots advising him have told him to say.
You apparently slept through the three debates in which he so outclassed McCain. As no one knows what questions will be asked, a debate is a thoroughly extemporaneous speaking engagement.
Hey, ArtHenry, I would just love to see you or anyone “out talk” a sober or buzzed Barack Obama. Both Putin and Hu couldn’t do it, and they’re scared poopless of him. Yup. That’d be a good one to see. He’s been President of the United States for nearly 40 months … equivalent of four master’s degrees roled up in one. Even if he is a bad student, there are currently only 5 other people on Earth who know the same, more or less, about us than he does. This man actually “consults” with people who know more about specific issues than he does BEFORE he makes a speech. That is wisdom at work. And he’s slippery. He ain’t nobody’s fool, if he can help it. He’s got a wife that makes sure he behaves and daughters that obviously love him, as, according to most polls, do most Americans. I’ve said it before, with the railroading of Ron Paul by the RNC, I’m voting for the presumptive democratic nominee for President of the United States … again … despite my being a registered republican, because, unlike our man, Romney, he just ISN’T repeating what the idiots are advising him to say.
Actually RVW should be overturned. The federal government has no business in this subject. Your Right to privacy response is just nonsense. What issue could be more private than personal wealth and by “law” we all have to tell the government how much money we get in exchange for our labors, how much we pay for our homes. howmuch “profit” we make when we sell same.
There is no expecration of privacy and certainly no Right to privacy.
You have obviously never read Roe v. Wade or Griswold v. Connecticut. Both mandate that no government, state or federal, can interfere with reproduction decisions made by a woman. What business is it of a state government that a woman buys contraceptives or elects an abortion?
RvW was based on the discovery of a Right to privacy, in the issue of contraception, that was discovered in Griswald. . Then the “estemed” justices expanded the Right to include aboution and in recent years infanticide with the late term abortions.
The first decision was reasonable but the second was wrong since instead of preventing conception it alloweed the termination of a life. Argue as you will that a life is not terminated, by the time of the third trimester many of the unviable tissue masses are viable.
Ihe holy rit of the abortion supporters holds that as long as the unviable tissue mass has not taken a breath it is OK to kill it. This is vital is important because if any unborn child is considered alive then all unborn children can be seen the same way. This holy rit of the “left”.
The case is Griswold v. Connecticut, not Griswald v. Connecticut.
If the state has the power to prohibit contraception or abortions does it then have the power to mandate contraception or abortions? The right to privacy is best understood as grounded in the Ninth Amendment. Read that Amendment, as well as the concurring opinion by Justice Goldberg in Griswold which expressly bases the right to privacy on the Ninth Amendment. If you read the Supreme Court’s 2007 opinion in Gonzales v. Carhart, you would see that Roe v. Wade has not been expanded to cover late term abortions. Do not flaunt your ignorance.
Roe allowed significant restrictions on third trimester pregnancy abortions. It acknowledged that the state had an interest once the fetus was potentially viable and referenced the common law at the time of the Constitution that acknowledged that.
I know of no one on the left who endorses the notion that life can be protected only when a child has been delivered and is breathing. Everyone on the left accepts that third trimester abortions are only permissible to protect the life or health of the mother.
The right would insist that a fertilized egg in a petri dish left over from attempts at in vitro fertilization cannot be destroyed. Our position as to when legal protection attaches is more reasonable.
Thank you for correcting a typo, that is so supercillious of you.
Had Griswold said ANYTHING about abortion, Roe would have been unnecessary.
Are you saying that partial birth abortions have not been upheld as covered by Roe?
Medical science has not made fetuses viable far earlier than were viable in 1789? in which case the right to abortion would be legal until a year has passed? Many children were not able to survive outside the womb for that long.
While there are some that contend that once the fertilized egg attaches to the womb, I have heard of no one but you liberals saying an egg in a petri dish will live outside the womb.
You wouldnt know reasonable if it slapped you in the face.
The word is supercilious.
Read my post. I never suggested that Griswold discussed abortion.
The federal ban on partial birth abortions was upheld in Gonzales v. Carhart.
Most right-to-lifers say life begins at conception. That clearly covers in vitro fertilization eggs that are never implanted.
Your party’s platform endorses a human life amendment to the Constitution. The human life amendment that was voted down in Mississippi last year expressly affirmed that life begins at conception. The same was true for the rejected amendment in Kansas. I have never seen a human life amendment worded any other way.
Most members of your party oppose any contraceptive that has a remote chance of killing a fertilized egg. That is why they oppose the IUD, for example.
I know your party has left the world of reason.
You are the one that has left reality along with Your party.
I belong to Neither party and feel that both parties are wrong.
I have never heard that ANYONE opposes IUDS but support contraception otherwise..
I suspect that many fertalized eggs are oassed through women’s reproductive organs every month are you going to claim that the Republicans want to stop that too?
Again thank you again for corerecting my spelling.
You are still a supercilious a hole.
Good one, Larry! Anyone that corrects wording of two entities in a court battle is just trying to beat everyone down with a snawty and superior attitude. Tiresome.
If the test of truth is whether LarryinCamden has heard it, then very little in this world would be true. Google opposition to IUDs and educate yourself.
Do you seriously contend that most right-to-lifers don’t believe that life begins at conception? Why were amendments saying just that put to the voters in Kansas and Mississippi? That it could make a woman a criminal for the work of nature is one reason the idea is so preposterous.
And if a woman is killed when the tissue is “viable”, why can the one responsible be held responsible for 2 deaths? Because she had chosen to keep it instead of vacuuming its brain out?
Hypocrisy.
Doesn’t Obamacare require free contraceptives? HMMM?
It requires that all insurers cover preventive health care (which includes contraception, mammograms, cancer screening for men and women, etc.) without a co-pay. It leaves to the woman the choice of whether to obtain any contraceptive and to the man whether to get screened for prostate cancer, for example. There is no coercion of the patient, which was not the case when Connecticut outlawed the sale of contraceptives before the Court’s decision in Griswold.
You’ve apparently changed your wording about the woman’s right to purchase birth control, so you’ve slyly reworded it to make his question moot. It had nothing to do with cancer screenings.
I believe eyeva was referring to insurance being mandated to provide contraception for free which caused the brouhaha with the Catholic church a few weeks back, which isn’t due to come about until 2014). The prez cynically brought it up prematurely to bolster his campaign to paint the party of no as anti woman.
Since Escapee has already somewhat answered for me, I’ll just address the Griswold question:
Who, without looking it up., remembers such a case, from 1965, about a widely ignored law (in one State), from 1879 for gawd’s sake!? Since it had already been ignored for close to a century, the case only came about for clarification.
“Just ask the guy down the road with a repair shop with 5 employees. Where would the freakin jobs come from without them? ”
There would be 6 Repairs Shops instead of One!
The guy that hires the other 5 is nothing special!
??? was that?
You mean a chain would drive him out of business and the five families that it supports? Where would all the extra customers come from to support them all? Would Obama make it a law to support all those government created businesses? Made no sense with that one, dude
Anybody that works in a service shop does not need to rely on someone else to employee him to provide service to consumers if he can do the same in his own garage.
The “Customer” is the employer not the middleman who collects the fee for someone elses service!
For instance If the guy owning the buisness shuts the door that employees 5 other auto mechanics there is still a demand for auto service and available Mechanics to provide the service.
The So called “Job Creators” create nothing!
All that they do is “administer and facilitate” !
Republicans try to make people think that we cant do without them!
Shoes where made for peoples feet long before the first corporate charter was ever thought of!
And the cobblers started their own business to make them.
Even in a one person business, it it a business started by that one person!
It’s laughably sad that you honestly believe The Republicans made us dependent on the nanny state. All the social programs SS, Medicate atc. are all from Democratic administrations. Your type complains how the Republicans are uncaring and stingy contradicts what you stated…
And being a small business owner is NOT a Corporation unless they expand that much, choose to incorporate, or sell out to the conglomerate like Microsoft buying up every start-up it considered competition.
My dad built houses for a living and so did his dad, they knew that without buyers there was NO economy!
The Republican Supply Siders Praise the Buisness Owners as some kind of Special Entity that makes the economy work!
It’s a load of Baloney!
Human Needs and wants is what makes the thing work, without a flourishing middle class there would be alot of hammers rusting away in tool boxes!
“Human wants and needs”is called demand and business exist to fill that demand. w/o people like your father buying lumber and shingles and those hammers, they would not be supporting those businesses and their employees which constitute the middle class. They would have to start their own lumber mill by themselves. Same thing, just a different route. I refuse to continue this thread with idealists who only talk in circles. I will stay pragmatic…
So let the 6 mechanics work out of their own shops, buy their own insurance, pay their own total FICA and business licenses, their own separate oil, battery and tire disposal fees, oil storage permit fees, heat and lights, bookkeepers, etc, etc. That makes a lot more sense than the 6 just getting under one roof.
In my almost 30 years as a new car dealership mechanic and foreman, I’ve seen many good workers leave to try it on their own, only to return 2-3 years later because all the late nights and government regulations were too much.
I worked in the automotive business and my most memorable experiance was this fella that worked beside me in a Chevy Dealership that didn’t show up for an entire week !
No call to boot!The service manager called him into the office and asked him where he had been!The reply was “I have more work at home than you do here” I only returned to get my tool box!He spent the remainder of his life self employeed and his wife did his books!They retired quite wealthy at 55!
I’m glad he was able to do that back when people could dump their waste oil and batteries on the town dump. I’ve spent many hours correcting some independents screw ups. “i just had my pads replaced and now they’re squealing!) Bring it in and find out that someone put in some cheap aftermarket crap. They don’t want OEM, so you charge them .5 labor for a brake inspection and they squeal worse than their brakes! And these are Mercedes
customers!
Maine’s environmental laws enforcement is just getting to the level that Mass has had for the past 30 years. My brother in the County still just pulls onto an old woods road and pulls the drainplug on his p-up like many others. Are your auto parts stores required to take used oil for no charge, or even a mom and pop 2 pump gas station that sells quarts of oil? I don’t know.I also suspect he flew under the radar of the IRS and payed no FICA either.
I will admitt the guy was exceptional,
the funny part was that he couldn’t read english!
He was a natural mechanic, and his wife was good at the rest!
Back then, anybody with a good mechanical aptitude could fix the things. Cars now are repaired with a screwdriver, laptop (with expensive software not generally available to independents), and the ability to read several digital signals on one wire. Since cars that were thrown out at 100k miles are now considered just broken in, the every day tune-ups and valve jobs; grunt work and busted knuckles is over for anybody but the ones desperate to keep that old Honda going for pennies. I’ll wager that he’d not make it today and have to wonder if his wife could deal with all the new tax laws, or only be able to fill out a repair order.
Yes a mechanic could work out of his garage, heck a garage is not needed. The problem with that is that if that ever became common for mechanics to work full time for themselves, which was possible 50 years ago, how would tax, labor, environmental laws be inforced? They could not so the government:Federal, State, County, and local would squash the business to enforce these laws . Therefore force both customers and mechanics into the clutches of the corporate, and very likely unionized, repair shops
Well said, Larry.
One thing though, after yearly factory training sessions for 4 different cars lines since ’75, meeting guys from all over the East, I’m happy to say only one guy’s shop was unionized! He complained how incompetents were paid the same as him which was lower than the average of the other classmates!
“Do you really think that all those services are only for someone starting a business? They are available to all! ”
Exactly. The presence of roads and other infrastructure are crucial factors that encourage economic development. Just another example of how we can do more collectively than any of us can do individually.
The taxpayers may not have built roads and the like by ourselves, but we sure as heck pay for them.
As long as we don’t repeal the Bush tax cuts and return to the Clinton rates there will be less and less money to build roads and perform other needed government functions. Republicans like Reagan and Bush I understood this. Not a single GOP Senator or Representative since 1993 has voted to do anything but cut taxes. Clinton’s tax increases passed in 1993 with not a single Republican vote.
I suppose it always comes down to the question of what is the purpose for government? I believe it is entirely possible to have things like decent roads with the individual taxpayer paying very little to the government. More and more, it is increasingly difficult to find areas of our lives that government doesn’t have its hand in.
Let’s begin with eliminating most of our foreign bases and re-tooling our military for the unconventional warfare we might actually face.
Let’s leave the social insurance programs that we have all paid for (Social Security and Medicare) largely untouched, except to tweak the tax base for each to reach capital gains income.
If you read Paul Kennedy’s “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers” you will see how counterproductive to economic growth the expense of empire has been for every other great power. Money we spend in Europe and Asia on military bases and in Asia on wars saps our economic strength.
Grow up.
Is this intended to be a rational, mature response? Clearly, you have never read Paul Kennedy’s work. Instead, you are placing your hands over eyes and ears and refusing to consider the lessons of history. Santayana would tell us that you are condemned to repeat history.
I’ve asked before, not necessarily to you, If we remake our semi constitutional military, will you support the remaking of our unconstitutional social programs?
If you won’t your point is totally moot.
In July, 1798, one our very first Congresses, which included many signatories of the Constitution, passed an act to aid sick merchant seamen. It set up federal hospitals for injured seamen financed by a 1% tax on their wages. President Adams, one of our more illustrious founders, signed the Act.
The notion that Congress cannot enact a tax to provide for the general welfare is absurd. Read the Constitution. Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are clearly constitutional and the history of our early Republic proves it.
I gently suggest that President John Adams was more schooled in the meaning of the Constitution than LarryinCamden.
Yup they did, as you have pointed out many times before to make irt sound like SS and medicare are not against the Constitution.
What you never say, and could easily not even realize, protecting the health of sailors outside the Navy was to make sure that in case of need th Navy could get trained sailors because at that time there were far more merchant ships than Navy ships for training those sailors. There was a Constitutional need for those sailors and protecting the merchant sailors was a national defense issue.
Every Supreme Court confronted with a taxation to promote the general welfare case has approved the tax and the program it supports. You are a minority of one.
I’m not a minority of one, there are many that agree with me.
I can’t helpt if the moerons that are in courts cany understand the difference between individual support and general welfare.
I find your change of subject quite humorous.
Your readers will appreciate the irony of your calling justices “moerons.”
No irony intended.
Not by yourselves, you didn’t. And that’s the point. Also, for a business to be successful it has to have one thing that the business owner didn’t creat-CUSTOMERS. Without customers, NO business would succeed. Without customers, there would be no NEED for the businesses. Use to be the saying in business was “the customer is always right. ” In todays corporatist business world the saying is: “I built this, you MUST come and buy whatever dreck I make.”
Keep in mind that corporatism is NOT capitalism.
Ah, but it is. First, I’m not aware of an “ism” called corporatism, but corporations in all forms are examples of capitalism in spades. If they are not, what are they? Are you thinking about cooperatives? Yes, indeed, they are different, but cooperatives are not what have purchased our political system. Corporations have – BIG corporations. And they believe in the dictum of the great Karl Rove: Plutocrats of the world, get out your checkbooks, we have a world to win!
The difference being that capitalism is the free market, voluntary system where everyone plays by the same small set of rules. Corporatism is where government shows partiality towards certain corporations and even uses taxpayer money to bail them out.
That would make both Democrats and republicans guilty of corporatism?
Does that show that both parties are run by elites?
They are and it does.
“First, I’m not aware of an “ism” called corporatism”
Educate yourself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporatism
By that same logic are all forms of social welfare socialism?
I know that you will not countanance that generalization because it is not true, then neither is your generalization.
“Not by yourselves, you didn’t.” ( notice its not OURselves)
Just where has the gubmint’s money come from if not the taxpayers?? WOW
If you don’t like the dreck that’s available, why not start your own business and build a better mousetrap? The gubmint will do it for you, I hear….
“The taxpayers may not have built roads and the like by ourselves, but we sure as heck pay for them.”
Isn’t that the point of recognizing that collectively we can do more than any of could do individually?
Naturally, a group of people can usually do more than an individual. On the issue of roads, though, I keep thinking of how many times the intersection in Ellsworth by Sunrise Glass has been “fixed” over the years. I tend to think that a small group of prepared, determined individuals could actually fix the problem much more efficiently.
and probably be arrested by the government.
Unfortunately, I think you’re right.
221 House Republicans voted YES on his bill that Ryan co-sponsored. This is not one crackpot. This is the mainstrream of the Republican Party.
You know what is going to be awesome? Sometime in October, the constituents of those 221 house members are going to find out that Bain Capital invested in, and Willard Romney personally profited from, a company that disposed of aborted fetuses.
He’s not any ordinary crackpot, he’s looking to be chief crackpot.
Ummm, let’s see-the GOP has a plank in their platform demanding a constitutional amendment banning ALL abortions, no exceptions for rape, incest, or even to save the life of the mother. Sorry, chummy, but there’s no generalization here-it’s there in living black and white (apparently th only colors that Republicans can see)-it’s in the party platform. All Akin did was go off prematurely, spilling the beans.
He is NO ordinary crack pot, he is the Face of the GOP!
It is only ludicrous if you do what you have just done which is take it entirely out of context.
Here’s the full context of what he said:We’ve already made a trillion dollars’ worth of cuts. We can make some more cuts in programs that don’t work, and make government work more efficiently…We can make another trillion or trillion-two, and what we then do is ask for the wealthy to pay a little bit more …There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me, because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something – there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business. you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for president – because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.”By taking anyone’s remarks out of context you can make it sound entirely different then what was actually said. What you have done is dishonest and I don’t care if it is Obama’s , Romney’s or even LePage’s remarks those who take snippet and use them for political gain are lying. That is probably one of the reasons that the tea party parrots are becoming less and less relevant. They just can’t tell the truth.
All paid for by funneling average joe’s tax money through gov. agencys. The gov. didn’t build a bloody thing by itself.
Yes, the government only funneled OUR money to the contractors that built the dams, roads and bridges.
I’m going to say that I built my house by funneling MY money through a general contractor who subbed out the bulk of the work. Same thing, except the government makes for a wasteful and usually inept general contractor.
I guess that you consider me to be a selective reader picking and choosing only those soundbites that I agree with. You also seem to be unaware that the idea for the root of that speech came months ago from our own Granny Warren (and we all know that she lays claim to OWS and that Al Gore invented the internet).
I don’t hear any Teabullies denouncing Akin very loudly.
What was the context of the “you didn’t make that” remark?
A caveat: capitalized words are for emphasis, not yelling. It would be helpful if this program incorporated italics, bold print, and underlining, but capital letters are the best means of emphasis.
Yes, many Republicans have criticized Akin for his bizarre comments that women who are raped or who are assaulted in an incestuous “attack” have a physiological response that prevents prgnancy.
What you omitted, however, is that it was his REMARKS that were denounced, NOT the core of his belief, that women who are such victims must be forced to bear and raise the child. As you know, Paul Ryan, among a host of other Republicans, supports this policy and he and Akins have been Congressional co-sponsors of every such bill since they have been in the U.S. House together. I am also cetain that you are aware that the Republican Platform now proposes a Constitutional Amendment that would include banning abortions from those same circumstances.
I watched a parade of Republicans from Joe Scarborough in the morning to Sean Hannity at night as they and their Republican “guests” disparaged Akin not for his remarks per se, but BECAUSE HE REFUSED TO DROP OUT OF THE U.S. SENATE RACE AND THAT HIM LOSING WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO THE DEMOCRATS RETAINING CONTROL OF THE SENATE. Sean Hannity practically begged Akin to drop out – now, that was a sight to see.
Please don’t ascribe noble intent to Republican’s denigration of Akin. Their motives were, and continue to be, politically motivated.
http://nation.foxnews.com/rep-kerry-gauthier/2012/08/21/democrat-caught-having-sex-17-year-old-boy-rest-stop
Where’s the perversion?
Your post only exemplifies the ignorance that defines liberals. Repubs have unilaterally denounced Akin’s remarks.
Then why did they just nail it into their platform?
Seems to me that they only denounced his —-announcement!
“Repubs have unilaterally denounced Akin’s remarks.”
They have denounced the fact that he said them as plainly as he did, rather than couching it in more flowery language.
TAKE THEM TO COURT! bs!
They yell, they scream, the write op-eds to newspapers telling all about voter and election fraud. You really have to hand it to the Republicans they sure know how to show they are all about fair elections. And they actually want people to elect them to run the Country? But don’t feel bad for the delegates who were elected at the Maine Republican State Convention that won’t be seated. I am sure they will be able to take in some of the seminars at the convention. I understand the “Legitimate Rape” seminar will be on all the attendees must attend list.
It seems like the GOP is making this stuff up as it goes along.
In their efforts to squash any sign of division within the party, they are highlighting how divided they are!
They should have just let the Maine delegates be seated without comment, and let Romney be nominated without a unanimous vote.
Then why did Maine seek an injunction from the National party from investigating to see if they were legitimately chosen to represent the State?
Time you all dig your head out,Romney is going to be the next President of the U.S get behind him and stop the bull crap.
No pollster agrees with you.
Ben could be talking about Pol Pot, Stalin, Edi Amen or Hitler.
They all had fig leaves like a highly controlled, just for show National Convention to justify their actions , too.
Only their conventions were better organized and more transparent.
Everyone including Paul supporters are well aware Romney is going to be the nominee. That’s not the point. The point is to give Paul a platform at the convention to get his message out to more people. However, what we’re seeing is how corrupt the RNC truly is. This should be a wake up call to everyone. I guess it’s a wait and see to as to whether or not more people take notice of what’s going on.
The Convention is run by the RNC. It is up to them who is there. I wish they would not seat any of the Ron Paul Retards!
Wow, Ron Paul Retards. Creative. Why don’t you try to get your head out the sand and eyes off the national news. You really think Romney is a good presidential candidate? He’s Obama with an R in front of his name. It really doesn’t matter which one of these idiots is elected it’s bad for the country. As for the RNC if they want to run a campaign like this every year that’s fine. Most of their candidates are no better than the dems so to me it doesn’t matter if they blow their chance to run the country by being shortsighted, freedom sucking, ignorant, jack**s.
Ret@ards? Really?
Just proves that your vote really doesn’t count.
Bottom line: take the deal, or stay the hell home!
Take the latter, Paulistas -home is where the heart is, and there’ll be little heart in Tampa
Peter Cianchette and Jan Martian Staples did this to the Maine Republican Party, and why because Rommey asked them to. Time to get rid of the old and bring in the new all the way around.
Or Webster did, by getting Cianchette in it..making it all appear that the rank-and-file wanted it. The state Party wanted a particular outcome without Paul’s supporters their due…and so here we are.
I always say a compromise is 2 bad ideas getting approved.
HEY GOP now you see why I left the party last year.
Your no better than the DEM’s.Can’t tell you a part anymore.New policy one term your OUT!!!! At all levels of government.In God I trust in you I do not trust.
“Libertarian-leaning” = “tinfoil hat-wearing”.
Let me get this straight-” lax credentialing and security at the state convention allowed unqualified participants to cast votes.” Really? At the Republican state convention. And these are the one’s who say that Democrats are always cheating and stealing. At best this is a case of pot:kettle, but more likely it’s a case of blatant hypocrisy!
I will not vote for Romney and I have always been Republican so they better get it together and seat the elected delegates and fast.
I don’t particulary care for Romney, but not voting is a vote for Obama. And I don’t want Obama to make any more mess than he already has.
I believe that the Romney people ought to pay attention to what happened in Maine. I was there and the Ron Paul people came with a mission and that was to Win. Good for them and a job well done. The other came thinking they had already won because they where the GOB’s and they were more interested in kissing up to the Governor and all the wheeling dealing that goes with that instead of taking care of business. Winning the convention for their candidate. Also Romney should use this as an example for his party that supports him to get off there butts and make sure you go out and vote. Not whine about getting beat. He also should be here trying to make sure that Senator Snowe seat stays Republican. We may not be equal in electoral vote . We are equal in the Senate.
The sheep who vote D or R in Nov are voting for the same thing. Whichever koolaid you drink you will be voting for a Harvard educated lawyer who wipes his butt with the US Constitution.
I plan to write in Ron Paul and walk out with a clear conscience.
I doubt Ron Paul has enough supporters to make a difference at this stage. But I admire their commitment to the belief that “it ain’t over till it’s over.”
I love Ron Paul, but why did the BDN substitute a picture of Dr. Zachary Smith of Lost In Space fame for him?
One cannot compromise with the Devil and Charley Webster without forfeiting integrity and honor, two words apparently misunderstood by the RNC.
Seat them and be done with it. They were elected as delegates and should be seated.
So where does that injunction stand?
Herr Romney today issued an edict on what kinds of questions reporters may ask him. He continues to tell voters his tax returns are none of their business. Today he also released his energy plan, written by trans-national oil companies.
I’m glad conservatives are starting to see the light. Remember, before Maine, Romney was crowned the winner in Iowa and only a month later did we find out Rick Santorum actually won.
Foreign money, released by Citizens United, was also key in destroying his more-conservative Republican opponents.
I could see myself voting for Santorum but not this loon the repubs have nominated.
Now, let’s review the guv’s stance: if the Maine delegation doesn’t get seated as chosen, he’s not going. So, if half of them get seated, does that mean he goes for two days?
Don’t vote. To vote shows you support the corruption at the National Level. It isn’t going to matter anyways it is all rigged. Anytime you can hook a laptop up to a voting machine, security of your vote has been compromised. Besides, you get a receipt for everything else in life but do you get one for the votes you just casted, NO? case closed. WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!
Criminal activity by the Republican National Committee, a
criminal organization.
Ah a continued “lesson” in the GOP royal elite who control the little people, “let them eat cake” …..
Anyone speaking to paul on all of this, please, speak clearly and slowly, don’t forget that he is an alzheimers patient.
I like the fact that our governor is sticking up for the voted delegates. Romney’s camp is too stupid to realize that if they don’t seat the Paul delegates they will lose the support of a Republican governor. Let’s home Lepage sticks to his word on this.
What a bunch of shady crooks. I’m a Republican but I won’t vote for any R’s this time around if they buy into this sham.
Of course they didn’t follow the guidelines. Guidelines said “Vote for Romney.” That was Charlie Webster’s choice . . .
Another example of how “voter fraud” equals “not voting right.”
can we say “rigged”
anyone?
I wonder who presented the “evidence” to the Republican National Committee–perhaps the leader who was embarrassed that he did not get to start the ME convention before the Ron Paul delegates were able to get inside the convention hall?
Anyone with any common sense could see that democracy was in action on the convention floor–not the usual “raise your hand and vote it through” mentality that has prevailed during other conventions.
The established leaders of the R party in ME are simply embarrasssed that the legal activity going on caught them by surprise, since they have been used to ultimate control and having the votes going their way.
An earlier article stated that the “compromise” would have 10 delegates for Romney and 10 alternates for Paul, so is this reporter accurate in what he has stated?
No one seems to be bringing out the fact that many of the established R party leaders made a false ballot and passed it out at the ME convention in order to confuse the voters–wonder why that illegal activity has not been pursued.
The RNC will be something to behold. Get ready for some hot political action.Not everyone agrees with this “leadership”.
Is anyone shocked? The republican elite attacking a republican that won’t bow to their superiority. They have sure learned from thje Democrat elites to squash oponents.
Gotta run down to City Hall and un-enroll.
Maine’s republicans have a convention at which their Ron Paul delegates were elected to go to the national convention. There were problems at the convention and instead of getting a resounding victory for delegates devoted to Mittens, Ron Paul has a resounding victory. Charlie Webster and Romney supporters don’t like the results so they complain to the RNC. The RNC doesn’t like the results so they, without Maine’s Republican delegation voting, decide to allocate the Maine delegates themselves. How is this a better solution than what happened at the Maine convention?
So far the only voter problems that occur in Maine seem to have to do with Republicans and their voting. First there was the caucus where eastern Maine’s caucus results were not tallied in with the rest thanks to Charlie Webster. Now, of course, as a result of their screw ups, Republicans want there to be a primary system rather than a caucus system in the state. Then there is the convention where Ron Paul had his revenge.
You have to laugh at it all when the fixers got fixed. So, where are Charlie Summers and Charlie Webster and their investigation on this? Was Aroostook County busing people in to vote illegally? And Franklin County? And that credentials committee, top notch stuff there.
The entrenched establishment Maine GOP members, almost all of whom publicly support Romney, were 100% responsible for credentialing, security, and making the convention began on time. Led by Charlie Webster, they failed to do any of those things.
The RNC paid for Thomas Balch, one of the co-authors of the Official Roberts Rules of Order to be the official parliamentarian to the state convention, and the Chairman, Brent Tweed, conferred with Balch constantly during the convention. http://www.robertsrules.com/authors.html
So now, the RNC punishes the delegation, which had no hand in the problems, for the things the things Webster presided over?
What’s next? Will they be blamed for Webster’s permissive attitude which allowed an embezzler to quit his Treasurer position in the state GOP quietly and not bother to tell even the State Committee for two years?
What a corrupt crock, and what a disappointment that Maine will now live under Democratic Party rule for decades to come due to the GOP’s tyrannical treatment of the libertarian wing of their party.