Op-Ed: Ron Paul Soldiers Plan Revolt At Republican Convention

According to a recent Boston Globe tally, Paul has a grand total of 19 Republican delegates to Romney's 260, Huckabee's 286 and McCain's 1,413. 19 Republican delegates. The bottom line fact, which has not and cannot be disputed is that it is mathematically impossible for Ron Paul to receive enough delegates to win the Republican nomination. He knows it, his supporters know and every American in the country knows it as does every citizen in any other country that is paying attention to US politics. That is just the reality of the situation. Two plus two will always equal four and Ron Paul has a devoted fan base that has got him nowhere near the number of delegates needed to win the nomination which is 1,191 delegates. Those are undeniable facts. Yet they are planning a public revolt? So let us move along to something else seen in that article, which is the recent Republican primary results:

Indiana, McCain got 77% of the recent Republican primary vote, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, who've each long ago quit and endorsed McCain, still got 10% and 5% respectively, while Paul took 8%.

On the same May 6 in North Carolina, McCain received less than three-quarters of Republican votes (74%), while Huckabee got 12%, Paul 7% and Alan Keyes and No Preference took a total of 7%.

Pennsylvania was even slightly worse for the GOP's presumptive nominee, who got only 73% to a combined 27% for Paul (16%) and Huckabee (11%).

We turn to CQPolitics, which shows that those results were touted in Drudge headlines as "27% OF REPUBLICAN VOTERS AGAINST MCCAIN IN NORTH CAROLINA..." and "23% GO AGAINST MCCAIN IN INDIANA...". Bloggers and the media jumped all over that but CQpolitics actually delved into history and found that those figures are no different than previous years and are actually a pattern. In the year 2000, after Super Tuesday, George Bush had wrapped up the party nomination and still at all primaries afterward, loyal diehard fans of the other candidates still voted for their favored choice, even if they weren't in the race anymore. An example:

Colorado: March 10, 2000

Bush: 64.71

McCain: 27.12

Keyes: 6.57

33.69 percent vote against Bush

CQ goes on to show that same consistent pattern for Illinois, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, North Carolina, Nebraska, Arkansas, Idaho, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota. So much for the touted headlines. The indisputable truth here is that many of us had candidates we would have liked to have seen win, for me it was Fred Thompson, but he didn't have the support, the votes, which is all that counts in end. The people that go to voting booths and vote for their candidate. Money collected doesn't matter, polls do not matter, neither does the endless insisting that Ron Paul was ignored. Perhaps he was....but the conclusion rational people come to is that his "message" while popular with his own supporters, did not resound with the majority. The delegate count proves that without a doubt. Let us put that "media" excuse to bed right now. Looking at headlines from November 2007, the media was reporting that the "McCain Campaign To Take Out $3M Loan" and what was coverage for Ron Paul? "The man, the technique behind Paul's haul", a glowing report about how Ron Paul took $4 million in for a one day haul. Lets go back a little further. July 2007, headlines for McCain read, "Why McCain Will Drop Out", "John McCain: Dead man walking", and "The McCain Implosion Fallout". What were Ron Paul's headlines in July of 2007? "Ron Paul Tops McCain in Cash on Hand", " Ron Paul's Libertarian Message Attracts Supporters". So much for the media being so much kinder to John McCain when it counted. Some candidates do not catch fire with the majority of voters. It is that simple. Eventually Ron Paul supporters are going to have to face that reality, those of us that were supporting other Republican candidates did because we realized that we had no choice. Then they will be left with one specific question they will have to ask themselves. Do you think John McCain, or whoever wins the Democratic nomination, be it Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, will better match what you ultimately want? Then vote accordingly or don't vote at all. Your choice.