2012 Republican National Convention Discussion, page 2

Ok, npr has a nice live blog following the action...so I finally found out what the controversial vote was about.

The RNC put forward a motion to not seat all of Ron Paul's delegates from Maine...even though the "Ayes" and "NOs" were equally loud....the chairman passed it. And this is exactly what I said would happen if the Ron Paul supporters tried anything...the chairman would just pass the motions.

Yes it sucks...but this is a Party...not the government.

www.npr.org...

Update at 4:20 p.m. ET. "SEAT THEM NOW!" Vs. "USA!"

The convention has gotten raucous. When it was moved that the Rules Committee's recommendation that not all of Ron Paul's delegates from Maine be seated should be adopted, the "NOs!" were as loud as the "AYEs!" And when RNC Chairman Reince Priebus declared that the motion had passed, the arena got even louder.

"SEAT THEM NOW!" yelled the Paul supporters and others who oppose the decision and the plan to give future presidential nominees more control over which delegates do and don't get seated. "USA!" other delegates shouted in an unsuccessful bid to drown them out.

Priebus pushed through the fracas, asking delegates to be respectful. It's been several minutes and the volume has gone down, but there are still catcalls.

....

Update at 4:25 p.m. ET. "POINT OF ORDER!"

The floor fracas continues. Once again "NOs" are as loud as "AYEs" when the delegates are asked to vote on rule changes that give nominees more control over who is or isn't a delegate (and, presumably, more of a chance to exclude supporters of such candidates as Rep. Ron Paul). As with the previous vote, the chair declares the motion is passed. Even louder "boos!" erupt.

From the floor, Liz Halloran reports that "Texas delegates were screaming "POINT OF ORDER!" She says there's a group of at least 20 in that delegation doing the shouting. "It's a tumultuous scene down here," she emails.

Meanwhile, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell continues to talk at the podium about the change that Republicans hope to bring to the nation. He's basically ignoring any distractions.

...

Update at 4:35 p.m. ET. More On The Dispute:

"This is not about Ron Paul," Minnesota delegate (and Paul supporter) Rudy Takala, 23, tells NPR's Liz Halloran. "This is about future conventions."
...
Takala says "we want to be able to submit a minority report and vote on it. We want to at least have a vote."

In the end, though, it appears that the party has decided to push through and keep things going — knowing, of course, that while the Paul supporters are very loud they are not in the majority.