As Joe My God Says: "Infighting Is Fun!"

In what can only be seen as a revolt against eventual nominee Mittsy Romney, some 40 additional Republican National Convention [RNC] delegates have asked to join 123 previous plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the RNC, and their attorney said hundreds more may soon follow suit.

The first 123 delegates, all from the 9th Circuit, sued the RNC, Chairman Rince Priebus, and every state party chairman in the 9th Circuit in Federal Court on Monday, demanding the right to vote for the candidate of their choice on every ballot at the Republican National Convention, including the first.

Meaning they are the Not-Romneys.

These delegates say that the RNC violated federal law by forcing them to sign loyalty affidavits, under threat of perjury, to vote for Mitt Romney, though he is not yet the official nominee. And they are also claiming that state party chairmen are fixing elections at state conventions and changing ballots so that all votes cast count for Romney.

Huh? What? Huh? The GOP fixing elections? How very 2000 of them.

"When nominating someone for a federal office, all delegates must be free to vote their conscience," says Richard Gilbert, attorney for the delegates. "They don't want to be bound to any candidate, or even be forced to vote for the nominee...To have a real convention, the delegates must have free will so that when they meet, they can persuade each other and then decide who to vote for."

Gilbert goes on to add that the public is unaware that the GOP is rigging elections and committing voting fraud--well, some of the public is unaware--but he says he has more than 100 signed affidavits from delegates to support these allegations: "Some campaigns act like organized crime syndicates--and I mean organized crime, no doubt about it. In Arizona, the voting machines were rigged so that Ron Paul votes were counted as Mitt Romney votes. It was so intentional that a Romney delegate refused to certify the vote count, and for that he got thrown off the convention."
The delegates' complaint states that the RNC has threatened violence against those who don't support Romney, and had men in dark clothing come to conventions and physically remove people who refuse to vote for him.

Again, sounds very GOP to me.

"I have nothing against Romney's politics, it's his behavior," Gilbert said. "He's the one who chose to run his campaign based on intimidation and violate federal law...It's really serious,[p]eople don't realize that delegates aren't chosen on the Tuesday primaries like they think.
"For example, Ron Paul got 16 of the 19 delegates in Massachusetts, which is a pretty serious vote of no-confidence in Romney from his own state, but I know that my friends and family aren't aware of this."
Gilbert wants this case heard as soon as possible so that all rightfully elected delegates are seated at the National Convention in August, and are free to vote for the candidate of their choice. However, no hearing dates have been set because more than 100 defendants need to be served. 

And, if the case is heard, well then, the Republican National Convention could become the biggest hot mess since, well, I can't even think of a bigger, hotter mess. Legally, the case may hinge on whether the judge accepts the plaintiffs' claim that the nominating convention is a "federal" election. Courts have traditionally given the two major political parties considerable leeway in managing their own affairs,

But, Gilbert says if the judge rules the delegates' favor, "I won't be surprised if three or four new candidates, say Sarah Palin, jump in and say they want to be considered."

Oh, this could get ugly.

And good.

And good and ugly.

source