And reads them off a TelePrompter...
By Brad Friedman on 8/30/2012, 4:54pm PT  

This is amusing and/or interesting and/or not surprising at all on several levels.

First, of course, ever since Obama has taken office, Republicans have pretended that there is something wrong with using a TelePrompter when speaking --- at least when it's done by Obama because, you know, he's so stupid he needs one, or something.

But, more of note, the two videos below offer amusing proof that the GOP is even willing to fix the results of their own elections at their own national conventions....

We told you yesterday about the mini-revolt by Ron Paul supporters that erupted on the floor of the RNC after the adoption of the Rules Committees new rules were adopted (to keep pesky party supporters of non-establishment-approved candidates like Paul from gaining any foothold in future election cycles) and after they'd barred most of his delegates from Maine from being seated.

That all came after the GOP, over the last nine months, bent and broke their own rules, sometimes violently, at state conventions, primaries and caucuses to rob Paul delegates and supporters of their voices. (See yesterday's piece for more details on that.)

As heard in one of videos we ran yesterday, the "Yays" and "Nays" on accepting the GOP establishment's slate of delegates (which excluded some Paul supporters from Maine), were just about even. Despite calls for a roll call vote instead, RNC Chair Reince Priebus announced "the Ayes have it!" and the floor uprising ensued.

Now we get to see why that happened, as evidenced by the two videos below. The fix was in from the jump.

In the first video, former NH Gov. John Sununu, Chair of the Rules Committee, calls for the adoption of the GOP's new rules, and Boehner is heard favoring the "Ayes", even though the vote sounds pretty close to us. After that, protests from Paul supporters are quickly drowned out by party loyalists chanting "USA! USA! USA!".

Watch the TelePrompter...

And, in this next one, National Party chairman Priebus is heard doing the very same thing on a different vote (though this is not the specific vote in the videos from Tuesday we posted yesterday that led directly to the Paul supporters revolt)...

So not only is the Republican Party more than willing to disenfranchise their own party members, as discussed yesterday, raising the question of what they'd be willing to do to shut down the legitimate votes of members of the opposition party this November, but, as seen in the videos above, they are even willing to pre-determine the results of their own elections before they even happen. Imagine that. :-)

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