Republican National Convention **live commentary thread**

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Here's the scene

Is "OVER THE TOP!" the tagline of this convention?  Legit question; I haven't been watching because I value my IQ.

It's a tradition to show that banner when the nominee crosses 1237 in the roll call. The same banner, with different coloring, was used for Romney.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Ben Carson has either a good microphone or a good speech coach. The calmness that he had in debates is largely gone.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Honestly, at first it was hilarious watching this clusterf**k, but it's actually horrifying at this point. A major political party has descended into a fascist mess that wants to turn the country into a banana republic where they imprison their political opponents, stifle all descent, and rule like a dictator against the wishes of Congress and the law. And the scarier part is that they actually have a chance to win due to how many mindless drones care about nothing else other than the letter after your name when voting.

American democracy is in trouble.

IceSpear, we all know that you would never vote to have a republican as president, no matter how scandalous or awful the democratic candidate is. Yeah, you might stay home or vote green, but you know you would never actually back the republican, even if it was a moderate like Pataki or Kasich or atlas favorite Jim Gilmore.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Republican Nomination Roll Call - President 2016

Trump: 1725 (69.8%)✔
Cruz: 475 (19.2%)
Kasich: 120 (4.9%)
Rubio: 114 (4.6%)
Carson: 7 (0.3%)
Bush: 3 (0.1%)
Paul: 2 (0.1%)

So, 4 states (UT, AK, IA, OK) + DC had to award their votes to Trump, even though Cruz or Rubio won them ?

State laws in UT/AK/IA/DC dictate re-allocation of bound delegates if candidates drop out. There is some confusion because the law in DC could apparently be reasonably interpreted two different ways, while the law in AK differs from what is stated in state party rules, which take higher precedence at the convention (the state law states that withdrawn candidates can have their delegates back upon request, the state party rules have no such provision).

For Oklahoma, Rubio released his OK delegates, and they voted for Trump. Cruz still got the 15 delegates he earned. 

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Honestly, at first it was hilarious watching this clusterf**k, but it's actually horrifying at this point. A major political party has descended into a fascist mess that wants to turn the country into a banana republic where they imprison their political opponents, stifle all descent, and rule like a dictator against the wishes of Congress and the law. And the scarier part is that they actually have a chance to win due to how many mindless drones care about nothing else other than the letter after your name when voting.

American democracy is in trouble.

IceSpear, we all know that you would never vote to have a republican as president, no matter how scandalous or awful the democratic candidate is. Yeah, you might stay home or vote green, but you know you would never actually back the republican, even if it was a moderate like Pataki or Kasich or atlas favorite Jim Gilmore.

If the election were George Pataki vs. Earl Ray Tomblin, I think we all know who he'd vote for

He hasn't said he hates WV D's, he just thinks they're all dead in the water while I don't think it's wise to extrapolate from 2014.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

"Whether you are... gay or straight... you have the right to live according to your conscience."

Did Cruz just endorse gay marriage?

I don't know if that was his intention, but the line certainly raised my eyebrows.

He explicitly mentioned the bill of rights in that part. The 14th amendment isn't in the bill of rights.

However, Obligatory reminder that Cruz holds the "it's a state issue" position on SSM.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

"Only two names on the ballot"

Apparently Pence has not even glanced at his own state's ballot.

https://www.lp.org/2016-presidential-ballot-access-map

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

There were a few "nays" to the adjournment resolution.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

That line in the invocation about not shouting out insults should have been said to Trump personally.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

And here's the king of being anti-gay.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Here's the king of being anti-immigrant - well, at least among those who aren't running for office.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

IVANKA FOR PRESIDENT

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

He's reading the transcript!!!!

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Wow, he's still sticking to his script.