# GOP Elites silence hoi polloi **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 30, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-elites-silence-hoi-polloi/633171 "2012-08-30T18:23:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-elites-silence-hoi-polloi/633171/1 "2012-08-30T18:23:09Z")
[Carney: Republican leaders trample their grass roots in Tampa](http://washingtonexaminer.com/carney-republican-leaders-trample-their-grass-roots-in-tampa/article/2506386#.UD-uDkKG20I) [Emphasis added]: > [@](#): > > At the Republican National Convention, party officials flouted the rules and railroaded longtime conservative activists, Tea Party newcomers and Ron Paul delegates. > > \ > > The party leadership **effectively told the Ron Paul backers … that they are not welcome.** They told the longtime activists that their voices are no longer needed. **And they told the Tea Partiers… to calm down and just do as they’re told.** > > \ > > One Texas Republican saw the Romney campaign’s behavior in these delegate battles as ominous. **“If they’re operating this way now, they’ll be operating this way when they win.”** A lot of us have been saying that the elite Patrician plutocrats do not care about the _Lumpenproletariat_. This action shows how much they care. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-elites-silence-hoi-polloi/633171/2 "2012-08-30T18:29:31Z")
Isn’t this a good thing? Liberals have been urging the GOP to move towards the center, and squelch the Tea Party influence. Sounds like that’s exactly what they’re doing with these moves. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-elites-silence-hoi-polloi/633171/3 "2012-08-30T18:37:21Z")
It is calculated. For years, people have been warning the Republican Party (Corporate) that keeping the Republican Party (Batshit) in line was going to be a problem sooner or later. Now, the chickens have come home to die. They have no choice, they have to gamble that the batshitiviks will, sooner or later, shrug and vote for Romney, or be bought off with promises of future power. Worked before, many times. The alternative is to give the Tea Party everything it wants, and not simply a vacuous party platform that no one intends to take seriously. They do, they lose huge. They don’t, they might still eke out a victory, because an incumbent running in very tough times is very likely to lose. Easy choice. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-elites-silence-hoi-polloi/633171/4 "2012-08-30T18:48:45Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Isn’t this a good thing? Liberals have been urging the GOP to move towards the center, and squelch the Tea Party influence. Sounds like that’s exactly what they’re doing with these moves. I’m all for moving the Republican Party to the Left. (Democratic Party, too.) But I have to admit a certain amount of _Schadenfreude_ toward the True Believers whose collective bubble has been pricked. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2012, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gop-elites-silence-hoi-polloi/633171/5 "2012-08-30T20:06:01Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Isn’t this a good thing? Liberals have been urging the GOP to move towards the center, and squelch the Tea Party influence. Sounds like that’s exactly what they’re doing with these moves. Sure, if it works and they win. But if they lose they’ll double down on the Tea Party and social conservatives, and never look back. We’ll end up with a Santorum/Bachman ticket in 2016. How do you think that’ll work out?