Tonight is the second night of the Republican convention. Donald Trump has been nominated for president. Mike Pence has been nominated for vice-president. As all the events unfolded on the floor of the convention, however, much of the coverage has been devoted to idiotic panel discussions. We don't get the GOP message; we get disputes by "pundits" who tell us what they think. I realize that the roll call of the states at the convention is not the most exciting thing, but even so, it's better than hearing the blow hards pontificate. To make matters worse, many of these self-proclaimed experts don't even know what they are talking about.
Here's a good example: on PBS, Gwen Ifill went to great lengths to point out that Donald Trump got only about 1600 votes from the delegates and that more than 400 still voted for Ted Cruz while just over 100 voted for each of governor Kasich and senator Rubio. According to Ifill, this vote shows that the Republican party is still totally split with regard to the Trump nomination. There's no other way to say this: Gwen Ifill is a fool. Anyone who paid even a little attention to the primary races knows that in nearly every state, the delegates to the convention are bound by law to vote in accordance with the results of the primary held in their state. In other words, the delegates from Ohio were required by state law to vote unanimously for John Kasich. The delegates from Texas were required by state law to vote roughly 80% for Ted Cruz and 20% for Donald Trump. The delegates from Puerto Rico were required by law to all vote for Marco Rubio. None of those votes indicate any split in the party; they only indicate that the delegates are obeying the law. As if this were not bad enough, Ifill was at the convention yesterday, when one of the rules that the delegates fought over was whether or not to "unbind" the delegates. In other words, a small minority of delegates wanted to change the convention rules so that the delegates could ignore the primary in their home state and vote however they liked. That rule change did not even come close to passage; the delegates were legally bound to follow the primary results.
So why would someone like Gwen Ifill make such an idiotic point? Is she a moron? I don't think so. Instead, I think that Ifill thinks she will be able to mislead the audience with this nonsense. It's a stupid thing to do though.
Why do the networks have such fools at the conventions?
Here's a good example: on PBS, Gwen Ifill went to great lengths to point out that Donald Trump got only about 1600 votes from the delegates and that more than 400 still voted for Ted Cruz while just over 100 voted for each of governor Kasich and senator Rubio. According to Ifill, this vote shows that the Republican party is still totally split with regard to the Trump nomination. There's no other way to say this: Gwen Ifill is a fool. Anyone who paid even a little attention to the primary races knows that in nearly every state, the delegates to the convention are bound by law to vote in accordance with the results of the primary held in their state. In other words, the delegates from Ohio were required by state law to vote unanimously for John Kasich. The delegates from Texas were required by state law to vote roughly 80% for Ted Cruz and 20% for Donald Trump. The delegates from Puerto Rico were required by law to all vote for Marco Rubio. None of those votes indicate any split in the party; they only indicate that the delegates are obeying the law. As if this were not bad enough, Ifill was at the convention yesterday, when one of the rules that the delegates fought over was whether or not to "unbind" the delegates. In other words, a small minority of delegates wanted to change the convention rules so that the delegates could ignore the primary in their home state and vote however they liked. That rule change did not even come close to passage; the delegates were legally bound to follow the primary results.
So why would someone like Gwen Ifill make such an idiotic point? Is she a moron? I don't think so. Instead, I think that Ifill thinks she will be able to mislead the audience with this nonsense. It's a stupid thing to do though.
Why do the networks have such fools at the conventions?
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