I thought it was pretty amusing that this Ron Paul supporter thinks you should lie in order to take advantage of Mitt's offer to bus you to the straw poll. Think its a joke? Okay, why the 888 number then?
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Ron Paul is a gnat. Mitt Romney could fly all the Paul supporters to Iowa and Paul would still not get more than one or two percent of the vote. There is no spamming in the Ames Straw Poll.
From what I can see, there is nothing that legally binds anyone to actually vote for Romney. It would appear we have a one time Prisoners' Dilemma. Romney has done the irrational thing, acted first and chose "cooperate". It is the duty of all rational people to act second and play "defect".
Comical. The rationalizations from the RP guys about lying to steal a ride & meal from Romney are incredible. Ends justify the means is their basic argument, though they say it in several different ways.
In the end, few will do so and if they do it will back-fire to hurt their guy.
I loved the idea. Ames is supposed to be a measure of a candidate’s ability to organize supporters. If Mitt’s doing Ron Paul’s organizing for him, then it only shows Mitt’s strength.
"From what I can see, there is nothing that legally binds anyone to actually vote for Romney."
Actually there is. To receive the benefits you have to check a box that explicitly states you are going to Ames to vote for Romney. This forms a binding contract.
Certainly, you can get away with it--no one will watch who you vote for and Romney's folks won't sue you over it. However, it does violate contract law and it is clearly unethical.
To say that it is illegal to bus transport someone to a poll and feed them shows simple ignorance. It is simply not illegal.
People transport other people around and feed them for all sorts of reasons. Churches do it. Are they buying converts? Sports teams do it. Are they buying fans? And yes, polititians do it, have done it, and will continue doing it. Are they buying votes?
Well, if you’re the type of person that could concieve of sitting on a crowded bus for hours just to get some bar-b-que as a bribe sufficent to garner a vote, then I guess so. Personally, and I think it’s obvious that most people agree with this, unless you’re homeless you’re not going to be all that excited to take advantage of a free ride and a free meal just for the sake of casting your vote for someone you don’t really care about.
Romney is not paying for your vote, he is making it easier for you to cast the vote you already have chosen to make.
The reason this is not a bribe is because the only people who are going to take advantage of this type of offer are people who are already sold on the candidate… so their vote has already been secured.
That is, of course, with the exception of the free-loading folks only showing Ron Paul’s true colors.
I say do it. Hop on those Romney busses. If you actually have the guts to get away from your computer / TV for more than an hour and get on a bus, that is. But be warned: After you’re subjected to hours of mingling with real truth-loving Romney supporters who actually use FACTS to support their convictions, your original intention to “lie for the sake of the truth” will be swallowed up by logic, and you’ll end up voting for Romney anyway.
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