Ron Paul Blocked From GOP Convention Ballot

As of this weekend, there was still a slim chance that Ron Paul could be guaranteed a speaking role at the Republican National Convention, proving that although Paul believes in freedom, we will never be free of his rambling about Austrian economics.

Republican Party rules hold that any candidate receiving a plurality of delegates in at least five states will get their name on the ballot at the national convention and get a 15-minute speaking slot. Paul has been teetering on the edge of meeting those requirements, having captured delegate pluralities Iowa, Maine, and Minnesota — all states in which delegates are not bound to support the winner of the statewide of vote — while also winning contested state conventions in Louisiana and Massachusetts.

Unfortunately for the Ronulans, when the Republican establishment doesn't win contemporaneously, it wins retroactively. In Massachusetts, Paul supporters from have been blocked from attending the national convention, even after promising they would vote for Romney on the first round of balloting.

That left Nebraska as Paul's last, best hope to secure a fifth delegation. It didn't go so well. Paul only won two of the 35 delegates up for grabs, in a process marked by rampant cheating  reasonably good administration. Laura Ebke of Nebraska's Republican Liberty Caucus had the first hand account…

We believe that it was a clean convention. Perhaps not ideal processes, but pretty good, and fair. We just got beat — they organized, too, and we didn't have the numbers.

You know things are bad when Ron Paul can't even be elected president in the world of the Daily Paul forums, let alone in reality.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Nebraska, Republican National Convention, Republicans, Ron Paul

Ben Nelson Is Retiring

Sources are saying Sen. Ben Nelson (D-ish, Neb.) is going to announce his retirement tomorrow, perhaps so he can spend more time learning how to use an ATM. What this means for the Democrats' tenuous grasp on a Senate majority, nobody knows, but we can probably assume Nelson's departure will make it harder for them to not get absolutely nothing done.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Ben Nelson, Democrats, Nebraska, Senate

Stephen Colbert on Super PAC Issue Ads

Here's an excellent rule of thumb when considering anything in your life: If Karl Rove is in favor it it, it's probably the best idea ever!

Coverage continues with Stephen's personal attorney Trevor Potter and a Colbert Super PAC issue ad featuring GOP primary nominee Buddy Roemer after the jump.

The Colbert Report airs Monday through Thursday at 11:30/10:30c.

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Tags: Ben Nelson, Buddy Roemer, Colbert Super PAC, Democrats, FEC, Karl Rove, Money, Nebraska, Primaries, Republicans, Rick Perry, Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, Trevor Potter, Video

The United States of Unflattering Stereotypes

How long does it take to travel to every state in the nation and mock it right to its face? About two minutes…

I think it's really cool that Paul Jury traveled 19,000 miles in the service of writing his book States of Confusion, but you've got to wonder if it was really necessary. If he was really interested in seeing how everybody in the country really lives, couldn't he have just gone to a Wal-Mart in a Hoveround?

Tags: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Books, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

More Pro-Life Laws Seeking to Legalize Murder

What started as a disturbing/idiotic proposed bill that would make it legal in South Dakota to murder doctors who perform abortions, has now spread like a disturbing/idiotic fungus southward into Nebraska…

Last week, South Dakota's legislature shelved a bill, introduced by Republican state Rep. Phil Jensen, which would have allowed the use of the "justifiable homicide" defense for killings intended to prevent harm to a fetus. Now a nearly identical bill is being considered in neighboring Nebraska, where on Wednesday the state legislature held a hearing on the measure.

The legislation, LB 232, was introduced by state Sen. Mark Christensen, a devout Christian and die-hard abortion foe who is opposed to the prodedure even in the case of rape. Unlike its South Dakota counterpart, which would have allowed only a pregnant woman, her husband, her parents, or her children to commit "justifiable homicide" in defense of her fetus, the Nebraska bill would apply to any third party.

And eastward into Iowa…

When the two pieces of legislation are combined they create a situation where a fertilized egg would be considered a person, and allow for the public execution of those who would threaten such a person.

If passed into law, the two bills — House File 7 and House File 153 — would offer an unprecedented defense opportunity to individuals who stand accused of killing such providers, according to a former prosecutor and law professor at the University of Kansas, and are something that might have very well led to a different outcome in the Kansas trial of the man who shot Dr. George Tiller in a church foyer.

Jeeze. For a bunch of supposed conservatives, pro-life people sure seem to be taking a liberal attitude toward the definition of "pro-life" lately.

Tags: Abortion, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota