Tired of partisan divide? Unity08.com wants you

[Bhaisahab]

Tired of partisan divide? Unity08.com wants you

2/28/2007 8:43:55 AM

DAVID BRODER

WASHINGTON -- Somewhere in America, there are 35,000 people who are looking at the preliminaries to the 2008 presidential race from a different perspective than millions of their fellow citizens.

They are the people who have signed up so far to participate in Unity08, the effort to launch a bipartisan third-party campaign with the first Internet nominating convention in history. I wrote about this unusual venture when it was launched last year by Hamilton Jordan and Jerry Rafshoon, both formerly of Jimmy Carter's White House; Angus King, the former independent governor of Maine; and Douglas Bailey, a veteran Republican consultant and political adviser.

I contacted Bailey recently to ask what had happened to this bold gamble, and he was the source of that 35,000 figure for the number of people who have lent their support to the scheme. They obviously have a long way to go before they can claim to be a viable political force, but they are making slow, steady progress.

When I called Bailey, it had been just a week since the group announced that anyone who was interested could sign up at www.unity08.com as a voting delegate to a national convention planned for June of 2008.

Most of the sign-ups came before that formal start, Bailey said, in response to last year's publicity about the formation of Unity08.

"The need (for a third party) is as great as it's ever been," Bailey said. "The partisan bickering in Washington continues nonstop, and the contest for the nominations in both parties is likely to make it worse."

He pointed to two problems that many of us have decried. "The leading candidates in both parties have suggested they will decline federal matching funds, and plan to spend unlimited sums," he said. "They expect the bundlers -- the people collecting for them -- to raise a million dollars each, and what do they (the bundlers) expect in return?"

Second, Bailey said, "the likelihood is that the nominees of both parties will be determined by the first three or four primaries, which means that 99 percent of the people who will vote in November will have absolutely no say in the names that are on the ballot. It's not surprising that they may be looking for an alternative."

None of that is implausible. But where does the alternative come from?

Bailey and his partners have an answer, but the process they have in mind still strikes me -- as it did when it was first outlined -- as being extremely cumbersome.

CONTINUED: http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?a=285888&z=12

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

1. The ultimate "Not as Bad" Party is born.

Sounds like the only good thing about the new party is that they won't have to lie about standing for anything.

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H.L. Mencken

[Robbien]

2. Not tired of the partisan divide. In fact the Dems are way too friendly

with the GOPers.

I hear Unity08 is a party coming from the rich, "center" and "center-right" donors who trash progressives and never criticize GOPers. Kind of like just another version of the DLC.

[mmonk]

3. The problem is the opposite. Not enough partisanship.

[blm]

5. Completely agree - I am tired of Dem niceties that let criminal enterprises like BushInc

continue to grow.

[TahitiNut]

9. Too much "brand loyalty" and too few "brands," imho.

Far too much of our 'two party system' seems like Sophie's Choice to me. It's also a bit like HMOs - where the evil of an HMO is self-contradictory goals: profit vs. care. In a monopolistic party system, the principles ('care') become subordinated to organizational immortality ('profit') and the means justified by the ends sacrifice the ends to preserve the means.

The reason I'm an independent is because I could never stomach supporting someone like Ben Nelson for the sake of "party loyalty" and I could never demonize a voter who supported a Green candidate merely because that candidate was more supportive of that voter's values and principles. For me, the highest principle is supporting the voter's right to choose. When the number of people who don't vote and the number of people who vote for candidates representative solely of the interests of the wealthiest 1% dwarf the few who vote otherwise, it seems like cowardly playground bullying of the most despicable kind to scapegoat the weakest kids around - the ones in the smallest gangs.

[katsy]

4. unity party...

republic's lame attempt of keeping 1/2 a foot in the white house in 2008.

:rofl:

[madfloridian]

6. They are mostly Republcans who want to keep power.

If you don't believe me look under the sections at the tabs, and you will see Governor Dean, Cheney, and Abramoff in the silly game riding around in cars. Lumping Dean in with those two should tell you all you need to know about them.

They are the ultimate bipartisans.

In my opinion they can take their bipartisanship and shove it.

Enough of the new bipartisanship

[Selatius]

7. They should study Duverger's Law before wasting all this monumental time and money

They would've been better off campaigning for proportional representation and abolition of the Electoral College and mandatory publicly financed campaigns. They may find a niche in local politics like the Green Party, but if they want to break into the US Senate or the US House in a big way, they're sadly going to find out it's near impossible to do.

The two viable parties (Dems and Repubs) have a death grip on power. What's worse, the rules were written in a fashion that allowed this death grip to come about in the first place.

[NorthernSpy]

8. fuck that noise!

We finally got the momentum on our side; now they expect us to just give it all away and lie back down?

Apparently, that's what these people want. Well, where were they when the GOP was doing its damnedest to turn this country into a virtual one party dictatorship with that "permanent majority" concept that they used to talk about?

To hell with that, and to hell with them!

[in_cog_ni_to]

10. That's the LAST thing this country needs.

What we DO need is investigations, indictments and imprisonment for all repukes involved in this administration...those who aided and abetted the criminal behavior of the cabal in order to illegally invade another sovereign nation.....BASED ON LIES.

We don't need no stinkin' unity! We need the war criminals to pay for what they have done to this country. OFF TO THE HAGUE!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. It would be a home for the DINOs and RINOs. Not a bad idea.

It might even cause the two main parties to actually stand for something other than getting reelected. The "moderates" would have a party all their own and reflects their views.

"A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Tom Paine