TweetThe Op-Ed Page By Paul V. DeMarco Guest Columnist Back in November 2005, Brad argued for the creation of a non-partisan political party which he called the Unparty. In 2008, he suggested a similar party called the Grownup Party. Whatever you called it, his party would be pragmatic rather than ideological. His first tenet: “Unwavering […]
TweetActually, “almost” is a little strong, but the UnParty’s unleadership did think about it a good bit. (You think Ethan Hawke was good as Hamlet? That was nothing compared to this.) I just got off the phone with both Micah Caskey and Tem Miles, who are in a runoff for the GOP nomination for Kenny […]
TweetWell, he sorta, kinda inspired it. It was his decision, in 2005, to leave the Likud behind and form another, more centrist party that started my mind on the way toward dreaming up the UnParty, as I disclosed in the original column announcing the formation of the UnParty. So one day, when the UnParty dominates […]
TweetSpeaking of “conservative, conservative, conservative,” repeated as a mind-numbing mantra… This came in today: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Ellen Weaver – 803-708-0673, press@palmettopolicy.org JIM DEMINT ANNOUNCES FORMATION OF NEW S C THINK TANK Palmetto Policy Forum to serve a vital role in policy research, innovation and collaboration Columbia, SC – Today, former U.S. Senator and Heritage Foundation President-elect Jim […]
TweetOK, so maybe that’s a bit snide. After all, the real UnParty hasn’t even tried to pick a candidate — for anything, much less president. At least Americans Elect gave it a go. But it didn’t work out, according to Politico: Americans Elect, the deep-pocketed nonprofit group that set out to nominate a centrist third-party […]
TweetStill catching up on releases sent to me via email, I ran across this rather remarkable one from Rep. Bill Taylor, a Republican from Aiken: Unanimous Agreement ! Passage of a Bi-Partisan State Budget Dear Friends: In Washington D.C. partisan bickering seems to rule. In South Carolina elected officials know how to work together for […]
TweetI’m puzzling, hopefully, over what this means: The no. 3 Republican in the Senate will step down from his leadership position early next year, despite having no plans to retire from Congress. Lamar Alexander informed his fellow GOP colleagues of his rather surprising decision on Tuesday morning in a letter obtained byPolitico, saying that the […]
Tweet At Rotary today, Kathryn Fenner gave me the above bracelet, a souvenir from her visit to the Land of the Midnight Sun. She said it represented “the Norwegian UnParty.” Naturally curious, I went to the website, and at first found absolutely nothing to argue with. On account of it being in, you know, Norwegian. […]
Tweet Ran across the above awesome video of a classic moment, and thought I’d share it with you. That was sort of Leon’s big moment in the limelight. I had the album, and that was my favorite part of it — even more so than Harrison and Clapton both playing lead on “While My Guitar […]
TweetAnd no, this isn’t just because the Republicans who would oppose him seem engaged in a contest to see who can be the biggest whack job. It’s more about Obama himself. Earlier, I indicated that Obama was, after a weak outing in 2008, looking more and more like the Energy Party candidate for 2012. Well, […]
Tweet As you know, I strenuously resist any attempt to place me along America’s left-right political spectrum, even to the extent of being in the middle. Personally, I just don’t feel comfortable anywhere on that line, and “middle” suggests always being somewhere between the two extremes (or, to use another paradigm I reject, between the […]
Tweet Last week, I posted a fun bit of video from Vincent Sheheen’s Rotary appearance. Here’s one from the Q&A party of Nikki Haley’s speaking engagement before the same group this week. At least, it was fun for me. Note that while Rotarian Julian Walker’s question doesn’t actually say “UnParty,” there’s no question that he […]
TweetStill catching up with e-mail from the long weekend. Don’t know much about this write-in Senate campaign, but it sounds intriguing: GREG SNOAD ANNOUNCES WRITE-IN CAMPAIGN FOR U.S. SENATE GRAY COURT, SC, September 7, 2009 – Greg Snoad, a Mauldin High School social studies teacher long-active in politics, has formally announced his intention to launch […]
TweetI’ve had it pointed out to me a couple of times that Linda Ketner from down Charleston way is possibly going to run as an independent against the formidable, ever-ambitious Jim DeMint and the undefeated Democratic champion Alvin Greene: As if the U.S. Senate race in South Carolina wasn’t surprising enough, supporters of Linda Ketner […]
TweetJust as it did for Joe Lieberman, ditching party identification to appeal to us UnPartisans is working so far for Charlie Crist: Washington (CNN) – Gov. Charlie Crist leads in a hypothetical three-way race for Senate in Florida, a week after he decided to leave the Republican primary and run as an independent. Crist enjoys […]
TweetKathryn brings this to our attention, over on Salon: Last week, Brent Budowsky pondered the prospects for realignment in The Hill. With more than 40% of Americans identifying themselves as independents, Budowsky writes, “Realignment is dead. President Barack Obama and Democrats blew it. Dealignment has arrived. Republicans blew it, and are now so repellent that […]
TweetWow, I am really humbled by the nice things some of y’all said about me running for office back on this post (am I sounding like a candidate yet? they’re supposed to say stuff like that, about being humbled, etc.). But again, what office? The context was that we were talking about Congress. But as […]
Tweet OK, not really. But if the UnParty did release a video, I hope it would be as fresh, and original, and cool as this one — in that nerdy way that only Elvis Costello can be cool. In fact, it occurs to me that in the ads that the GOP is imitating back here, […]
TweetDid you see that Ted Pitts might run for lieutenant governor? Do you realize the implications? Ted Pitts is MY representative. So theoretically, it's time to make my move and run for office on the UnParty ticket. This is my big chance. Except, of course, I can't. Newspaper editors aren't allowed to run for office, […]
TweetSometimes when I see someone running unopposed — even someone I like, such as my state Rep., Ted Pitts — I feel prompted to make silly gestures. I did so today. Yes, I wrote in my own name for House District 69, partly just to try out that function on the electronic machine. That makes […]