SandBoxBlogs: Town Hall "A True American Independent"

Salena Zito:
"This longtime Democrat left his party after it demanded that he sign a pledge to support only its candidates.

Local and national Democrats branded him as an extremist, out of touch with constituents; the press judged him to be “dead meat” in the 1970 campaign to win back his U.S. Senate seat.

Undeterred, Harry Byrd Jr. – namesake son of the legendary boss of Virginia’s then-dominant Democrats – beat the odds and won re-election. Not once but twice.

“It was a contentious time,” Byrd now says. “Then again, everyone thinks they are living in the most contentious times ever. Well, they really aren’t, are they?”

The longest-living former senator at age 97, Byrd still resides in his hometown of Winchester, Va., within walking distance of one of his beloved newspapers, the Winchester Star.

He served eight terms in Virginia’s senate before being appointed to his ailing father’s U.S. Senate seat.

He won that seat outright a year later, but the undercurrents of change already were building among Democrats.

“Liberals began … winning local elections in the primaries over moderate and fiscally conservative Democrats,” Byrd said of that shift. “You could just see it coming in successive primary elections, and that was in the ’60s.

“Now, the party is barely recognizable.”

He scoffs at the notion that this is the country’s worst-ever time, but passionately agrees we’re heading in a dangerous direction.

He served in the Senate under four U.S. presidents; he was close friends with Johnson, Nixon, Ford and Reagan, liked Clinton, but “never much cared for Carter.”

After his switch to independent, he still caucused with Senate Democrats but “no one ever took my vote for granted.” A staunch fiscal conservative, he introduced balanced-budget legislation four years in a row requiring that “total outlays of the federal government shall not exceed its receipts,” he said.

“Congress approved it, then promptly ignored it.”...."  (Read more?  Click title)

SandBoxBlogs: Roll Call "Independent Could Make History in California"

Kyle Trygstad:
"There is a chance no Democrat will appear on the November ballot in an otherwise top pickup opportunity in California, a state crucial to the party’s hopes of winning the House majority.

Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks’ unconventional third-party bid for Congress would be groundbreaking under California’s new election laws, and she has a realistic shot at becoming the first Independent elected to the House since 2004.

Under the state’s new top-two primary format, her decision to run without a major-party label threw yet another curveball into the race for the new Ventura-based 26th district, a high priority for both national parties...."  (Read more?  Click title)

"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."

SandBox Comments: Eagle County Times "Dirty Politics – DNC Style"

'by No fan of Cindi Lauper':

"Why has the “Unaffiliated” voter become the largest Registered block of Eagle County, Colorado voters over the past few years?

The ECT will show you this short (60 second) video – that helps explain why.

The DNC (Democratic National Committee) took membership money and just produced this 2012 TV AD about candidate Mitt Romney’s position on today’s issues in the 2012 Presidential race.

All of Romney’s comments were taken out of context.  Cindi Lauper obviously had to give her permission for her song to be used in this wildly misleading AD.

Keep in mind this is just the beginning of misleading advertising by the DNC.  With over $1 Billion dollars available to run a 2012 Presidential campaign, you can bet the DNC is just warming up with these kinds of Ads.

The “Unaffiliated” voter rolls in Eagle County, Colorado (suggest?) a large block (actually the largest block) of Voters don’t care for this type of campaigning either.

Good.  The ECT reader is left to decide for themselves if the ‘true colors’ of today’s DNC leadership ‘come shining through’ in this Ad...."

(Watch the video?  Learn more?  Click title. Comment to discuss)