Libertarians Object to GOP Plans to Strengthen Obamacare

From Libertarian Republican:

WASHINGTON - Incoming Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said that Republicans now want to keep two significant parts of Obamacare: forcing insurance companies to offer coverage for people up to age 26 under their parents' policies, and forcing insurance companies to issue coverage for pre-existing conditions.

Libertarian Party (LP) Chair Mark Hinkle commented, "This switch is predictable. Republicans love to say the words 'less government,' but they always vote for more government. It's a shame that the big-government Republican Party succeeded in fooling Americans again on November 2. We tried to warn the tea partiers."

CO-Gov: Republican Makes Case for Voting Third Party, Supporting Tancredo

From the Estes Park Trail Gazette:

I really need to apologize to Tom Tancredo. When Tancredo decided not to run last year, I was critical of the platform he wrote for Scott McInnis as a condition of support. In July, when Tancredo gave the two Republican candidates an ultimatum to withdraw from the race, I labeled Tancredo the spoiler. The pragmatic side of me will not support a spoiler. I deemed it impossible for Tom Tancredo to win as a third party candidate.

I wrote in July that the worst strategy for conservatives was "to choose the lesser of two evils now, and then refuse to support the winner in November." I later called Tancredo`s ultimatum to Maes and McInnis as "improbable as a science fiction film." I recognized that Dan Maes had problems as a candidate, but I believed party supporters would rally behind his campaign and Maes would finish second (with no hope of winning). I felt so strongly about it that I wrote to Tancredo urging him to withdraw the ultimatum, telling him there was no circumstance in which I could support his candidacy.

Boy, was I wrong; mea maxima culpa. Dan Maes is now polling at 12 percent. Tancredo is polling at 38 percent, just four percent behind Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper. In other words, 50 percent of voters support someone other than "Recreate 68" benefactor Hickenlooper as our next governor. 

In fact, Tancredo is now polling within one percentage point of the Democrat Hickenlooper and Dan Maes is supported by fewer than one in ten voters.  If they have any sense, the people of Colorado will bury the Republican party this November and set an example for voters nationwide.  The two-party state can be defeated.  

NV and ME: Former GOP Officials Endorse Independents

From Maine Public Broadcasting:

The former chairman of the Maine Republican Party is backing Independent candidate Shawn Moody in the race for governor. Mark Ellis, of Augusta, is a long-time GOP activist who has held campaign positions with Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins. He says his decision to drop out of the Republican Party in June was partially motivated by Republican Paul LePage's gubernatorial primary victory. In choosing Moody, Ellis says that the Independent candidate harbors many core Republican values and has the ability to lead Maine over the next four years.

From Nevada News and Views:

Four former Republican Elko County commissioners – Nolan Lloyd, Tony Lesperance, Royce Hackworth and Brad Roberts are supporting independent candidate Janine Hansen for Assembly District 33, saying she is a proven conservative they can trust. “Elko now has the most liberal County Commission in history,” stated Roberts. “Elko County has been plunged into debt—some $20,000,000! John Ellison has been a big part of voting for that unprecedented spending. That’s why we are endorsing Janine Hansen.

GA: Republicans Whine About Libertarian Party, Argue Against Political Choice and Competition

From Red State:

Some Georgia Libertarians with a bully pulpit are savaging Republican Governor nominee Nathan Deal and helping his Democrat opponent, Roy Barnes, in the process. In their minds, it’s for the greater good — a chance to legitimize and make official the Libertarian party in the state while punishing Deal for beating their favored Republican candidate in the run-off.

If the choice is between Republican Nathan Deal, along with his Nazi sympathizers, and Libertarian John Monds, well, the choice is easy.

Libertarian Party: Republicans Should have Issued an "Apology to America" instead of "Pledge"

From Sunshine News:

After an initial wave of partisan enthusiasm for the House Republicans' "Pledge to America," the inevitable backlash is cresting.

Unimpressed by the GOP agenda, the Libertarian Party executive director Wes Benedict said today, "Instead of a 'Pledge to America,' the Republicans should have written an 'Apology to America.' It should have gone something like this:

"We're sorry, America. Sorry we grew the federal government budget from $1.7 trillion to over $3 trillion. Sorry we added $5 trillion to the federal debt. Sorry we . . ."

CO: Former GOP Official Urges Republicans Not to Vote

From Jack Stansbery, a former executive director of the Colorado Republican Party, in the Denver Post:

As a longtime Republican Party member, supporter and activist, I have struggled with the choices I am left with in this year's election of Colorado governor. The Republican nominee is extremely flawed and I won't vote for the Democrat.

Therefore, I have chosen to relinquish my right to vote for governor; I will be an intentional undervote.

Republicans Backing Libertarians at State and Local Level

From Libertarian Republican:

There is a growing trend around the Nation of increased cooperation between Republicans and Libertarians at the state and local levels, to beat the Democrats in the November elections. There's a new found pragmatism on both sides. Local Republican officials in many instances are urging their members to vote Libertarian in races where no GOP candidate has filed. On the other side, an increasing number of Libertarian Party members on the ballot, are stepping aside and urging their supporters to back the Republican, particularly in tight races.

Republican Party Partially Adopts Proportional Representation in Allocation of Presidential Delegates

From Ballot Access News:

On August 6, the Republican National Committee changed the party’s bylaws on presidential primaries.  The author of the plan had worked with Democratic Party officials, so that the  two major parties now agree on the timing of presidential primaries and caucuses.  This makes it very likely that state legislatures next year will pass bills, making the changes desired by both major parties.

Both parties agree that four particular states, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, are the only ones that can hold caucuses or primaries earlier than March 1. . . . Republicans also passed a rule that only affects the Republican Party.  States that hold caucuses or presidential primaries in March must assign use proportional representation to allocate delegates.  Thus, if a presidential candidate polls 22% of the vote cast in a March presidential primary, he or she will be awarded 22% of the state’s delegates.

It ain't much, but it's something.  

Rand Paul Continues to Distance Himself from Libertarian Party

From the Huffington Post:

Republican Rand Paul said Tuesday he differs with the Libertarian Party by opposing abortion and supporting judicious overseas troop deployment, distancing himself from the party his father once represented in a presidential election.


The U.S. Senate candidate from Kentucky told syndicated conservative talk show host Sean Hannity that he doesn't fit the mold of a Libertarian. Paul said his conservative social views and willingness to send troops abroad to protect the U.S. set him apart from the party some have tried to associate him with.

SC: Disgraced Racist Republican Legislator Derides GOP as "Libertarian"

From Politico:

The Lexington County, South Carolina Republicans voted last night to censure State Senator Jake Knotts, and to ask him to resign, for calling Nikki Haley and Barack Obama "ragheads." Knotts's response:

"This is not a Republican Party, this is a libertarian party,” Knotts said, noting the group did not censure Sanford last year after he admitted an extramarital affair. “This is nothing but politics. I’m not resigning. I could care less.”

TX: GOP Activist Backed Green Party Ballot Access Effort

From the Dallas Morning News:

The liberal Green Party's uphill battle to get on the Texas ballot this fall has been fueled by a surprising benefactor: an out-of-state Republican consultant with a history of helping conservative causes and GOP candidates. . . . 
  What's unknown is who paid for the previously undisclosed arrangement, pieced together by The Dallas Morning News. Green Party officials said they don't know who funded the effort. The Perry campaign denied any involvement. And Arizona Republican operative Tim Mooney, who set up the petition drive, refused to say. 

Green Party officials said an outside group gathered the 92,000 signatures and gave them as "a gift" to the party, which delivered them to the secretary of state, who oversees Texas elections. If the secretary of state determines that enough of them are valid, the party will be able to field a slate of candidates for statewide offices for the first time since 2002.

GA: Undecided Leads Georgia GOP Primary by Wide Margin

From Bludgeon and Skewer:

Perennial favorite, Undecided, clobbered his competition in the latest Insider Advantage/WSB TV-3 poll released yesterday. This unsung, unfunded and non existent candidate picked up 8% from his April poll position which pegged him at 31% to a dominating 39% in this latest survey.

Undecided's surge to the lead over actual republicans John Oxendine, Nathan "Stinky" Deal and Karen Handel was attributed to the increased TV news presence of candidates causing concern and confusion among likely republican primary voters. The more they see of the choices they have, the less they like it.

We Want Liberty: GOP "Has Never Been a Conservative Party"

From We Want Liberty a short history of the GOP's horrid record of "conservatism":

Thanks to the campaigns of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, most conservative Americans have been convinced that the Republican Party is the home of conservative values in the United States. However, once you reflect upon the true history of the Republican Party, you will easily see that this is nothing more than a lie . . .

The Republican Party has never been a conservative party - they are a party with conservatives in it. Although I wish we'd follow George Washington's call for no political parties, my only choice for a party is the Constitution Party. The GOP's past and present can only convince me of the wisdom of my choice. If the nation falls for a Palin, a Romney, or a Perry, I fear that all will be lost - and it will be at the hands of the Republican Party.