Jonathan Alter's "A New Open-Source Politics " caught my attention because I came up with the name for the now-defunct Open Source Politics web site. I came up with that name because it was representative of what I thought it could be more than what it was.

Mr. Alter is introducing Unity08 .

We’re a movement to take our country back from polarizing politics. In 2008, we’ll select and elect a Unity Ticket to the White House— one Democrat, one Republican, in whatever order, or independents committed to a Unity team. We want you to join us - and you don't have to leave your party to do it.

sniff

No...you don't have to leave YOUR party to do it.

Watch Unity08 this morning (Thursday) on the Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends." Check local listings for details. Thanks for tuning in Wednesday to the PBS "McNeil Lehrer News Hour" and on Bloomberg Television's "Money & Politics".

If these guys are serious, they have memory problems that make it unadvisable to take them seriously.

Rancor becomes top D.C. export GOP leads charge in ideological war
Author: John Aloysius Farrell
Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief
Edition: MON
Section: 1A SECTION
Page: A-01
Estimated printed pages: 5
Article Text:

WASHINGTON - When President Bush gave his first formal campaign speech as a candidate for re-election last week, he cited his efforts to curtail partisan rancor and "change the tone in Washington."

But the nasty redistricting fights in Texas and Colorado are an indication, analysts from both political parties say, that the partisan divide is as sharp as ever in America, and that acrimony exported from Washington is increasingly infecting state and local governance.

The al-Qaeda threat requires U.S. political leaders to assume a certain patriotic decorum in the nation's capital. But opportunists of both parties seek any edge, and have come to view the nation's statehouses, traditionally known as more pragmatic forums, as arenas for ideological combat.

"We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals - and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship," said Grover Norquist, a leading Republican strategist, who heads a group called Americans for Tax Reform.

"Bipartisanship is another name for date rape," Norquist, a onetime adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, said, citing an axiom of House conservatives.

Get rid of them rude, untrustworthy types before even thinking about approaching me.