I’ve been a Cubs fan for sometime now, well before I actually moved to Chicago. But I only just started following the Bears last season.

In short, being a Chicago sports fan provides a perfect blend of exhilaration and rage. I mean, there is nothing like a July night game at Wrigley Field. And you can find Bears fan in every city in the country.

But what a baffling experience. We had two rock solid teams this year in the Cubs and Bears. Both teams were stacked so well that the entire sports world expected great things this season. Yet, both teams did nothing short of embarrass Chicago fans.

They say we have a curse here in Chicago, and with the passing of each game I inch closer to accepting that notion.

As all Chicago sports fans are so used to saying… maybe next year.

As mentioned in my previous post, I believe that a third party fight is good long term strategy, but it cannot be our short term goal. In my opinion, if it is the short term goal… we lose.

Several friends and people who I admire in the movement have suggested that we need to force the GOP to come to us. The reality is… this will never happen. The GOP establishment has no interest in becoming a movement minded Party. It has no interest in embracing our ideas and mentality.

So if the strategy is to force the GOP to come our way… we will lose.

This is something I’ve pondered for quite some time. In my letter to the GOP earlier this year, I even laid out what I thought at the time was necessary to get me back into the party.

I sent that letter to every state chair in the country. Can you guess how many responses I got?

I’ll give you a hint… it’s less than one.

My point here is that the establishment is not going to change on its own. And we don’t have the votes to beat two establishments.

I’m not suggesting we embrace the Republican Party as it currently functions, but I am suggesting we’re going to have to stop acting as if we’ll never have anything to do with the vessel itself again. And we’re going to have to accept the fact that Democrats would love nothing more than to see our movement split the opposing vote, giving them their only chance at survival in 2010.

-Eric Odom

Let’s face it. The passage of Pelosicare last weekend was the equivalent to the modern day “Stamp Act.” You see, when the stamp act was put in to action back in 1765, the folks began realizing that their government was asserting significant authority over their lives, even though the people had not found the action permissible.

We the people will accept certain levels of authority to exist, but only to the extent we deem acceptable and only as long as we have the ultimate control over the outcome.

What Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat thugs did to us last weekend is exactly what the King of England did back in 1765. Democrats ignored the will of the people and passed a dangerous bill that threatens the freedom and liberty we cherish.

Let’s be clear. Democrats are responsible for this gross abuse of power. Democrats crafted the legislation, ignored our will, and jammed it through with applause and cheers.

As a libertarian who voted for Bob Barr in 2008, I find it very difficult to state this in a public manner, but I will now be joining the Republican Party. Not because I trust Republicans or believe the existing establishment properly represents me. Not because I think the Republican Party has brought upon us the full protection of our individual rights and liberties.

No, it’s because I believe the Democrats are literally trying to destroy the free-market fabric of this country. And I believe that if we spend even another week working towards a third party for 2010 and 2012, we commit ourselves to certain doom.

I’m in no way advocating that we as a movement stand behind the existing Republican establishment. I am, rather, suggesting that we become the establishment.

As Erick Erickson and so many others have rightfully pointed out… we have the numbers. We have the people, we have the passion, and we have the organization. What we don’t have is unity.

I know many of us in the movement have different goals. Some are to weaken the two party stronghold. This is understandable and a good long term goal.

But look, if we screw around and let dangerous Democrats walk all over us in 2010 and 2012, we’ll never again get the opportunity to do ANYTHING as free Americans.

Love or hate the Republican Party… it’s our only vessel in the short term. We either unify through it and make a stand strong enough to stop this madness in government, or we fracture over third party efforts and meet uncertain political demise.

This choice is ours to make. I’m making my choice now.

-Eric Odom

Regarding the New York 23 race, Allahpundit has this to say.

But look. As gratifying as it would be to see Hoffman win, the guy didn’t become a conservative grassroots cause celebre because people are dying to see Doug Hoffman in Congress.

Having just spent a week in NY23, and having published emails to more than 100,000 free market activists over the past ten days, I can say with a level of certainty that AP just doesn’t get it.

Doug Hoffman is a “twofer”. Yes, as AP mentions, it’s an opportunity for the movement to make a statement to the GOP and the beltway establishment. But Hoffman also finally provides us with a true conservative candidate to rally behind.

I spoke with Hoffman last week. I interviewed him and I went to several of his events. Doug Hoffman is the real deal. He’s not a career politician, he openly supports things such as the flat tax, and he isn’t at all afraid to specifically address his personal positions on policy, both social and fiscal.

I also spoke with many voters, activists, tea party folks, 9/12 members and Republicans. They were ALL excited about the candidacy of Doug Hoffman.

Look, I donated to Doug Hoffman. I support Doug Hoffman. Not just because to do so is a slap in the face for the machine, but because I would sincerely appreciate being represented by him.

Does Allahpundit have a better person in mind to go to Washington? Does he not think Doug Hoffman will properly represent NY23?

Inquiring minds wanna know.

I had originally intended on using my own blog here to cover the action, but we decided to go ahead and launch a part of 73wire.com to provide a better spot for the content.

Yesterday, the brand new blog had 7,147 unique visits and 18947 pageviews. Our RSS feed was accessed 471 times throughout the day. How could this be?

Most likely it’s because we broke the story about the NRCC sending ground troops into the 23rd district of New York, followed by a breaking story about the NRCC yanking its assets out of the district.

Granted, major news networks see far more than 7,000 visits in a day, but think of the money they spend! And why were they not able to figure out or report on the NRCC story?

On Tuesday, I ran into a reporter for local channel 7 news outside of Dede Scozzafava’s campaign office in Watertown. I asked her what she thought of the fact that Scozzafava’s office was stacked full of NRCC folks. Her response was something along the lines of “We’re reporters so we don’t have an opinion on that sort of thing.”

OK, I understand that. And that’s actually a good thing. But if you’re a reporter, would you not have wanted to go back in to the office you just came out of and ask the question?

Big media reporters don’t ask those questions. Bloggers do.

And that is exactly why just three blogs… 73wire’s Campaign Trail, The Other McCain and TCOT Report have dominated coverage outside of the candidate talking points.

I would also note that NY23 should be a lesson for bloggers on the right. We have to get bloggers on the ground… plain and simple. You can make phone calls, text your contacts, etc, but that never produces the results of face to face interaction.

Robert Stacy McCain, Ali Akbar, Steve Foley and I have all been in the district this week and we’ve been able to uncover a ton of news. We’ve live streamed and tweeted debates, we sent out pictures and newsletters, and we’ve broken investigative stories.

This is what blogging is all about. And, in my opinion, this is why big government owned media is dying.

-Eric Odom

Watch this video to listen to the clip.

Newt seems to be stating that he supports more of the same in order to get real change. The more he preaches this message, the more he distances himself from the true liberty movement.

In my opinion, of course.

-Eric Odom