July 27 (Reuters) – Dozens of former Republican and Democratic officials will announce on Wednesday a new national political third party to appeal to millions of voters they say are dismayed with what they see as America's dysfunctional two-party system.
— Idrees Ali (@idreesali114) July 27, 2022
If you didn’t already know it was Silly Season: Ladeez and Germs, Andrew Yang!
Nothing captures Andrew Yang of New Paltz quite so thoroughly as does this headline. https://t.co/LHATi1r2a7
— Mark Aldrich (@Mark_S_Aldrich) July 28, 2022
Really curious what the demand is for a political party that merges MSNBC Republicans and Andrew Yang https://t.co/s8I8ixAo0b
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 27, 2022
me, a guy opening a pizza joint that exclusively sells mayonnaise and pickles pizzas: there is lots of demand for this https://t.co/lPu85TeSHu
— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 27, 2022
And you know the silly bastid is namechecking every social media forum, looking to see what people think…
Oh for Pete’s sake, not Andrew Yang again. Why won’t he go away? Why, dear god, why? https://t.co/dY17j5goxH
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) July 28, 2022
Andrew Yang is like that guy who goes to all the local shows and says he’s in a band but no one has ever seen them play and come to think of it no one seems to know anyone else who says they’re in that band
— Damon K (@dada_drummer) July 28, 2022
Only thing that matters is ballot access. If they spend the $, hire the canvassers, & pay for competent election attorneys, that’s a problem. But that’s also difficult outside the D/R parties if the party hasn’t previously been on the ballot
They’re only relevant if the do that https://t.co/pSPwjJCcJR
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 28, 2022
Andrew Yang is like if an NFT were a politician
— Another Powell (@realRexPowell) July 28, 2022
Showing off to the crowd by doing a swan dive into an empty pool. https://t.co/VPf9ALYk5l
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) July 28, 2022
Booger
Is Ralph Nader still available?
bbleh
Wull, if they’re CENTRIST, then where’s the YIN, huh? Lotta Yang but where’s the YIN?!? Haha so pwned!
Spanky
I’m moving from #princeofpegging to “soft, squishy target” and I’m not sure how things are going to go.
SpaceUnit
If Elon Musk ever actually does fuck off to Mars I really hope Andrew Yang goes with him.
Christ.
Steeplejack
Elie Mystal: This is actually Susan Collins today.
Cameron
My God, I didn’t realize it was the Carl Sagan Party, ’cause it appeals to beelyons and beelyons of voters.
Kropacetic
Nor will they.
How do you split the difference between well-thought-out plans negotiated among a diverse coalition on one side and nothing except malice on the other?
The conceit of centrists that they’re just being fair minded arbiters is really just a tell they aren’t paying attention to either party in any meaningful sense and have no actual ideology.
That’s the lazy ones. The rest are just providing cover for Republican horror shows.
ETA: And Yang had awfully extreme solutions for someone promoting a centrist party.
MattF
Did ‘centrist’ ever mean anything specific?
James E Powell
They just want the Democrat to lose & that means they want the Republican to win.
Just say it out loud & often.
piratedan
@Steeplejack: would love to see a pitchbot listing like this: I find it perfectly acceptable that jurists perjured themselves in order to serve on the highest court of law in the land. – Susan Collins
HumboldtBlue
@Spanky:
Hahahahaha
Also, this twitter account is worth the follow to keep tabs on Jan 6 defendants.
Quiltingfool
Andrew Yang is a grifter and needs to go away. Far, far away.
In other news, I made a new Patron block! He will be added to block choices for Ukraine donations!
https://pin.it/p02tzfA
Grumpy Old Railroader
Why does every single third party always come in . . . . third?
Steeplejack
Sick burn, as the yoots would say, plus you definitely want to see the picture.
HumboldtBlue
Spanky
@Steeplejack: Is that dried drool on his chin?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I don’t have an overly high regard for either Christy Whitman or David Jolly, but I’m still a bit surprised they would tie themselves to Andrew Yang.
MagdaInBlack
@Steeplejack: Yeeesh. So much for my appetite.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
Knew before I clicked what the image was going to be. Dear gods, he really does look dreadful.
kindness
Andrew Yang always struck me as a con artist from the techbro world.
dmsilev
Calling their original op-ed insipid pap would be an insult to actual tasteless goop. There was no actual content, just a repeated assertion that both parties were equal in their extremism.
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne: So sad, isn’t it?
2liberal
check the lexicon for “tire rims and anthrax”
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Does the group have a non-white person other than Yang?
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
It is. Observe my violin, shown 4x larger than actual size: 🎻
zhena gogolia
@Quiltingfool: fabulous
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: the only other names I can find on their website are Miles “Anonymous” Taylor and Evan McMullen. But there is a picture of a Black clergywoman.
Another Scott
I got some spam e-mail from AY yesterday evening. Lucky me.
No, I didn’t read it.
Just another few more weeks of the summer silly season, right? Right??!
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
dmsilev
@SiubhanDuinne:
My go-to image in these sorts of cases:
Cameron
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I believe it’s about gettin’ paid.
Geminid
@dmsilev: I don’t think much will come of this particular effort. I do expect right wing billionaires to bankroll some independent candidate in 2024 who they’ll hope will peel off weakly affiliated Democratic voters. Maybe they’ll run two. The Green Party would be an obvious platform for Tulsi Gabbard, who is still a Sanders Institute Fellow.
And maybe Peter Thiel can buy the Libertarian Party’s nomination for Yang. The “von Mises Caucus” that now controls that party surely have their principles, but I bet money and power are two of them.
HumboldtBlue
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I recall interviewing Whitman several times, she wasn’t that smart on the actual issues and the politics needed to address those isues, she was in no way inspiring or charismatic, her son was a pig, and she was simply underwhelming, just another rich white lady pretending to be important.
Baud
Even Baud! 20XX! has specific policies.
CaseyL
JFC on a carousel. The only “Democrat” mentioned in the group is Yang, and he was only one for convenience sake during his mercifully brief run for whatever office it was he was running for.
MagdaInBlack
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Last fall I heard Miles Taylor on some radio talk show saying there were some big, exciting plans in the works and we would be hearing about them soon. I wonder if this the big exciting plan.
Ten Bears
Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, Anarchists have no specific policies.
Let’s not confuse these bozos with True Free Marketeers …
Baud
From the FAQs.
Sounds like they’re swingers.
zhena gogolia
@CaseyL: potus?
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Yang ran on giving everyone alot of free money. You think the $2000 stimulus was nice, his policy was to give everyone a $12,000 check, every year.
With all the “economic anxiety” out there you’d think he would have got a big chunk of the vote, but no, he only got a meager 1% of the vote in Iowa and 2% of the vote in NH.
He was the biggest flop since “Water World”
Kropacetic
If not a specific year.
Baud
More FAQs. They’ve already learned how to dodge hard questions!
FelonyGovt
I will never forget the video of Andrew Yang buying food at a New York City “bodega” which was nothing of the sort. He is a phony through and through who is desperate to somehow become relevant.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@HumboldtBlue:
you would have been better off interviewing Slim Whitman
Kropacetic
Only applies to Democrats if protecting vulnerable populations and fighting for your priorities counts as just “partisan fights.”
LeftCoastYankee
More corporate executive delusions, that people actually like them outside of work. And that just like work the goodies they want is what everyone who works for them wants too.
Meanwhile they find workers asking questions (D) and drunks lighting their farts on fire with roman candles in the parking lot (R), to be somehow equally messy and unrealistic ingrates.
NotMax
Literally denying “those” kids access to food.
Miss Bianca
@Kropacetic:
“Actually, tire rims and anthrax are DELICIOUS paired with a nice red sauce!”
@2liberal: Ha, beat me to it!
Cameron
“We don’t agree on anything, and that’s why we’re the only party who can build a platform that serves and unites this nation!” WTF – this is Trumpian gibberish, just without the random capitalization.
Cameron
@Miss Bianca: I prefer fava beans and a nice Chianti.
Baud
It’s true. Dems never disagree with each other.
Steeplejack
@Spanky:
What color is Adderall when it’s ground up?
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
Perfect! Image saved for future use.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@NotMax:
Spanky
@Steeplejack: Hmmmmm.
different-church-lady
Ah. The Quibi of political parties.
Kropacetic
The color of the original tablet.
Steeplejack
@Kropacetic:
Guess I should think about sarc tags.
Ella in New Mexico
Libertarigreens?
Greenatarians?
Pick a name dudes and prepare to be useless
Another Scott
@Quiltingfool: Neato!
Seeing some of the pictures there reminds me of a good book on Escher’s Legacy. There’s a lot of interesting mathematics in tessellation.
:-)
Thanks for sharing your work with us, and for doing so much to help Ukraine.
Cheers,
Scott.
Kent
These people are beyond fucking ridiculous. And their entire first news release is an exercise in the very worst “both-sides” straw man erecting. To whit, this is an actual quote from their announcement in the Washington Post
1. Which DEMOCRATS have advocated for complete gun confiscation and repeal of the Second Amendment?
2. Which DEMOCRATS are calling for us to “completely upend our economy and way of life”
Who the fuck are they running against? Actual Democrats? If you have to completely lie in your introductory announcement you are pretty damn pathetic.
persistentillusion
@Quiltingfool: The new block is wonderful! I would very much like to buy it.
SpaceUnit
@Kent:
Also those positions they attribute to the far right are very much mainstream Republican views.
What a pile of shit.
Kent
@SpaceUnit: Exactly. They are just proving that one party is extremist and the other is mainstream. But if they admit that they defeat their entire reason for conducting a circle jerk in public
Ohio Mom
Maybe they’ve already started? Today when we were walking in to Meijer’s — I was walking ahead to get a head start on my part of the shopping list — a middle aged black woman holding a clipboard tried to stop Ohio Dad. He told her he wasn’t registered to vote (not true of course) and trotted to catch up with me.
When I asked him what that was that was about, he said, “I don’t know, something about a third party.” Now I will be on tne lookout for other clipboard holders to do some nosing around.
On a related note, who is bankrolling Andrew Yang? I know, some creepy gazillionaire(s), but which ones?
SpaceUnit
@Kent:
Confession: I actually did refer to the 2nd Amendment as archaic and a relic of the eighteenth century on this blog.
This is all my fault.
wonkie
Dumb fuckers. I don’t understand the mentality of people who insist on “both sides do it” unless their real issues is “People other than me me me me are getting attention.”
wonkie
THere’s another reason for a third party: a Russian-funded ratfucking to pull votes away from Democrats.
SpaceUnit
@Ohio Mom:
I think Yang has pretty deep pockets himself. He’s supposed to be some sort of tech billionaire.
ETA: Okay, I was wrong. He is not rich. So now I’ll assume the money is coming from Putin (whether he knows it or not).
persistentillusion
@Ohio Mom: I always say “I’ve already signed.” Seems to get them to back off. Regardless of the fact that I’d rather eat paint chips.
lowtechcyclist
https://www.theonion.com/andrew-yang-developing-new-fourth-party-after-failing-t-1847957168
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@SpaceUnit: Nope. His net worth is estimated anywhere between $600,000 and $4 million, according to various Google hits. He’s not “rich” like actual Tech Billionaires.
SpaceUnit
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
Yeah. I Googled him too and corrected my comment above.
I don’t know where I got the idea that he was some sort of wealthy techbro. I should Google before I post.
Jackie
@NotMax: That pissed me off when I heard that. I’m surprised it didn’t include black and Hispanic kids😡
Kropacetic
Isn’t one of the most famously leftist Democratic caucus member (not, specifically, a Democrat) one of the more pro-gun members of the caucus?
Another Scott
@Kent: NoLabels called and said, “Hey, you’re stealing our grift!!1”
https://www.nolabels.org/our-team/ is funny. In a sad way.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Ohio Mom:
TheCity.NYC has some information on his race for Mayor:
There are lots of wealthy people who give lots of money to political candidates of all stripes. GQP-friendly Yass (indirectly) giving Yang’s NYC effort a bunch of money should be a warning sign to anyone confused about Yang’s goals as opposed to his rhetoric.
Cheers,
Scott.
Captain C
@Kropacetic:
@Miss Bianca:
“Have you tried this?”
“Well, no, but you’ll love it!”
Lacuna Synecdoche
Idrees Ali via Anne Laurie @ Top:
FTFY.
JaneE
Third party? In California we already have 6 officially qualified political parties.
In order to be recognized and have your candidates on the primary and general election ballots, you have to demonstrate sufficient support from qualified voters. If you go by registering voters, it takes about 73,000 – 1/3 of one percent of voters registered at a certain date. If you go by people just signing a petition to get your party qualified you need 1,271,255 signatures – 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election.
In addition to the Democrats and the Republicans, we already have the American Independent party – George Wallace’s group, the Green party, the Libertarian party, and the Peace and Freedom party. No centrist party, so that slot is available.
Whatever Yang’s new party decides to call itself, in California they will be competing with other new parties to qualify for recognition and a place for their candidates on the ballot. There were 7 new parties trying to get on the ballot for the June primary this year. None of them were successful. Trying to get on the primary ballot for 2024 we have the California Women’s party (sic). Trying for space on the 2024 general election ballot are The Hogwash Party and One Party.
Yang’s group should try to qualify for the 2024 general. They would fit right in with the ones already trying to qualify for that election.