Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Fight them, without becoming them!

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Grifters Open Thread: No Labels (And Damned Few Principles)

Grifters Open Thread: No Labels (And Damned Few Principles)

by | 102 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

I wouldn’t want to be in the same room with Puck‘s Tara Palmeri, but her nose for political rot is unerring:

No Labels, the quixotic and billionaire-friendly third party group looking to field a centrist 2024 presidential candidate, is a source of great intrigue in town. Part of the curiosity, as I’ve previously reported, derives from their recent meetings with Dem-G.O.P. hybrids, such as Joe Manchin, Larry Hogan, and Susan Collins. Part of it comes from the organic curiosity and concern about whether there is room in American politics for a third party, and whether a modern day Ross Perot would just facilitate a plurality victory for Trump. And, sure, some people worry about the optics of guys like Steve Schwarzman and a group of enigmatic billionaires having an outsized role in selecting the leader of the free world.

But part of it simply stems from the group’s undeniable and intrinsic secrecy. Most politicians and operatives always somehow find the time to offer a quote or a text, even if it’s on background. But my multiple requests for interviews with No Labels have always been rebuffed. I was once told by C.E.O. Nancy Jacobson, “What’s best for Democracy is confidentiality.” Even former senator Joe Lieberman was mum when I peppered him with questions about the group after disembarking from an American Airlines flight we both happened to be on. (Don’t worry, I let him fly in peace, for what it’s worth.)

Despite their clandestine behavior, No Labels is serious: they’re ready to put $70 million behind a so-called unity ticket. In order to offer a more comprehensive view into their thinking, I’m sharing snippets from a recent No Labels call with their supporters that was leaked to me. It evidences, among other things, that their grassroots supporters are in fact very smart, sincere, and genuinely concerned about what the group is doing. Jacobson, for her part, was characteristically blunt. She said that they have been “Pearl Harbored” by a memo by another rival 501(c)4 centrist think tank, Third Way, that was published in March. When one caller expressed concern about accepting donations from Harlan Crow, the Republican real estate billionaire who has been funding Clarence Thomas’s lifestyle, Jacobson remarked, “If you don’t want that, this isn’t the place for you.”

In the end, Joe Manchin makes a cameo from his cell phone during which he sounds very much like a candidate. And yet while Jacobson says the group is “out of the cave,” there is still plenty we don’t know, such as the identities of their donors…

New Caller: What is the schedule for ballot access? When do you expect to be on the ballot access for all 50 states? Given that there’s already been legal action against [the group], do you expect more legal action and what do you plan to do to proactively prepare for that rather than being blindsided when it does happen?

Jacobson: We don’t like to say in advance exactly where we’re going because that’s when you start getting the legal action and it’s really hard. …Sometime later this year, into early next year, it’s roughly 20 states that we hopefully qualify [for]. And the Arizona predicament there, the secretary of state there is fighting alongside us and feels very confident we’ll win that…

Caller from Charlotte: Is the strategy to also be building a movement simultaneously? Ryan [Clancy] mentioned 600,000 signatures. Are you trying to capture these 600,000 people? Is it by design or is it a lack of ability or knowledge? No Labels seems very well connected and very well funded but from my vantage point and the vantage point of a lot of people who are left over from Unity 2020, and have been watching No Labels from the sidelines wondering where you’re going, we’re sort of skeptical about your ability to build a movement.

Jacobson: I say that we were Pearl Harbored. Right, [Third Way] attacked us, they come out with a memo, they brought us out of our cave. We were just planning to be the group, get the ballot, keep our heads down, find the leadership in the states, and then have the movement be born if it was revealed in Dallas. That was always the plan. We thought it would be a national sensation—ticket comes out, people galvanize, that’s when the movement would really start. Things have changed. We’ve come out of the cave, they brought us out, we’ve come out, we’re now much more public. You’ll be happy to know that we’re meeting with a team next week, supposedly best-in-class advertising firm. It’s money we don’t have now—we’re going to have to make a major push and spend day and night to try to raise this money—but they really believe the time to build the movement is now and the way to do it is with more advertising and be out there…

Same caller: I’m sort of suggesting movement building without money.

Unity 2020 was able to get 30,000 people in a handful of months. I’m hesitant to donate to something that has an escape hatch. It’s always phrased as an insurance policy if the nation wants this—we may do this, we may not do this. I’d give you $10,000 today if you said, we’re doing this, torpedoes full speed ahead, we’re doing this. I’m hesitant to give you $100,000 if [I don’t know the plan] will go through.

Jacobson: Listen, we have to rely on all of you to help with the movement building. You’re right, we don’t have to spend more, but really to build this to the next level, we really do. And so we’re going to count on people to bring their people in. We’re just authentically true. I understand the Catch-22, we’re authentic. We’re not looking to spoil. We’re not going to do it. I understand if people don’t want to be on that journey with us. If we can do it and win and build a unity government, we’re going to do this. And I understand if people don’t want to be on that journey, I understand that. Not everybody wants to buy the insurance…

Caller from Texas: So what I’m understanding is that we, the No Labels members, are not deciding the candidates; we choose them and then we poll the public to see if they’re okay with that. Sometimes we speak or are quoted as saying both Trump and Biden are both extremists. So two things here: It’s not us who are going to judge, it’s the feedback we get from the American public. And two—as you all have bumped into before—I get instant pushback if any of my friends see No Labels saying Biden and Trump are equally extreme. I just think that’s a real turn-off for people.

Jacobson: That is not the way we are intending to message it.

Clancy: The foundation that No Labels is always going to stand on is that we’re the voice of this majority. We’re providing something that the rest of the political universe refuses to provide them. There’s no shortage of people in Washington that are telling the public what they’re supposed to feel. And if we find ourselves in a position [where] we’re sort of parsing which candidates are less appealing, that’s a loser every time. When two-thirds of the people say I don’t want a rematch. I’m sure people have very different reasons for not wanting Trump and not wanting Biden. It’s not for us to parse those things. It’s to have the clarity to say if there’s an election the public clearly doesn’t want, why can’t we inject some competition in the process? To actually bring our leaders more to where the public wants them to be…

New caller for California: How do we make sure we’re not electing Trump again?

Jacobson: When there’s a competition in the marketplace, which we are, the quickest, fastest way to slice us down and dismiss us was that argument. And we knew that a year and a half ago, that was always going to be the argument. We knew the most important thing is to prosecute the case that we weren’t going to be a spoiler, but that is how they dismiss you. How does anyone know anything? When we see these poll numbers, it’s the most striking thing. We haven’t seen an independent moderate since Ross Perot; we know nothing. You can look at these two candidates. Keep an open mind. Don’t let the competition out there, they want to control it, that’s the way to do it. I agree with you—we’re only going to do this to win it, and there are so many off ramps…

Jacobson: “We do have a policy, we don’t put our donors out. As you know [caller], we’ve been around for 13 years, I mean it’s so clear what we stand for. We’re never carrying water for anyone. We don’t take corporate money. It’s all individuals. Just look at our Facebook group for the last 13 years, our emails for the last 13 years. The only thing we’re doing, we want to bring our leaders together to solve problems. We’re not pushing for one industry, we’re not pushing for anybody, so it’s probably the most authentic group you’d ever find. I don’t know what else to say. Why you don’t, in this day and age, put your donors out: They get harassed, they become news stories, you know there’s enemies that are out there, I think you’ve all seen it, so we just we wouldn’t do it. But you know who we are, we’ve been around for 13 years, right?…

Translation from the weaselspeak: Jacobson and Clancy have made themselves a comfortable living — and a very nice Rolodex / blackmail file! — out of professing Concerns About (Democratic) Candidates. They wish to reassure their donors, and potential donors, that their money will not be ‘wasted’ on actual candidates, unless Harlan Crow or his kakistocratic equivalent (Peter Thiel?) decides to dump a metric sh*t-ton of money anointing some new Great White Hope to challenge the Democrats.

But strong statements will be released! Donors will get the warm glow of being on the inside, treated as valued consumers, not just dismissed as one more tiny bloc of wealthy malcontents. And if No Labels gets lucky, well, you wouldn’t want to have your name missing from their donor list, if you know what they mean (and I think you do)…

Why, keeping these folks away from genuine political activism is practically a public service, if you squint just right!

ETA: Just ran across this most informative thread from Josh Marshall:

So… big-name professional white-collar grifters!

Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    I can’t even bear to read about No Labels, aka Just Here to be Spoilers So the Republicans Win.

    They were talking about it on one of my podcasts the other night, and I could feel my blood boiling at the thought of what they are trying to do in 2024.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    Sometime later this year, into early next year, it’s roughly 20 states that we hopefully qualify [for]

    All righty then.

  5. 5.

    Ken

    The No Labels 24 plan is based on assumption that about 6 in 10 Americans would consider a generic moderate third party ticket, and that 61% of those voters would vote NL

    Whereas my path to electoral victory assumes, more realistically, that angels will descend from the heavens and proclaim me President.

    Seriously, guys, haloperidol and clozapine are both covered by the ACA.

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    “When one caller expressed concern about accepting donations from Harlan Crow, the GOP billionaire who has been funding Clarence Thomas’s lifestyle, Jacobson remarked, “If you don’t want that, this isn’t the place for you.”

    Well, at least they’re (somewhat) honest

  8. 8.

    Baud

    “We represent the majority, but we’ll only run candidates if it’s Biden vs. Trump.”

    Alrighty then.

  9. 9.

    Poe Larity

    There’d be an American flag over Hanoi today if we’d just followed that Third Way…

  12. 12.

    Anne Laurie

    @WaterGirl: They’re plain old white-collar grifters, is my take!

    They don’t ‘intend’ to kneecap the Dems — it’s just that the Repub-adjacent ‘nervous’ voters are the ones who have more money than sense.  You should really look at the extracts I posted, at least, because you’ll recognize the MBA buzzwords.  Give us your money, we know better than you what to do with it.  Also, if you don’t give us your money *now*, you’ll regret not doing so later.  You wouldn’t want to be left out of the next big thing…

  13. 13.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    So, we’re all in agreement that this No Labels “Unity Ticket” would probably go nowhere, right?

  15. 15.

    Steeplejack

    On what planet is Susan Collins a “Dem-GOP hybrid”?! I don’t even think Larry Hogan is a hybrid. They’re Republicans, just slightly less toxic—slightly—than the MAGA nutters. And Manchin is a hybrid in the sense of some Island of Dr. Moreau man-beast experiment gone slightly wrong. We can sort of get him to do the right thing some of the time, but there’s always the danger that he will run amok.

  16. 16.

    Eolirin

    @WaterGirl: I don’t think they should be doing this, but it’s honestly not clear this doesn’t hurt the Republicans more than us. Trump fatigue and disenchantment with an increasingly insane Republican party is definitely starting to show up in polling of independents and more moderate conservative voters. But they might not be able to bring themselves to vote for a Democrat.

  17. 17.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    ETA: Yes, but would somebody like Joe Manchin and Susan Collins, for example, really fool anybody? They’re not exactly the most exciting people in the world either. Though, I suppose to some mushy headed indies, that might not matter

  18. 18.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Steeplejack:

    We can sort of get him to do the right thing some of the time, but there’s always the danger that he will run amok.

    Yep. We’re partly in the mess we’re in with the debt ceiling because he and Sinema refused to do the right thing last year

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Yeah, it’s hard to predict their impact.  The call transcribed above suggests that their donors are more worried about spoiling the election for Trump, but that doesn’t tell you if they are anti -Trump Republicans or Dems.

  20. 20.

    Kelly

    “We’ll nominate someone everyone  has been mad at once in a while but it’ll be a winner because each of you were mad about something different.”

  23. 23.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Eolirin: @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The theory of the case (that they can spoil), which I agree with, is that there are a lot of mushy middle voters who would vote *against* TFG, but don’t want a Dem, and heck no don’t want Biden.  Those idiots can be convinced to vote for a third party candidate.  There are *no* voters who would vote for TFG, who are thus convincable.

    I buy that theory, and think No Labels is a goddamn GrOPer fifth column buncha traitors.

  24. 24.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Steeplejack:

    On what planet is Susan Collins a “Dem-GOP hybrid”?

    A-men!  The first thing that jumped out at me about this.  Collins isn’t even “moderate”: she’s just the one who gets a Golden Ticket from Yertle when there’s one to be had.  Hell’s bells, I’d take Murkowski over Collins!

  25. 25.

    Eolirin

    @Chetan Murthy: Given the amount of Obama -> Trump -> Biden voters and how tight margins are in some must win states, I think that’s not true. I think there’s a tendency to underestimate how absolutely uninformed and thus unpredictable low info voters actually are in this country.

  26. 26.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Eolirin:

    Fair point

    @Baud:

    I noticed that too.

    @Chetan Murthy:

    I guess it will come down to turnout and outreach to overcome it. I hope this is just a grift for No Labels and they’re not actually serious

  28. 28.

    Steeplejack

    We don’t take corporate money. It’s all individuals.

    “Billionaires, sure, but basically just ordinary joes like you and me!”

  29. 29.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Ken:

    That EC map was fucking funny. Like, yeah I’m sure Biden would only win California 🙄

    I find it interesting that in the Trump v Biden one, Trump wins Georgia, Wisconsin, AND Michigan. MI is especially stupid/weird considering how strong Dem wins there were in 2022, where they won compete control over the state government

  31. 31.

    Eolirin

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Somehow Ohio is harder to take away from Trump than Indiana. Like what

    ETA: Though also, they have to take away MI at least if they’re going to spot us AZ, because they’d be showing a Biden win if they didn’t.

  32. 32.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Sometime later this year, into early next year, it’s roughly 20 states that we hopefully qualify [for]

    this was a serious tell. Only 20 states? There’s no way you can win if that’s all your contesting.

  34. 34.

    kalakal

    The people running it are grifting weasels. The people funding it are paying for a spoiling operation in the GOP’s favour.

    None of them actually expect to win any election or to create a viable 3rd party.

    Amongst them there’ll be a few naive twits putting the idiot into useful idiot.

    May they all catch scabies

  35. 35.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Given that Tara Palmeri’s article is behind a paywall, I don’t know if she included this detail, but Nancy Jacobson is married to Mark Penn. Despite being an adviser for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, Penn opposed both Robert Mueller’s investigation and the first impeachment of Trump.

  36. 36.

    mrmoshpotato

    Did Tommy Boy just realize that No Labels is a grift?

    Unblock driftglass and let him know (back in 2010), Tommy!

  38. 38.

    Redshift

    The No Labels 24 plan is based on assumption that about 6 in 10 Americans would consider a generic moderate third party ticket, and that 61% of those voters would vote NL

    Anyone who cites a poll of a specific candidate vs. an unidentified theoretical candidate (of whatever stripe) is either a scammer or an idiot. Generic concept “candidates” always poll way better than a real opponent, because everyone can imagine a candidate they’d like, but they’re not all imagining the same thing.

    Something to remember with all the pundits talking about polls showing x percentage of Democrats would prefer “someone else.”

  39. 39.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Are they even going to run a campaign, though?  That interview screams grift.  Give them your money and they’ll do… something.  At some point.  With someone.

  40. 40.

    Redshift

    You also have to love (not) the scamminess of pitching “we can build a movement just by spending a lot of money, really.”

  43. 43.

    Another Scott

    The call transcript sounds like an Underpants Gnomes theory of politics.

    1. Don’t pick candidates.
    2. Don’t try to get on the ballot in more than 20 states.
    3. ???
    4. Country gets excited by the Great Reveal and they all ride to victory.

    Oh, and 0. Don’t ask anything about who is funding them and why.

    They’re spoilers, and not as competent as the Natural Law Party.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  44. 44.

    prostratedragon

    “What’s best for Democracy is confidentiality.”

    George Orwell could not have said it better.

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    @Another Scott:

    It seems a gross overestimation to call a group like No Labels “spoilers”. I don’t recall them ever having even a minor effect on any election.

  49. 49.

    Poe Larity

    DougJ should have called in and said the last guy he voted for was Nader.

  52. 52.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Baud: I’m more interested the Third Label vs No Way dispute

  54. 54.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Democrats don’t get hurt by a centrist. They get hurt by a lefty. Leftys are crafty and hard to hit (ie Steve Carlton, Warren Spahn).

  57. 57.

    Elizabelle

    We need to start calling her Nancy Mrs. Mark Penn Jacobson.

    As we do for Mrs. Greenspan.  Remind people of how wholly objective these Democrat-detesters centrists are.

    Confidentially, of course.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    @Steeplejack:   Could you remind me again how to search for something on an old Balloon Juice thread?  You had some nifty way; Google is not helpful.

    Thank you.

  60. 60.

    Elizabelle

    @Steeplejack:   Thank you!  You’re the best.  All I remembered was the colon (but where?) <—-  am sure there is some problem with punctuation there ….

    Gracias.

  61. 61.

    Steeplejack

    @Elizabelle:

    I will note that searching Balloon Juice has been somewhat degraded since we had our big crash, what, a year or so ago? Searches older than about eight years don’t fare so well, and even newer searches can be a little spotty. Good luck!

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    @Steeplejack:  Tripped up by the damn ellipsis. Of course.

    This is not the thread I was looking for, but it was hilarious.

    The day we and Wyomingites realized there would not be a Senator Liz Cheney.  Took herself out of the primary because of an unspecified serious health issue with a child (it was implied).

    From January 2014. balloon-juice.com/2014/01/06/adios-au-revoir-auf-wiedersehen/

    ETA:  How times change.  Now we kind of like Liz Cheney. For some things.  Like spearing Trump … and running man Josh Hawley.

  64. 64.

    Steeplejack

    @Elizabelle:

    Many old nyms in that thread! And some that are still going.

    I’d love to read some study about why people actively comment on a blog for a long time and then go away (assuming voluntarily).

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    Southern Beale!  Geeno!  Beloved and much missed Schlemizel!

    And there’s more.

    I really have to try to get to sleep.  About to stream Forensic Files, very quietly.  Narrator Peter Thomas’s soothing voice.  All those tests and machines with five syllable names.  zzzzzzzzzzz

    Good night, Steep.

  68. 68.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Blood bath for the Torres

     

    From FTFNYT

    Britain’s Conservative Party suffered sweeping losses on Friday in local elections, a stinging rejection of the status quo that raises doubts about its ability to hold onto power after 14 years.

    With most of the results declared, the Conservatives lost more than 1,000 seats.

  73. 73.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @kalakal: This is like Wile Coyote falling off a cliff, hitting the ground and then having the anvil hit him in the head.

  74. 74.

    TriassicSands

    @Chetan Murthy: There’s no way you can win if that’s all your contesting.

    It’s mathematically possible. The ten most populace states combine for a total of 274 electoral votes and a ticket to the White House.

    Of course, that means that the same candidate has to win CA and NY and TX and FL, which is hardly plausible. (And IL, NJ, GA, NC, MI, WA, and VA.) Of those states, the only ones that could plausibly go either way are GA, VA, and NC.

    But there is no realistic chance, as you say, of winning if the candidate is only on the ballot in 20 states.

     

    @Steeplejack:

    When an ellipsis ends a sentence it is correct to us four dots — one is the period. Three dots – a space – and a final dot is also correct.

  80. 80.

    raven

    @HumboldtBlue: That is really interesting!

    eta

    The Diamond Jubilee State Coach
    The Diamond Jubilee State Coach, on the other hand, was built in Australia by Jim Frecklington and then bought by the Royal Collection Trust. It was finished in 2010, but due to funding issues it did not arrive in London until March 2014.
    Yet, while it may be a newer build, the interior wooden panels of the coach are made from objects donated by more than 100 historic sites and organisations from across Britain.
    The window frames and interior panels include material from the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Balmoral, Kensington Palace Caenarfon Castle, Canterbury Cathedral, the Mary Rose (Henry VIII’s flagship), 10 Downing Street and the Antarctic bases of Captain Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton.
    The seat handrails are from the Royal Yacht Britannia, the vessel that was beloved by the Queen until it was retired from royal service in 1997.
    The coach also incudes a fragment of the bronze cannon from which every Victoria Cross is cast, and a piece of metal from the wreckage of a 617 Squadron Dambuster.

  81. 81.

    Brachiator

    Woke up, could not get back to sleep. Now, I am taking a peek at the coronation on BBC. I could recognize Prince Harry sitting near the front in Westminster.

    It’s a bit weird that the big US media channels are also covering this live.

    The other big news is the absolute butt kicking the Tories are getting in the local Council elections. The Conservative Party also had in place stupid voter ID laws, which tried to favor older voters over younger voters. There may be a fair amount of negative fallout over this.

  83. 83.

    JoyceH

    Oh, I’m not the only person awake with the television on? I’ve seen plenty of marching bands, but never a riding band before this.

  85. 85.

    Geminid

    Even if this No Labels outfit can put a candidate on 40 state ballots, I don’t think next year’s political dynamic will favor them. Republicans have become a Right Party. Democrats remain a Center-Left Party, and a cohesive one as well. In terms of popular public policy, they haven’t deserted the center, and the Republicans have.

    There is probably enough political energy at what could be called the “horse shoe ends” to support an energetic 3rd party effort. The Libertarian Party might be able to exploit that, and they regularly put candidates on at least 40 state ballots. It has new leadership, the “Mises Caucus,” that’s adding elements of right wing populism to its traditional isolationism. But I think they are more a threat to the Republicans. The lefty voters they pull in won’t vote for a Democrat anyway.

  86. 86.

    raven

    @JoyceH: It’s a copy and paste, hence the block quote!

    King Charles III is travelling to his coronation in a sleek, air-conditioned coach, however, he will return to Buckingham Palace in its 200-year-old counterpart.
    Charles and Camilla are due at Westminster Abbey at 11am in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach.
    This modern coach was originally meant to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II’s 80th birthday, but its construction was delayed and so it was instead made to mark 60 years of her reign in 2012.

  87. 87.

    Gvg

    @Ken: you cannot win on only 20 states ballots. They are going to try to split…I think they may be trying to split both parties unity. I suspect they are working for Trump on the Republican side for their own reasons but I bet they could benefit no matter who comes out on top.

    I f Putin was not too busy lately I’d be looking for some Russian money in this. As it is, I am increasingly thinking some, not all, but some of our own billionaires are basically treasonous reactionaries trying to redo our government. We need to make some examples AFTER we make that clear enough to the rest of the population. We have GOT to reverse the excess rich people worship in our culture. I mean it’s fine to aspire to get rich, but the thinking that makes them better than you needs to get dumped.

  89. 89.

    SFAW

    @Baud: ​
     
    “We represent the majority, but we’ll only run candidates if it’s Biden vs. Trump Hitler Vlad the Impaler Satan Anyone NOT a Demon-Crap.”

  90. 90.

    SFAW

    Not sure why people keep harping on “they can’t win.”
    They’re not trying to win; they’re trying to peel enough low-info voters (plus some “centrists”) to prevent Biden/Dems from winning, which translates into Rethugs winning. And for THAT they have a reasonable chance of succeeding.
    And I don’t for a minute believe their message will be tailored toward peeling off the non-psycho Rethug voters — if they even exist anymore — except for maybe a few here and there, to try to maintain their BS facade of “centrism.”

  91. 91.

    Ken

    @kalakal:  Can you imagine waiting for rescue and seeing that looming over the horizon?

    With the skeletal forms of the damned crewmen lining the rail, holding their cutlasses at the ready as they leaned eagerly toward the scent of living human blood….

  93. 93.

    Chris Johnson

    @Gvg: You absolutely should look for Russian money in this because it comes from oligarchs meddling with politics, and the targets are CHEAP to feed. They’re serving billionaires and oligarchs, but you’re not having to pay oligarchs to go canvassing or start blogs and youtube channels. The actual work is always done by formerly poor people who stumbled into this one neat trick: become famous, successful and influential, and don’t reveal your funding.

    Which of course is the same pattern we see here…

  94. 94.

    The Dark Avenger

    @Anne Laurie :  Why the diss of Tara Palmeri?  This isn’t the sort of thing that would’ve been published when she was with Politico.  Sounds like she’s not on the side of the bad guys.

  95. 95.

    catclub

    Jacobson: We’re just authentically true. I understand the Catch-22, we’re authentic.

    “sincerity is the thing. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made”

  97. 97.

    Anonymous At Work

    If all these radical centrists were doing was wasting money by being kept away from politics, it’s a bargain at ten times the price.  Anyone who listens to a call like that and wants to donate another $100k should be kept locked up, and possibly studied by political scientists, psychologists, and anthropologists.

  98. 98.

    Ruckus

    They wouldn’t outright murder a gay person, but they’d happily strip the government of the ability protect that gay person and give the money to billionaires in about six seconds.

     

    It wouldn’t take them anywhere nearly that long.

  99. 99.

    Ruckus

    We should really understand, a lot of rich people are like drug addicts, except that money is their drug. They have to have a lot more of it. And yes part of the attraction is that they can live in a style that few without a lot of money can live. They can effectively own people. Which, often when you’ve bought everything else, and often a few times over, is about the only thing left is for them to be an absolute asshole. Which for a lot of wealthy people is a principal to die for, being an absolute asshole. Very few people without money can make that work. Very few people with money seem to try not to be one. And yes I’ve been around/near by a few people with money. Not huge money, but still money. It is very often not pretty at all.

  100. 100.

    artem1s

    @Eolirin: 

    I think there’s a tendency to underestimate how absolutely uninformed and thus unpredictable low info voters actually are in this country.

    I think there is a tendency to misunderstand the real goal of these ‘third’ party organizations. They don’t have an actual candidate because the goal isn’t to win or even turn out voters. Orgs like No Name have learned how incredibly easy it is to grift from low info voters on both the right and left side of the horseshoe. There is a reason they are hedging their bet and saying they won’t try to get on the ballot unless Biden and Trump are the nominees. First it lets them string along donors without having to put out any money or effort in defining what their ‘candidate’ stands for. And it guarantees their preferred outcome for raising the optimal amount of funds from their low info donors – who are now firmly indoctrinated to believe the two party system is the enemy. Like the TeaParty this is just another Citizen’s United, astroturf by Federal Society oligarchs who want to get paid with their own donations and not have to call it income.

  101. 101.

    Hob

    @SFAW: ​
      People aren’t “harping on” the party’s non-chances. They’re just amusing themselves looking at details of how ridiculous it would be to claim it had a chance, because the other point you mentioned— that they’re really only trying to be spoilers— is incredibly obvious, and has already been covered in other comments, as well as the quotes in the original post, as well as pretty much every time anyone has ever talked about No Labels, and there isn’t really much else to say about it. No one around here has ever seriously thought they could win, or thought they were anything other than spoilers. But since there’s a particularly goofy quote and map here on the theme of “no seriously we can win this!!”, of course people are going to spend a minute taking that apart, because it’s slightly less boring than the rest.

  102. 102.

    Sloegin

    Ultimately, NoLabels clowns *prefer* capitalism under authoritarian rule.  They don’t seem to understand or care that just a few months after their preferred authoritarian gets elected and demolishes our institutions, they will find themselves getting chucked out of windows.

Comments are closed.