Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Joke non-partisan effort turns out to be genuinely funny

by Kos Wed May 02, 2012 at 03:29 PM PDT


Answers: Democrats. Yes. When Republicans stop obstructing. Yes. Ask Boehner and McConnell.

Remember Americans Elect? Of course you don't. No one does. It's an operation by Fox News Democrat Doug Schoen, former George W. Bush media consultant Mark McKinnon, former Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, political legacy and failed entrepreneur Nathan Daschle, and a bunch of other people who have decided that people aren't non-partisan-y enough—like them!

As far as I can tell, they believe that the Republican Party is being too Republican, while Democrats aren't being Republican enough. Therefore, they convinced themselves of the existence of some great American center that would then nominate their pals Michael Bloomberg or Olympia Snowe. Foolproof!

Problem is, all their assumptions ended up being wrong. [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/americans-elect-searches-for-a-way-to-ignite-third-party-fever/2012/04/16/gIQA2mrbMT_story.html ]

Last week was supposed to be the first week of online voting on the Americans Elect site, when anyone anywhere could click to endorse practiced politicians or to draft neophytes. But the candidate choices have remained decidedly low-profile, and traffic is meager on the site, which cost $9 million to construct. Scrambling to avert failure, Americans Elect has postponed online voting for a month.

Nine million dollars to build a website? Holy crap. Now, two weeks later, that postponment has become an outright cancellation. [ http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2012/05/01/1923900/group-stirring-independent-wh.html ]

A group clearing the path for an independent White House bid on Tuesday canceled the first phase of its search for a bipartisan ticket because declared and draft candidates aren't mustering enough preliminary support.

Americans Elect scrapped a virtual caucus that had been planned for next week. Another round of voting set for May 15 also is in jeopardy; a third is to be held on May 22. Candidates must meet a certain threshold of support to be eligible for the caucuses.

That's bad news for Americans Elect hopefuls like ... oh, who gives a shit. Clearly, no one does.

But apparently someone had to spend $9 million to find out, and that's fucking hilarious.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/02/1088292/-Joke-non-partisan-effort-turns-out-to-be-genuinely-funny