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Saturday, June 17, 2023 7:56:18 PM
Exactly -- Opinion This plan for a third-party presidential bid in 2024 is dangerous
"The 'No Labels' agenda is more disturbing than you know
[...] Such a candidacy could hand the presidency to the Republican candidate in 2024 because Manchin and Sinema both have had a longtime affiliation with the Democratic Party. Few Republicans would vote for either, but both could pull enough Democratic and independent votes to swing the election.
P - Stories about this often note that Jill Stein received more votes than Trump’s 2016 margin of victory in the swing states, or that Ralph Nader’s 90,000+ votes in Florida were almost certainly drawn more from Democrats than Republicans in an election George W. Bush “won” by 537 ballots before the US Supreme Court stopped the recount. Without Stein and Nader on the ballots, we’d probably have had President Gore and President Hillary Clinton.
[...]
Most Americans want Social Security strengthened, for example, but New York bankers and hedge fund managers want those trillions parked with them. And some billionaire businessmen think it would be better for their industries if there were no social safety net at all, so workers would be more terrified, compliant, and willing to work for wages closer to what is paid in China or Mexico.
P - This is why today the entire GOP is dedicated to taking down what Alexander Hamilton called The American Plan — which built and created our middle class — and instead are working at turning America into an authoritarian oligarchy.
P - Giant insurance companies who fund and support them, similarly, want to get their hands on Medicare, which they’ve already seized half of through George W. Bush’s Medicare Advantage scam.
P - Thus, just this week, one of the largest Republican groups in the House of Representatives — the Republican Study Committee — introduced legislation to gut Social Security while turning Medicare into a voucher program with all of the revenue first going through the hands of the insurance companies."
By Jonathan Cowan, Rahna Epting and Patrick Gaspard
April 14, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Former president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago this month. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Jonathan Cowan is president of Third Way, Rahna Epting is executive director of MoveOn
and Patrick Gaspard is CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
As leaders of three groups that represent various segments of the Democratic Party coalition, we don’t always agree on policy or politics. But lately, we find ourselves strongly united on one alarming issue: the possibility of a well-financed third-party presidential campaign that could help elect a MAGA extremist president in 2024.
Our country is staring down a series of once-in-a-generation threats that strike at the heart of American democracy — corruption on our nation’s highest court, fundamental rights tested at the ballot box and, of course, the Jan. 6 .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5 , 2021, coup attempt. Yet instead of responding to these attacks with clear-eyed determination to protect our country, the organization known as No Labels .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/02/no-labels-third-party-election/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5 .. is spearheading an effort to put a third-party ticket on the ballot in every state.
The group — founded in 2010 to combat rising political polarization — has said it is raising at least $70 million for the effort and is planning a convention in Dallas for April 2024. No Labels has condemned Donald Trump and Joe Biden as equally extreme and claims that their likely nominations by the major parties require another choice.
Marc A. Thiessen: Swing voters are fine with the Trump charges. That’s a warning to the GOP.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/12/cnn-poll-trump-indictment-gop-voters/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_9
We understand the sentiment that has driven donors to the No Labels banner. But there is simply no equating a party led by Biden to today’s MAGA Republican Party. One side believes in American democracy, while the other has attacked it. One is governing from the mainstream, while the other champions extremism. One seeks to work collaboratively on the issues; the other has given way to conspiracy theorists and cranks.
Moreover, No Labels has yet to say what makes Biden .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/02/no-labels-third-party-election/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11 .. an “unacceptable” candidate. The group’s members say they value cross-party compromise — and Biden has shepherded into law major bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, climate change, gun safety, protecting our troops and veterans, protecting same-sex and interracial marriage, election integrity, and more. No Labels says it wants leadership — and Biden has rallied the free world to respond to Russia’s barbaric aggression in Ukraine. It seeks mainstream values — and Biden is a man of abiding decency, faith and respect for the law. The contrast with someone like Trump hardly needs to be detailed.
Despite this glaring hole in its argument, No Labels is forging ahead. It claims to be in it to win it and has released a map purporting to show that its ticket could take nearly 40 states, including Biden’s home state of Delaware.
Such an outcome is sheer fantasy. No third-party candidate has ever come remotely close to winning, including Theodore Roosevelt, running on a Progressive Party ticket just four years after leaving office as an enormously popular Republican president. In fact, no third-party candidate has won a single electoral vote since 1968.
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Why we’re still stuck in Trump’s world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/26/why-republican-politicians-do-not-criticize-trump/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_16
Though it can’t win the race, No Labels can affect the outcome. In 2016, Trump won the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In 2020, his share of the vote in each actually increased .. https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-dangerous-illusion-of-a-presidential-third-party-in-2024 , but he lost all three. The reason? Biden won the votes of those who had chosen Jill Stein, Gary Johnson or another also-ran in 2016 by a 30-point margin. Such voters have peeled away before, and, if given the choice, they could certainly do so again, especially if lured by a well-funded campaign.
No Labels insists that it doesn’t want to field a spoiler candidate. But spoiling is what third-party candidates do. In 2000, Ralph Nader won 97,000 votes in Florida, the decisive state Al Gore lost by just 537 votes. And Nader, Stein and Johnson swung the outcome of their races with tiny war chests. Between them, Stein and Johnson spent less than $16 million, and Nader spent a bit over $9 million. With $70 million or more, the No Labels candidate is nearly certain to outperform all three, increasing the odds of serving as a stalking horse for an extreme MAGA Republican.
Moreover, No Labels is obviously targeting blue states and Democratic voters. The organization’s map gives away the game: two-thirds of its electoral votes would come from Biden states. Republicans know it. As one GOP operative put it .. https://newrepublic.com/article/171394/no-labels-donors-video-pretends-joe-biden-doesnt-exist?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=EB_TNR&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1679947398 , “If Trump is the nominee, the No Labels coalition certainly hurts the Democratic candidate on the ballot.” And Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, has written .. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/06/manchin-dreaming-president-00090568 .. in Politico that the No Labels candidate would be “most likely to help elect Trump.”
No Labels is offering an illusion, not a choice. At a time when our nation is being tested, this organization could help defeat a mainstream president and elect or reelect a radical and vindictive MAGA Republican. For the sake of our country, leaders across the political spectrum should call on No Labels to stand down
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/04/no-labels-third-party-bid-dangerous/
"The 'No Labels' agenda is more disturbing than you know
[...] Such a candidacy could hand the presidency to the Republican candidate in 2024 because Manchin and Sinema both have had a longtime affiliation with the Democratic Party. Few Republicans would vote for either, but both could pull enough Democratic and independent votes to swing the election.
P - Stories about this often note that Jill Stein received more votes than Trump’s 2016 margin of victory in the swing states, or that Ralph Nader’s 90,000+ votes in Florida were almost certainly drawn more from Democrats than Republicans in an election George W. Bush “won” by 537 ballots before the US Supreme Court stopped the recount. Without Stein and Nader on the ballots, we’d probably have had President Gore and President Hillary Clinton.
[...]
Most Americans want Social Security strengthened, for example, but New York bankers and hedge fund managers want those trillions parked with them. And some billionaire businessmen think it would be better for their industries if there were no social safety net at all, so workers would be more terrified, compliant, and willing to work for wages closer to what is paid in China or Mexico.
P - This is why today the entire GOP is dedicated to taking down what Alexander Hamilton called The American Plan — which built and created our middle class — and instead are working at turning America into an authoritarian oligarchy.
P - Giant insurance companies who fund and support them, similarly, want to get their hands on Medicare, which they’ve already seized half of through George W. Bush’s Medicare Advantage scam.
P - Thus, just this week, one of the largest Republican groups in the House of Representatives — the Republican Study Committee — introduced legislation to gut Social Security while turning Medicare into a voucher program with all of the revenue first going through the hands of the insurance companies."
By Jonathan Cowan, Rahna Epting and Patrick Gaspard
April 14, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Former president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago this month. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Jonathan Cowan is president of Third Way, Rahna Epting is executive director of MoveOn
and Patrick Gaspard is CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
As leaders of three groups that represent various segments of the Democratic Party coalition, we don’t always agree on policy or politics. But lately, we find ourselves strongly united on one alarming issue: the possibility of a well-financed third-party presidential campaign that could help elect a MAGA extremist president in 2024.
Our country is staring down a series of once-in-a-generation threats that strike at the heart of American democracy — corruption on our nation’s highest court, fundamental rights tested at the ballot box and, of course, the Jan. 6 .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/january-6-capitol-riot/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5 , 2021, coup attempt. Yet instead of responding to these attacks with clear-eyed determination to protect our country, the organization known as No Labels .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/02/no-labels-third-party-election/?itid=lk_inline_manual_5 .. is spearheading an effort to put a third-party ticket on the ballot in every state.
The group — founded in 2010 to combat rising political polarization — has said it is raising at least $70 million for the effort and is planning a convention in Dallas for April 2024. No Labels has condemned Donald Trump and Joe Biden as equally extreme and claims that their likely nominations by the major parties require another choice.
Marc A. Thiessen: Swing voters are fine with the Trump charges. That’s a warning to the GOP.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/12/cnn-poll-trump-indictment-gop-voters/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_9
We understand the sentiment that has driven donors to the No Labels banner. But there is simply no equating a party led by Biden to today’s MAGA Republican Party. One side believes in American democracy, while the other has attacked it. One is governing from the mainstream, while the other champions extremism. One seeks to work collaboratively on the issues; the other has given way to conspiracy theorists and cranks.
Moreover, No Labels has yet to say what makes Biden .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/02/no-labels-third-party-election/?itid=lk_inline_manual_11 .. an “unacceptable” candidate. The group’s members say they value cross-party compromise — and Biden has shepherded into law major bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, climate change, gun safety, protecting our troops and veterans, protecting same-sex and interracial marriage, election integrity, and more. No Labels says it wants leadership — and Biden has rallied the free world to respond to Russia’s barbaric aggression in Ukraine. It seeks mainstream values — and Biden is a man of abiding decency, faith and respect for the law. The contrast with someone like Trump hardly needs to be detailed.
Despite this glaring hole in its argument, No Labels is forging ahead. It claims to be in it to win it and has released a map purporting to show that its ticket could take nearly 40 states, including Biden’s home state of Delaware.
Such an outcome is sheer fantasy. No third-party candidate has ever come remotely close to winning, including Theodore Roosevelt, running on a Progressive Party ticket just four years after leaving office as an enormously popular Republican president. In fact, no third-party candidate has won a single electoral vote since 1968.
E.J. Dionne Jr.: Why we’re still stuck in Trump’s world
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/03/26/why-republican-politicians-do-not-criticize-trump/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_16
Though it can’t win the race, No Labels can affect the outcome. In 2016, Trump won the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In 2020, his share of the vote in each actually increased .. https://www.thirdway.org/report/the-dangerous-illusion-of-a-presidential-third-party-in-2024 , but he lost all three. The reason? Biden won the votes of those who had chosen Jill Stein, Gary Johnson or another also-ran in 2016 by a 30-point margin. Such voters have peeled away before, and, if given the choice, they could certainly do so again, especially if lured by a well-funded campaign.
No Labels insists that it doesn’t want to field a spoiler candidate. But spoiling is what third-party candidates do. In 2000, Ralph Nader won 97,000 votes in Florida, the decisive state Al Gore lost by just 537 votes. And Nader, Stein and Johnson swung the outcome of their races with tiny war chests. Between them, Stein and Johnson spent less than $16 million, and Nader spent a bit over $9 million. With $70 million or more, the No Labels candidate is nearly certain to outperform all three, increasing the odds of serving as a stalking horse for an extreme MAGA Republican.
Moreover, No Labels is obviously targeting blue states and Democratic voters. The organization’s map gives away the game: two-thirds of its electoral votes would come from Biden states. Republicans know it. As one GOP operative put it .. https://newrepublic.com/article/171394/no-labels-donors-video-pretends-joe-biden-doesnt-exist?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=EB_TNR&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1679947398 , “If Trump is the nominee, the No Labels coalition certainly hurts the Democratic candidate on the ballot.” And Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, has written .. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/04/06/manchin-dreaming-president-00090568 .. in Politico that the No Labels candidate would be “most likely to help elect Trump.”
No Labels is offering an illusion, not a choice. At a time when our nation is being tested, this organization could help defeat a mainstream president and elect or reelect a radical and vindictive MAGA Republican. For the sake of our country, leaders across the political spectrum should call on No Labels to stand down
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/05/04/no-labels-third-party-bid-dangerous/
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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