'No Labels' Assholes: Criminal Lunatic Fascist Or Joe Biden, Are They The Same?

You'd think Joe Lieberman would remember about 'spoiler'.

Susan Sarandon is apparently the Big Bad in the upcoming Blue Beetle movie, which might seem perfect casting for many Hillary Clinton supporters, but she's not the greatest threat facing Democrats in 2024. Neither is Jill Stein, nor Ralph Nader. No, it's the centrist group No Labels. This is the same organization that called the January 6 Commission a "partisan exercise," which is both untrue and a right-wing talking point (though that's probably redundant).

PREVIOUSLY:

 'No Labels' Knows Who To Run For President, Stop Laughing It Is Joe Manchin 

 'No Labels' Is Worst Ever Non-Political-Party Political Party 

Former Senator and public option assassin Joe Lieberman, who was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000, should probably appreciate the risks of a third-party candidacy in a close presidential race, but he attended a meeting last week plotting how to get No Labels on the presidential ballot in all 50 states in 2024. No Labels considers this an "insurance policy" against the two major parties, one of which supports democracy and the other has Marjorie Taylor Greene, nominating "unacceptable" candidates for president.

First place, the Democratic nominee next year is President Joe Biden. No one is seriously challenging him for the nomination, though he might generously show up for an early debate and laugh at Marianne Williamson before she drops out. Lieberman and his No Labels buddies should love Biden, who says nice things on occasion about Mitch McConnell and, more importantly, promotes and successfully passes bipartisan legislation. Instead, they're acting as if we elected Elizabeth Warren's hippie sister. There's no pleasing some people.

 www.youtube.com 

Lieberman, who's the absolute worst, wouldn't tell the Washington Post if he considers Biden, his former Senate colleague, "acceptable" or not. Instead, he's using our democracy as leverage for his bland policy preferences.

“No decision has been made on any of that. But we’re putting ourselves in a position,” Lieberman said. “You know, it might be that we will take our common-sense, moderate, independent platform to him and the Republican candidate and see which one of them is willing to commit to it. And that could lead to, in my opinion, a No Labels endorsement.”

No Republican alive is going to commit to a "common-sense, moderate, independent platform." The Republican nominee next year is either an indicted fascist or an un-indicted fascist. Lieberman isn't a serious person, but No Labels is a serious problem. Sunday, the group tweeted that its own poll from December showed that "69 percent of registered voters don't want Biden to run for president in 2024. Sixty-two percent don't want Donald Trump to run. More recent polls show an even greater share of Americans who don't want a 2020 rematch." You'd think that people who boast about their own "common sense" would have enough to realize that a Biden/Trump rematch is the most likely outcome and Biden is preferable in every possible way to Trump. Period. This isn't difficult.

“No Labels’ December 2022 poll shows 69% of registered voters don’t want Joe Biden to run for president in 2024. 62% don’t want Donald Trump to run. More recent polls show an even greater share of Americans who don’t want a 2020 rematch. Read more at https: //t.co/pl0YsrL01Y”

— No Labels (@No Labels) 1680462545 

 No Labels dropped an ad Wednesday that described both Trump and Biden as "historically unpopular," which willfully ignores that Trump is unpopular because he's a fascist criminal. Biden is the victim of a right-wing propaganda onslaught. There's a difference, and No Labels should damn well know it.

Both Matt Bennett of the centrist Democratic Third Way and Adam Greene of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee agree that No Labels is setting itself up as a 2024 spoiler that could very well help elect Trump again. No Labels has already raised $70 million and gained ballot access in Colorado, Alaska, Oregon, and more perilously Arizona, where it's speculated that Kyrsten Sinema from the Sinema Party might run for re-election on the No Labels ballot line.

It's unclear who's willingly donating money to an organization that involves Joe Lieberman, and No Labels won't reveal its donors, despite insisting it wants to restore "trust" in our institutions. William Galston, a Brookings Institution policy scholar who helped found No Labels, has publicly split with the group because he can't support its "preparation for a possible independent presidential candidacy."

"There is no equivalence between President Biden and a former president who threatens the survival of our constitutional order," he said. "And most important, in today’s closely divided politics, any division of the anti-Trump vote would open the door to his re-election.”

Any one with "common sense" would understand that, but it's possible that the No Labels backers aren't simply stupid. They might know exactly what they're doing. Republican rule, even under Trump, is seen by some as more "business-friendly" than Biden's administration, which thinks poor kids should have free school lunch and that we should address the climate crisis. A third-party spoiler candidacy would put Trump back in office while leaving certain people's hands clean. They'd then blame Biden and Democrats for going too "woke." Gotta keep those tax rates low. It's not like it's the end of the world or anything.

[ Washington Post ]

  Follow Stephen Robinson on  Twitter if it still exists.  

Catch SER on his new podcast, The Play Typer Guy. 

Did you know SER has his own YouTube Channel? Well, now you do, so go subscribe right now!

Click the widget to keep your Wonkette ad-free and feisty.