No Way, No How, No Labels?

Bayh on Morning Joe, now (4.00 / 1)

Pitching No Labels. He reminds me of Mitt Romney.

"After careful consideration, I have concluded that the appropriate decision is not to be a candidate for governor of Indiana in 2012," Bayh said in a statement released to the Fix. ""The principle reason for my decision is the welfare of my twin sons."

I'm okay with ending up in the middle. Starting there?

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 12:54:23 PM UTC

Undecided on No Labels. (4.00 / 2)

If the idea is to literally get rid of labels and present ideas to the American public on their own merit, without the associated stigma of a reviled party, then I'm all for it.

If the idea is to get the folks that the tea party preys on and draws from to realize that genuinely moderate ideas and ideals are good and sensible and patriotic things that they actually kinda agree with, come to think of it, and that there are some ideas that just plain make sense to honest Americans when they're presented without the divisive brand names of party and ideology, then I'm all for it.

But if the idea is to say to those same people that, yeah, the Democratic Party is just too far out there for regular Americans, but really, the Republican Party is just as bad, and responsible Americans will take a position somewhere between the two, or drawing equally from the two, then I'm -- well, no, then I'm still for it, tactically, as a means of prying haters away from the blinders and shackles of Fox News/GOP idolatry, and toward being able to accept rational solutions to America's real problems.

But if the "No Labels" folks really believe the latter argument, and want to persuade America as a whole that sensible, level-headed Americans naturally stand halfway between the well-thought-out, reality-grounded, difficult-compromises policies of the mainstream Democratic Party and the rigid, greed/bigotry/fantasy-based, extremist demands of the mainstream so-called "conservative" Republican Party, then hell, no, I'm agin it.

And if the idea is to create a groundswell for Mayor Quitty McNothingburger Evan Bayh of Plasticville -- forget it.

But I'm not ready, or sufficiently informed, to dismiss the "No Labels" venture as wrong-headed, ill-intentioned or damaging.

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by: Tim C. @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 18:51:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well put (4.00 / 1)

For me, Bayh is a bigger tarnish than Bloomberg. It's not that Bayh is a bad person, it's just that I don't believe a word he says.

I recognize, intellectually, that this is an unfair position for me to hold. But until he proves otherwise, I just won't trust Bayh. His behavior consistently points to him serving only one greater good -- himself.

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by: JimC @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 19:23:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Mittevan Romnebayh n/t (0.00 / 0)

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 19:51:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Good thoughts, Tim. (0.00 / 0)

I think you hit the nail on the label with #3, and the movement is designed to hold the center of a status quo arrangement.  Ironically, their website implies that if you do not agree with the No Labels agenda you're not sufficiently patriotic or independent enough.  You're a hyper-partisan and have been brainwashed!  Blechhhhhh.

There is some common ground between the Tea Party agenda and the "radical left" (yesterday's traditional Democrat) including government power abuse and the cozy relationship between corporate America and public policy development.  What better way to isolate those voices than with a very serious group of centrists (founders are DLCers) who highlight how everyone else is getting it wrong.

In the immediate aftermath of Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fed/Treasury lent, spent, or guaranteed $28 $29 trillion to save the banking system.

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by: StraffordDem @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 20:03:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Nice, but you left out (0.00 / 0)

the likeliest explanation - that this is just inexpensive fertilizer in case Bloomberg decides he wants to be president.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

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by: Dean Barker @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 23:52:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Occam's Razor? n/t (0.00 / 0)

In the immediate aftermath of Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fed/Treasury lent, spent, or guaranteed $28 $29 trillion to save the banking system.

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by: StraffordDem @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 23:59:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Maybe Bloomberg will : (4.00 / 1)

a. 'change his mind' and run, or,
b. bankroll Evan Bayh with gazillions in 'independent' expenditures. (Ugh).
c. amuse himself by spending pocket change to stay on TV.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 13:35:55 PM UTC

last I knew... (4.00 / 2)

Bayh still has over ten million in his account.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

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by: Ray Buckley @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 15:41:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Perhaps Bloomberg is waiting, like Eisenhower, to be (0.00 / 0)

recruited.  

Candidates "running" like race horses, foxes or rabbits are not an attractive concept, regardless of how much the media benefit from touting and officiating the event.

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by: hannah @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 20:34:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No chance (0.00 / 0)

n/t

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by: JimC @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 14:59:15 PM UTC

Being affiliated with Lieberman (4.00 / 3)

will cause them to be labeled - and not attractively.  

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by: susanthe @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 15:53:12 PM UTC

is this our Bayh week? n/t (4.00 / 4)

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 15:54:13 PM UTC

Neville C. (4.00 / 1)

Did the Republicans cave when the Democrats gave them a shellacking in 2006 and 2008? No they stood and fought.

Playing nice may indeed be what we tell out school children. But politics ain't beanbags (source??).

Churchill defined an appeaser as one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last.The No Labels politicians are purely self-serving, principles easily jettisoned like so much excess baggage.

No Labels is celebrating the surrender of our principles. They are of course free to form their own party. But they are not Democrats.  

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 16:04:58 PM UTC

They moved to the right, not the center. n/t (0.00 / 0)

In the immediate aftermath of Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fed/Treasury lent, spent, or guaranteed $28 $29 trillion to save the banking system.

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by: StraffordDem @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 16:18:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I Think (0.00 / 0)

you need to get that across to the national leadership!

Sure, I voted for less government and less government spending...just NOT the parts that I benefit from!

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by: Ref @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 17:27:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No name... No label = No character...No passion... No cause... No constituents (4.00 / 2)

   

""Hope is the dream of a soul awake.""

/French Proverb quotes.

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by: susaninrindge @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 19:18:01 PM UTC

Maybe I'm just naturally suspicious... (4.00 / 6)

But they remind me of the Tea Party - a few rich people with their own agenda trying to convince a bunch of disaffected low information voters to join a group that doesn't have their best interests at heart. Besides, No Labels includes some of my least favorite people - Joe Scarborough, Evan Bayh, Joe Lieberman, David Brooks,David Frum, Mark Penn, and a few other people (Bloomberg and Crist)who want to do away with political parties because they want to run but know they can't get through a party primary. The only goal I could find on their website was the abolition of party primaries.

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by: Lenore Patton @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 21:08:08 PM UTC

Kinda self-defeating - (4.00 / 3)

When I see Holy Joe on the podium, several labels occur to me.

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by: elwood @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 23:44:15 PM UTC

History can sometimes be quite elegant. (0.00 / 0)

We've seen these guys before.  At least once.

In the immediate aftermath of Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fed/Treasury lent, spent, or guaranteed $28 $29 trillion to save the banking system.

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by: StraffordDem @ Mon Dec 13, 2010 at 23:52:00 PM UTC

In 'a New Way of Looking,' Something Familiar (4.00 / 2)

Plagiarism is not the best form of flattery, flattery is. The No Lables logo was stolen, or as we say, 'knocked off'.
I've been in and around the lable business for years, and I know no labels...

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes....
December 13, 2010, 6:13 pm
In 'a New Way of Looking,' Something Familiar
By ANDY NEWMAN

Updated, 6:46 p.m. | The newly formed national political organization called No Labels should have perhaps followed the advice of its own name.

The group, which proposes "a new way of looking at politics" to get past partisan gridlock and which recruited Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and other luminaries to speak at its opening today, has also unveiled its Web site. It includes a grabby graphic of a menagerie of animals - giraffes, seals, dogs, butterflies, moose, hippopotami - that are blue on top and red on bottom like the standard Democrat donkey and Republican elephant
If the graphic looks familiar, that's because it bears a very, very striking resemblance to one that is at least five years old - and belongs to someone else. The older graphic was created by the designer Thomas Porostocky and included in a book compiled by the graphic artist Milton Glaser titled "The Design of Dissent." Since 2008, Mr. Porostocky has been using it as the logo of his own political organization, More Party Animals, the mission of which is also to encourage the development of alternatives to Republican and Democrat.

bolding mine

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Dec 14, 2010 at 05:05:58 AM UTC

spelling mine (4.00 / 1)

Lables? No, it's labels dammit. That's why I never worked without staff, I can't type and spell at the same time.

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Dec 14, 2010 at 13:51:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]