Salon War Room: "The Unseriousness of 'No Labels'"

[Hissyspit]

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/12/14/no_labels_silliness/index.html

TUESDAY, DEC 14, 2010 08:30 ET
The unseriousness of "No Labels"
A bunch of conservative moderates demand that Americans shut up and civilly do what they want them to do
BY ALEX PAREENE

The anti-partisanship nonprofit political organization No Labels kicked off its nationwide campaign for civility yesterday with panel discussions featuring MSNBC pundit Joe Scarborough and a theme song composed and performed by R&B superstar and conflict diamond profiteer Akon. (You are invited to use the song to create a music video, if you're a complete weirdo.)

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As independence mascot Michael Bloomberg himself acknowledged at yesterday's event, the only thing standing in the way of the No Labels campaign for nonpartisan cooperation and civility is democracy. When he tried to push for nonpartisan elections in New York, both parties came together to attack his plan, in the sort of display of true bipartisanship that people always say they wish we had more of until it happens.

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No Labels is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that refuses to divulge its donors, but a couple of crazy-rich people have been mentioned, and considering that it's led by longtime Democratic fundraiser Nancy Jacobson and former Bush media guru Mark McKinnon, one can safely assume that the funders behind the organization are the usual gang of terribly wealthy coastal elites from the "Georgetown cocktail parties" and "Upper West Side penthouses" that everyone likes to complain about.

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The idle rich can be excused for fantasizing that they're smarter than everyone else. When times are good they can sometimes even convince voters. But times are not good right now, except for the insanely wealthy, and I can't imagine that much of the nation will be receptive to either the ripped-from-the-Democratic Leadership Council platform of No Labels or its calls for everyone to just shut the hell up and do what the Serious Centrists want. ("Compromise Begins with Extension of Bush Era Tax Cuts," according to the No Labels blog.)

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"It may take that kind of exogenous event, that kind of forcing event, to make it happen" again, Bayh said.

Only when America faces an existential threat can both parties put aside their differences and ... do horrible, horrible things like pass the USA Patriot Act, decide to topple the government of Iraq, and use billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out the institutions that caused the worst global financial meltdown in generations, thus consolidating even more money and power into even fewer and more systemically connected mega-banks.

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[PoliticAverse]

1. So these are people promoting the idea...

that there really is only one party effectively now and no labels are needed?...

[MattSh]

2. Sounds like as good an explanation as any... n/t