[Above: Joe Lieberman, 2008, in happier times. -- eds.]

Traitor Joe cannot find anyone to play his rat-eff’ing games:

No Labels is still working to find its dream third-party presidential ticket for 2024 — but there’s a hitch: It keeps getting turned down.

Well, maybe if Traitor Joe gets enough states on-board, the wannabe candidates will come out of the woodwork, and… what’s that, you say?

The deep-pocketed centrist group once envisioned a vigorous public competition to join its ticket, which it planned to put on the ballot in all 50 states. Instead, it has been spurned by at least a dozen prominent figures from across the ideological spectrum and secured ballot access in just 17 states so far, despite having said it hoped to be on 27 state ballots by the end of last year.

Well, what about recruiting some name-brand maniac to lead the ticket, some egoist with unbounded delusions of grandeur? Other than Lord Damp Nut, I mean.

Among the Republicans who have said no after approaches from the group: former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, according to public statements and sources familiar with their responses. The group was still trying to lure Sununu to the ticket within the last two weeks as Sununu, an avowed critic of former President Donald Trump, fell in line behind Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee.

Oh.

What about some Democrat to take the top spot instead?

On the Democratic side, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick declined No Labels’ entreaties, as did Democratic-turned-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. The group also engaged with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

If No Candidates cannot get the Manchenima —both of whom love being spoilers— what chance is there that they can get anyone to eff the ol’ rat?

No Candidates is doing a lot of magical thinking, and they do not seem to understand the problem that they are attempting to solve. The prznint is not the gridlock problem, both houses of Congress is usually where the drain gets clogged. Having an independent prznint only means that no one would be inclined to listen to what s/he wants, and the disfunction will continue.

Or maybe the problem they are trying to solve is that Traitor Joe wants to be relevant, and he really Really REALLY wants to eff-over the Democrats.

Republished with permission from Mock Paper Scissors.