I support Mike Pence as an Independent

Politics & Elections
41

While this may not be directly responsive to the OP, I feel like it’s worth asking here.

Has anybody ever seen any proof that Mike Pence is NOT just powered by an early, buggy, and long-discarded version of AI.

Maybe a Disney animatronics product gone horribly awry?

The D’s backed some of the worst of the deplorables from the R side in 2022 primary races. It was calculated and strategic, betting that there WAS a line that the RWNJs wouldn’t cross. Somehow, it seems to have worked, no?

But voting strategically – not that any run by Pence would succeed, but – is a risky proposition.

And what if he gets caught in the rain, and shorts out??? What then?

42

As would be appropriate. It is the approved method of disposing of a flag that’s been befouled with filth (and I can think of few more egregious examples of such a thing than legislating a flag-burning ban).

43

No worries, the hair is actually a waterproof cap.

44

Are you sure you aren’t thinking about Al Gore(-Tex)?

[okay. done.]

45

Ivory is the only way to go.

46

:sheep: :white_medium_small_square: :chains: :fog: :rooster: :dotted_line_face: :tooth: :white_heart: :bubbles:

How to encode Mike Pence into emoji.

47

In “definitely not running as an independent” news of the week, Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence just happened to run into each other at the type of Mom and Pop fast food place that they definitely eat at all the time… in Iowa. Neither is a declared candidate for 2024.

48

Pence will do anything we want once he realizes who is in charge.

49

Holy shit that is as much “uncomfortable” as I can take for the rest of my life.

50

I’d be terrified of Mike Pence running as an independent… because it is just as likely to hurt Democratic votes as Republican votes. For each “RINO” voter that holds their noses and votes for Trump because anything is better than a Democrat but still hate who Trump is, there is at least an equal number of new hyper-conservative Democrats who are voting (D) because they so desperately hate what Trump stands for. Given a choice to vote for a presumable sane, non-animatronic ‘traditional’ Republican type, and they may well vote for them - especially in narrowly divided states.

51

Yes, were this to be a serious proposal that would be a consideration.

Many studies show that so-called independents actually lean heavily toward one party or the other and are not much different from self-identified party members in their beliefs. That is probably a major reason why third party candidates get so few votes.

How the situation would play out in this imaginary case is totally unknown. We know nothing about the political, economic, and world situations next year, nor even who the cast of characters will finally be. There’s never been such an unforeseeable campaign in my lifetime. All commentary on the 2024 election is gameplay.

52

Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were seriously proposing this in the OP, I fully got the tongue-in-cheek nature of it, thus my adding “non-animatronic” proviso from when @DavidNRockies wanted to play along!

53

After some people continued to take me seriously after “Bwa-ha-ha-ha” I laid down and cried.

So when this became a serious discussion of Pence’s possibilities I lost track of reality.

In the present state of journalistic breathlessness, Pence is one day a critic of Trump, one day attached to Trump’s ass, and one day off in a cloud, probably admiring his reflection in the whiteness. He is Schrödinger’s Politician. No one can tell what position he will be in when he is finally observed.

The voters are in an equal bind. A recent poll found that 20% of Democrats prefer announced Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. As RFK, Jr. is both a nutball and an antivaxxer, making him an enemy of humanity, I went back to my bed of tears, perking up when I realized that most of those surveyed were reacting out of either sheer name recognition or just anybody-but-Bidenitis. Do the majority of people who are not political junkies have any idea of Kennedy’s views? I think not.

I gave above the consequences of even the tiniest amounts of third party voting in an otherwise extremely close race. I think third parties, named or independents, will have an impact in 2024. Predictions are that more than $10 billion will be spent. So many billionaires dabble in politics today that some won’t want to be just one of many; they’ll want a candidate who is beholden to them and therefore is controllable, at least behind the scenes. Several extra parties seem inevitable.

The Forward Party seems to be a joke, yet has announced it wants ballot slots in all 50 states. Again, as I said above, that’s easily achieved. Money has powers, least among them the ability to hire squads of petitioners. What billionaire Yang can do, so can others. Can Elon Musk resist such headlines? Or ten people you’ve never heard of but who have $100 billion among them?

I don’t know. I do have the past to go on, not for predictions of outcomes, but for the predilections of the wealthy and power-hungry. My sense is that this most challengable of elections will accrue challengers. All I want is for them to take more votes away from the Republican candidate than the Democrat.

54

As I said in another thread, the best Mike Pence could realistically hope for is a gig leading the Heritage Foundation or some other conservative think tank. His days in electoral politics came to an end the moment he decided to defy the Orange One. But an organization seeking a respectable-looking, dyed-in-the-wool conservative idealogue with plenty of connections in the evangelical sphere and the Republican donor class can do far worse than Mike Pence.

55

Half a can of Coors Light?

56

I had a fun thought based off this.

What if DeSantis really is animatronic? Disney built him to be a mindless compliant figurehead robot and now he’s gone mindless rogue and has turned on them, implacably intent on destroying his creator. With the same shuffling gait, dull speaking manner, & capacity for mindless violence of Shelley’s creation.

He’s an Igerstein’s Monster. :grin:

57

It’s almost certain to happen as you hope, partly because small new parties historically have greater difficulty gaining ballot access than you fear. Pence would have some money but be starting from zero.

The only third party that got 50 state access in 2020 was the Libertarian Party, and they have been since captured by the hard right.

In 2020, the libertarians got about 4 1/2 times the vote as the only other party to be on the ballot in most states, the greens.

The only other party sure to be on the ballot in many states may be the far-right Constitution Party.

Third parties, on balance, help the Democrats — although not as much as the electoral college lately helps the GOP.

58

Well, about that ‘supporting Mike Pence’ idea…

59

He was a massive hypocrite-Christian for siding with Trump, but I obviously prefer him over Trump as president. I disagree tremendously on issues, but I don’t think he would destroy the country or commit fraud to steal the election, etc.

He does, I think, admit they lost the election? I mean, he showed up to Biden’s inauguration.

He should run as an independent as a Christian candidate. There are basically no Christians in the mix, assuming you don’t actually think Trump or Desantis are Christians, which they don’t…uh, seem to be. I mean, definitely not Trump.

60

What makes you sure they’d rally behind him?