Third party: Johnson fails to secure Libertarian nomination on first ballot

JUST IN: Johnson fails to secure Libertarian nomination on first ballot https://t.co/P8cdoDNTkG pic.twitter.com/NQbKfbHWpD

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 29, 2016

Guy you've never heard of in a difficult political struggle against another guy you've never heard of!!! - Every tweet from LibertarianCon

— el ¡Soopèr! ن (@SooperMexican) May 29, 2016

Hard to overstate how badly the Libertarian Party folks squandered a gigantic opportunity by nominating Gary Johnson.

— Andrew Quinn (@AndrewCQuinn) May 29, 2016

‘The Spine of a Worm, the Ethics of Whores and the Integrity of Pirates’: Read Glenn Beck’s Brutal Open Letter to Karl Rove and the GOP

◼ Think Glenn Beck will take criticism from Karl Rove lying down? - Zach Noble/The Blaze

Beck made waves through the media when he declared, ◼ “I’m out [of the Republican Party]” on Wednesday, prompting GOP strategist Rove to offer a ◼ dismissive farewell on Fox News Friday night.

Beck’s response came fast and furious on Facebook mere hours later, very early Saturday morning.

“You want to rumble [R]ove?” Beck asked in his scathing response. “Come on to my show and let’s have it out. Bring it on. I would love to take you on WITH YOUR RECORD AND THE RECORD OF THE GOP. I could do it with my eyes closed and in a coma.”

Beck hammered Rove for the GOP’s mixed record on immigration, healthcare and the NSA’s abuse of power, writing, “If you don’t think that the republicans are progressive light then you don’t know the History of the movement started by [T]eddy Roosevelt and the GOP.”

Beck also slammed Rove for the Republican Party’s failure to achieve meaningful conservative change when the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House were all in Republican hands in the mid-2000s.

“You guys have the spine of a worm, the ethics of whores and the integrity of pirates,” Beck wrote. “(My apologies to worms, whores and pirates.)”

But Beck also held out the hope that Rove and the GOP could change.

THE LIBERTARIAN ERA?

◼ I had no idea there was an actual movement of thinking people who want to honor the principles of the Founders — liberty and limited government. It took me a long time to wake up. - John Stossel/Human Events

Now more Americans have woken up, say Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie, editors of Reason magazine.

“Poll after poll show you that Americans are much more fiscally conservative than their elected representatives,” says Welch. “A majority of Americans thinks that we should balance the budget. Seventy-five percent think that we should not raise the debt ceiling … Growing majorities — especially young people — are more socially tolerant. They think that we should legalize marijuana … they’re in favor of gay marriage.”

Gillespie argues that some of the change comes from people seeing how the private sector offers us more options that we like, while government fails.

“The 21st century has been a demonstration project of how Republicans and conservatives screw things up, under the Bush years, and now we have the Obama version — the liberal Democrat version of screwing everything up … you go to Amazon.com, you have a good experience and you get all sorts of interesting stuff. When you go to a government website, not so much.”

It changes minds, they argue, when people see this is a strong pattern, not just the result of isolated mistakes unique to Obamacare or another specific government project.

Read This If You Believe Your Candidate Lost Due to Third-Party Voters

◼ So it turns out Terry McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli were able to draw away enough votes to keep Robert Sarvis from winning Virginia’s governor’s race. I hope the folks who put those guys on the ballot are happy. - Scott Shackford/Reason.com

...here are some tips from a typical third-party voter to major party movers and shakers who are trying to figure out how to approach us....

We don’t like your candidate.
You need to make an actual case for your candidate.
Don’t presume to tell us what we believe.
No really, don’t pull this blue versus red crap on us.
Respect that voters determine their own political priorities.

....I have read a number of folks lamenting that voters turned against Cuccinelli on these “social issues.” The outcome of such a complaint is giving the voter the impression that you don’t care about or don’t respect their personal priorities when choosing a candidate. If that’s the case, how can you ever expect them to vote for yours?

◼ ‘F*cking clown car’: Comedian Stephen Kruiser destroys ‘GOP moderati’ in brutal rant - Twitchy (warning: strong language)

◼ Establishment GOP vs Grassroots: Civil War or Growing Pains? - Stephen Kruiser/Freedom Works

...I will concede that, yes, the establishment dinosaurs do have a knack for winning elections. However, the gaps in between those victories tend not to be filled with much to crow about unless you're a fan of things like the Department of Homeland Security, Medicare expansion or being part of a team that's only won the popular vote in a presidential election once in twenty five years.

A school of thought is emerging amongst us extremists that it might be rather refreshing if they applied some of that ability to battle and prevail over Democrats in elections to the legislative process.

So a schism is erupting that sees one side yelling, "Hey, we win elections and stuff!" and the other side responding, "Yeah, but you're kind of hosing us once you do!" ...

The Conservative War on the GOP

◼ What was once an uneasy alliance between Tea Partiers and Republican loyalists is increasingly marked by hostility—and many on the right now want a divorce. The Atlantic

On his radio show recently, Glenn Beck urged his listeners to “defund the GOP.” Sarah Palin has threatened to leave the Republican Party; Rush Limbaugh calls it “irrelevant.” The Senate Conservatives Fund has targeted mainly incumbent Republican senators for defeat. Erick Erickson, one of the right’s most prominent commentators, wonders if what's coming is “a real third party movement that will fully divide the Republican Party.”

Conservatives have declared war on the GOP.

Tired of feeling taken for granted by a party that alternately panders to them and sells them down the river, in their view, Tea Partiers and others on the right are in revolt. The Republican Party itself is increasingly the focus of their anger, particularly after Wednesday's deal to reopen the government, which many on the right opposed. Now, many are threatening to take their business elsewhere.

“Conservatives are either going to split [from the GOP] or stay home,” Erickson, the influential editor of RedState.com and a Fox News contributor, told me. “They’ll first expend energy in primaries, but if unsuccessful, they’ll bolt.”

...In the Tea Partiers’ view, the clueless establishment hasn’t yet internalized the seriousness of the threat to its supremacy. The grassroots has taken control, and it will have its way or secede. “This is where the wind is blowing,” Deace said. “I don’t think you can put Humpty Dumpty back together again. People like me are not just taking marching orders anymore—they actually want something in return for a vote.”

It will not be possible, Deace predicted, for the two factions to coexist. “This is going to end in divorce,” he said. “One side is going to win control, one side is going to lose, and the losing side will go do something else. There will not be a reunification.”

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said on Saturday that if Republicans abandon conservatives, conservatives may have to consider leaving the Republican Party.

◼ Palin was responding on Fox News to a question from a viewer, Josh Painter, who asked if she and conservative talk radio host Mark Levin would be willing to form a "Freedom Party" if the GOP continues to let down conservatives. - Tony Lee/Breitbart

"I love the name of that party," Palin said on Fox News on Saturday. "If the GOP continues to back away from the planks in our platform, from the principles that built this party of Lincoln and of Reagan, then, yeah, more and more of us are going to start saying, 'You know, what's wrong with being independent?'"

Palin said that if Republicans vote for things like amnesty, "there will be a lot of us who start saying, 'GOP, if you abandon us, we have nowhere else to go except to become more independent and not enlisted in one or the other private majority parties that rule in our nation.'"

Bill Whittle Makes Appeal Against Protest Votes

GARY JOHNSON WINS LIBERTARIAN PARTY NOMINATION

◼ Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is campaigning to win the White House as a Libertarian after receiving scant attention in the Republican presidential race - (The Blaze/AP)

Johnson easily became the party’s presidential nominee at the Libertarian national convention in Las Vegas on Saturday. He hopes to appeal to voters fed up with the traditional two-party system this November.

Johnson was a longshot candidate for the Republican presidential nomination when he announced in December that he would instead pursue the Libertarian ticket.

◼ Anarchy at the Libertarian Party Convention - Reason.com

Long-shot GOP presidential candidate Gary Johnson says he won't give up

◼ "I think the Republican National Committee has hung me out to dry," he said. "I'm angry. Really angry." - St. Petersburg Times

(T)he wildly popular former two-term governor of New Mexico, who lost part of his toe to frostbite climbing Mount Everest on a broken leg, has been excluded from 15 of 17 presidential debates.

The 58 year old who was elected governor in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1 has virtually disappeared from major political polling. The governor who got rid of 1,200 state employees, vetoed 750 bills and left New Mexico with a billion-dollar budget surplus is not Republican enough for the GOP.

"They won't return my calls," he said.

◼ Report: Gov. Gary Johnson (R-NM) May Announce Switch to Libertarian Party - Mike LaRoche at Gateway Pundit