It is safe to say the GOP will not be missing this kind of brilliance.

It has been said that a Joe Biden victory was going to become the hardest result for the Never Trump faction in this country. Without the accursed Orange Scourge, as they called him for years, they have no other purpose. Well it appears these deep thinkers are coming to a realization that they are not about to be welcomed back into the fold of Conservatives.

Member of The Lincoln Project Steve Schmidt just announced he is registering as a Democrat, provoking yawns across the country. Now comes Bulwark fixture Admiral Bill Kristol with his cagey idea – since he appears to currently be without a tribe he has a thought to form a third party. Based on the results of his proposal this will go swimmingly.

No one's asked me, but I'm kind of in favor of having the owl as the animal symbol of our new (admittedly not-yet-existing) centrist party. https://t.co/911kXUhbDw

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 15, 2020

Fine work right out of the gate, as he links to a page that no longer exists. But Bill has only started with the fumbling. After finding the pic he wanted — a stirring image of…an owl, just sitting on a branch — Bill ran into his next challenge in forming a peaceful, centrist, problem-solving political alternative. As someone alerted him later in the day, there was already an owl employed politically as a symbol, and Bill may not want to be associated with it.

There was an Owl party in Washington State. They were mostly a satire, but they got on the ballot in 1976 when I voted. I remember some of the candidates nicknames even now. https://t.co/3Afa5PxEAE

— Greg Sergienko (@GregSergienko) December 15, 2020

The reason that they chose the owl back then was as a commentary about politics, as it was the acronym for Out With Logic. Very fitting for Kristol’s endeavor here, but not one he would care to embrace. By late afternoon Bill was already wavering on his new venture.

Or maybe hold off on a not-yet-existing third party and pretty much be centrist Democrats for a while, and try to help the Biden Administration? 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️
It's kind of important for the country they succeed.
And our tendency or faction or grouping could still be be pro-owl. 🦉🦉🦉 https://t.co/W5JfQeq5ih

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 15, 2020

Not even 8 hours elapsed before Bill abandons his idea. He still seems attached to the concept, and holds a glimmer of hope as he is just waiting for people to rise up with energy and support his new cause. Few did so with any energy.

As Bill vacillated he only went on to sound more confusing. His proposed party would be a hybrid of Republican-Democratic ideals, with a mixture of ill-defined principles from both, since the whole idea of a third party is that the other choices are not worthwhile. So naturally he will incorporate elements of both failed systems…?

I guess we could call ourselves Democratic-Republicans?
1. We’re Republicans or ex-Republicans who are pro-democracy.
2. We want to advance what’s best in both existing parties.
3. The original Democratic-Republican Party was founded by Jefferson and Madison, and was successful. https://t.co/L0ZgKwXEBV

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 16, 2020

By this point Bill has lost the focus. He went off on a tangent about how many ideas are formed in coffee shops…for some reason.

FYI, and giving credit where it’s due: I think it was @Kasparov63 who suggested this name a couple of years ago in an Upper West Side coffee shop.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 16, 2020

Also FYI: Many fine organizations, institutions, and conspiracies have originated in Upper West Side coffee shops.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 16, 2020

No, none of these groups has started in Upper EAST Side “cafes.”

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 16, 2020

Um, so have we just abandoned the whole Owl concept? Is that no longer a thing? By now we are not even sure what is happening, or if anything is actually happening. It just seems like his new party may, or may not, be starting in a Starbucks somewhere in New York, and possibly has owls involved — or it doesn’t.

Kristol sort of wrapped things on his new proposal by reverting back to his current endeavors, a sign that he probably is dropping the whole idea while insisting that he is still doing valid work.

No, those of us—@SarahLongwell25, @JVLast & others—who started @democracydefend & @RVAT2020 & @BulwarkOnline did not do so on the Upper West Side of NYC. Our work usually took place at the Madison Hotel bar in D.C. (And let’s not slight @Timodc and Bay Area hipster coffee shops.)

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) December 16, 2020

Here’s the thing, Bill — maybe you should have first called your quorum with these like-minded souls and tabled your new bird idea with them. This sounds like an enterprise that requires a few differing viewpoints in order to mold a cogent game plan and develop a selling strategy to build up a new coalition.

Chances are things could have been fleshed out better before bringing your idea to the masses, instead of brainstorming on social media and coming off sounding like the town lush who sits in the local tavern, muttering and shouting about owls and Trump as you sit at a small table in a dark corner while the waitress tentatively delivers the next can of Truly pomegranate crystal seltzer.

One thing we can be assured about, the conservatives are comfortable this idea man is nesting in other trees today.