The Mount Vernon Statement: EPIC FAIL

12/06/2010

Rome wasn’t built in a day. The organizers of the Mount Vernon Statement had better take that one to heart. Their effort to get 1 million Americans to sign their silly screed is going, to put it charitably, slowly.

Back in February, this reporter covered the embarrassing effort of the Beltway Bund to cobble together a statement of principles for conservatives. It was, of course, the usual boilerplate libertarian nonsense. Conservative rainmaker Richard Viguerie labeled the statement "an embarrassment," but then quickly signed on. The Tea Party was brewing, and the Mount Vernon men needed a new source of revenue. What better than to co-opt the budding populist movement to fund the dying conservative movement, which hasn’t moved much of anything since it blossomed during the Reagan Administration.

Anyway, the Mount Vernonites announced they wanted to get a million signatures. But as I reported in September,

When VDare published its piece on the Mount Vernon moonshine, the statement boasted 15,000 signers. Not bad, given that said signatories had affixed their John Hancocks in just a day or so. But checking in at the official Mount Vernon headquarters shows that very few Americans in general or Tea Partiers in particular are buying what the Mount Vernon merchants are selling.

As of today, the statement has just 44,500 signatures. Figuring that about 180 days have passed since the usual Beltway suspects unveiled their left-wing document, they managed, in the Internet Age in which millions of Tea Party Americans have instant access to sign 24-7-365, just 247 signatures per day. At that rate, the Mount Vernon mandarins can expect to reach 1 million signatures in about 15 years. More than a few of them will give up the ghost long before that.

Turns out I made a minor mistake in the math. It would have taken a mere 11 years to get to 1 million at that rate. Now however, two months later, with the enlistment rate having dropped to practically zero, they get to 1 million at about the time the eighth generation of Capt. James Tiberius Kirk’s descendants are hurtling toward Alpha Ceti V. (KHAAAAAAN!)

A check at the Mount Vernon signature page shows just 44,862 names, or just 362 more signatures since September, when VDare filed its last report. It’s been nearly 90 days since then, a whopping 4 signatures per day. At that rate, with just 955,138 signatures to go, it should take about 654 years to reach the target of 1 million. Target date? 2664.

Another smashing success for the "conservative movement."

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This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.