If you were familiar with American ideological currents in 2008, the polarization and partisan rancor of the Obama years came as at most a small surprise. Democrats and Republicans had sorted into liberal and conservative parties, the former of which had been handed a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand the social contracts of the New Deal and Great Society, the latter of which was committed to retrenching the liberal gains that took root in those eras. To the extent that Republicans alienated their own voters over the past decade by serving donor interests over those of their increasingly working class base, they weren’t inviting a schism so much as they were risking the possibility that dormant factions of the American right would arise and pull the party in a different direction. And, of course, if the Republican Party does fully crack up, the result won’t be a “third way” party, but two distinct parties of the white-bread American right.

Nevertheless, many, many established journalists have interpreted the vitriol both within the GOP and between the two parties as a harbinger of a third-party rebellion, specifically one that bears striking resemblance to Vandehei’s vision.

There are many things in the political waters of Washington, D.C. and New York that promote this kind of thinking. Affluence (with an attendant interest in fiscal consolidation) and cosmopolitanism (with its socially liberal cultural values) are two obvious sources. But the professional mores of political journalism seem to be a significant contributor as well.

There is a strong industry bias against considering grand ideological context when reporting on partisan dysfunction that is, at its core, an outgrowth of ideological conflict. To take heed of such context invites the risk that value judgments will seep into the journalistic output. It is much more common, for instance, to see President Obama and House Speaker Paul Ryan described as manifestations of their own carefully crafted political personas (cerebral; wonky) rather than as heirs of distinct political lineages. It isn’t wrong or biased to say Ryan is the latest in a series of conservative political leaders who espouse libertarian economic doctrines that would distribute income up the pay scale; or that Obama, like many liberals, believes that there should be more downward income distribution, and that it should be accomplished through existing economic institutions. Those two descriptions leave little doubt as to why Republicans have resisted Obama’s presidency so aggressively, but they also invite reporters and readers to render judgments and even empirical conclusions that can be dismissed as biased—such as, for another instance, the fact that supply side income tax cuts increase deficits and exacerbate inequality.

Ideological blinders are a key part of the industry’s work attire. They give rise to the fundamental attribution errors that Vandehei and others make when they ascribe political fractiousness entirely to partisan ossification and personal failure, rather than to two parties attempting, however imperfectly, to advance the interests of their supporters (and, yes, donors) in ways that align with their worldviews. It’s also the source of the presumption that their particular species of third-partyism isn’t, in and of itself, ideological, and that it would thus serve a huge unmet need among voters who are tired of gridlock. But this, too, is mistaken.

Almost five years ago, Vandehei and his Politico colleague Mike Allen used the same assumptions as the premise of an online poll. “The public has had it with Washington and conventional politics,” they wrote. “It has lost trust and respect in the conventional governing class. There is mounting evidence voters don’t see President Barack Obama or the current crop of GOP candidates as the clear and easy solution. As Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg argues, it seems likely if not inevitable an atmosphere this toxic and destabilized will produce an independent presidential candidate who could shake the political system.” They asked “readers on Politico, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as viewers of MSNBC’s Morning Joe,” to nominate people “in politics, business, or entertainment who could harness the public’s hunger for something new, different, and inspiring,” and then to vote on them.

The sample bias was amusingly intentional, designed to ferret out an archetypal No Labels-style “Innovation Party” politician, untethered to predictable partisan shibboleths. Hillary Clinton won.