1. Jared Ball, independent journalist; radio host (WPFW 89.3 FM Pacifica Radio in Washington, D.C.), hip-hop scholar, assistant professor of communications studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.
2. Elaine Brown, 2005 Green candidate for Mayor of Brunswick, Ga.; former leader of the Black Panther Party; organizer of Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice and National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform.
3. Jesse Johnson (YouTube clip, not official website), 2006 US Senate candidate and 2004 gubernatorial candidate for the Mountain Party in West Virginia (now affiliate state party of the Green Party of the United States); filmmaker.
4. Kat Swift, Kat Swift, Texas Green organizer; former Campus Greens leader; activist with Clean Money San Antonio and San Antonio Democracy Now.
5. Kent Mesplay, 2004 candidate for the Green presidential nomination; former president of Turtle Island Institute; environmental engineer, alternative energy activist; California Green organizer.
6. Cynthia McKinney, former member of the US House of Representatives (Georgia), 1993 to 2003, 2005 to 2007; former member of the Georgia House of Representatives, 1988-1992.
7. Ralph Nader, 1996 and 2000 Green candidate for President; 2004 independent candidate for President; consumer advocate (Howie Hawkins of the Green Party of New York State has consented to serve as a 'placeholder' candidate until Mr. Nader announces his intentions for the 2008 election).
I’m going to offer my take, as a 2004 Green Party voter, and financial contributor once since then.
I’m going to start with the bottom two candidates on the list, intentionally put there by my precisely because they’re the only two known to non-Greens.
I doubt Nader will get the nomination, just as an official Green caucus denied him the 2004 nomination. However, I would be shocked if he actually harnesses his ego enough not to run an independent campaign.
Cynthia McKinney? Stereotypes and smears related to 9/11 aside, her temper, and sense of entitlement, do concern me. She also (and this coming from someone who doesn’t come close to supporting the Israel lobby) can flirt with the boundaries of something approaching anti-Semitism.
So, let’s look at the not-so-famous candidates.
I’ve already seen a copy of Brown’s platform. She tries to out-Sweden Sweden by calling for a $25/hour minimum wage. Given that, even for full-time employees, U.S. per capita income isn’t a lot more than that, and is a lot below that in the heartland, this isn’t close to realistic.
I have a bit of familiarity with Swift. Clean money is a good emphasis and I don’t see anything wrong with her.
Mesplay, with his background in alt-energy, has a strong “core Green” issue, and one of importance.
I know less about Ball (though a real journalist from Pacifica Radio can’t be too bad, IMO) or Johnson.
More info on all candidates is here.
4 comments:
Do you have some evidence you can share about McKinney's "temper and sense of entitlement" and her "flirt[ing] with the boundaries of something approaching anti-Semitism"?
Temper/sense of entitlement? Indeed. Her tiff with the Hill security guard shows both, IMO.
Flirting with the boundaries? It's been a while since I've read her comments when she was defeated for re-election the first time, but she at least pushed the envelope on "blaming Jews," IIRC.
McKinney was grabbed by a police officer and struck back, for which she later apologized. As a result of that one incident her temper and sense of entitlement -- in these days of high crimes by other politicians -- concern you. I would say that your sense of concern is improperly directed. McKinney has done a lot of positive things, including for the environment.
And why are you putting "blaming Jews" in quotes? Does this mean that it's not true? Did she or didn't she? Of course it's been a while since you've read the comments, so you might be confused. McKinney was actually defeated the first time because she had asked questions about the administration's failure to act on intelligence prior to 9/11, and so cross-over voting was used to defeat her in the primary. Similar situation the second time.
gad·fly: A persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.
First, did I say she hadn't done good things? No.
The anti-Semitism:
"On the night before the (2002) primary election, McKinney's father stated on Atlanta television that "Jews have bought everybody ... J-E-W-S" in the election, presumably referring to heavy contributions from supporters of Israel.[11]"
Yes, her father actually said it, but she didn't disavow it, I don't think. She has disavowed other anti-Semitic comments from her campaign, I'll allow.
Beyond that, she is a "9/11 truther" and a general conspiracy theorist. (Denies that James Earl Ray's rifle was the MLK murder weapon, for example.)
Now, not all 9/11 truthers believe in an Israeli connection, but some do.
The Capitol police officer? Grabbed her AFTER she refused to stop per his request.
I said in my original post that "she flirts with the boundaries of something approaching anti-Semitism." I still believe that.
She's also had other less than intellectually coherent statements. Her one about Al Gore and blacks comes to mind.
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