On July 9, the news leaked out that Cynthia McKinney’s choice for the Green Party vice-presidential nomination is Rosa Clemente, 35, of New York. See here for more about her. Zentronix blog says that the McKinney-Clemente ticket would be the first in U.S. history of two women of color. However, in 1992, the New Alliance Party ticket was Lenora Fulani and Maria Elizabeth Munoz. Also in 1996, the Workers World Party ticket was Monica Moorhead and Gloria La Riva.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this article about the McKinney campaign. Even though it was published on July 9, it doesn’t contain the news about Rosa Clemente. Instead it says the announcement about a vice-presidential candidate will come on July 11.
Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the news.
Oh great, yet another independent/ third party snapu! This vp wanna be add absolutely no balance, geography, or name recognition! Total waste!
If the Greens wanted balance, geography, or name recognition McKinney would be Nader’s running mate.
Groan. The Green Party is determined to run itself into the ground this year. I’ll bet they finish seventh in the popular vote. I hear taps playing faintly, off in the distance.
William D. Stevenson wrote: “Groan. The Green Party is determined to run itself into the ground this year. I’ll bet they finish seventh in the popular vote. I hear taps playing faintly, off in the distance.”
Nahhhh That’s Dandy Don Meredith groan “Turn out the lights the party’s over”
I expect a mutiny. California will get up and walkout of the convention and nominate Nader on their ballot line. The rest of the state Green Parties don’t have a pot to tinkle in or a window to through it out of. Nader will get enough of the popular vote to get federal matching funds and the Green Party structure in California. The Greens will fall off the ballot in most of the states and head off to Patagonia or any other TM Farm. I wonder if the Siloists will make a come back ?
Hey it is not just the alternative parties that are good for a laugh. Look what some of the seasoned ‘big boys’ are doing [like tripping over their own penises]!
THURSDAY NEWS UPDATE. http://www.politics1.com
JACKSON VS JACKSON (AND OBAMA); PREZ, US SEN & GOV POLLS; GREEN PARTY CONVENTION OPENS.
P2008. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson — a former two-time Presidential hopeful — caused a flap when an open microphone picked up some critical remarks Jackson made about Barack Obama. Referring to recent remarks Obama made in black churches about the need for people to take more moral responsibility in their lives, Jackson quietly whispered to a fellow TV show panelist “See, Barack’s been talking down to black people … I want to cut his nuts off.” An open FOX News mic captured the unguarded comments.
The Green Party is dead in Missouri except for one county where they are a ‘recognized’ political party.
Fulani had a couple of women run as her VP. Maria Munoz appears to be the best and brightest of them.
I’m sort of surprised by the amount of negativity in the comments above. Picking Clemente confirms the social-justice orientation of the campaign. McKinney is running a very different campaign than Nader is now or the Greens did before, but its very much in keeping with the values of the Greens.
The McKinney campaign will be more successful in some areas than in others, naturally. I think that its activist orientation will build local party structure in places like New York and Illinois. And thats a good thing.
Politics in a democracy is a popularity contest. This is not an opinion —it is a fact! In the general population less than one percent of the ‘man on the street’ remembers the P2004 Green ticket! And obviously few cared by election day.
Cranking out a loyal no name party activist FOR ANY ALTERNATIVE GROUP is one of the many roads to nowhere! For example, the Dems selected Joe Lieberman in P2000 mainly as a Jewish person. The groans came later when the politically astute recognized him as a Zionist Zealot!
How important is name recognition and brand naming in a populist campaign [be it candidates or corn flakes]? The sons of a failed president [Bush, Bush League]! The Rockefeller or Kennedy franchise? GMC spends millions on BRAND NAME research. Ford brought back the Mustang and Torus —the later plastered on the body of a less selling model! [the Focus?] Sad but true!
I’m not surprised, after all aren’t progressives known to assume the circular firing squad position,
Anytime it looks like there might be some actual progress?
Nader is running a fine Independent campaign, i applaud his efforts.
But my full support goes to the party that represents my values and guiding principles the best and that’s the GPUS, this is not blind support.
We have some amazing candidates to choose from, Kat Swift, Kent Mesplay, Jesse Johnson and my choice Cynthia McKinney, her choice for VP is an Amazingly wise move and is Exciting, for those not
familiar with Rosa Clemente, you’re the poorer for it! She’s as much a force for truth and justice as Cynthia is And is amazingly tuned into world affairs in relation to her people, especially Latin America.
The naysayers who’ve commented need to squarely be in Nader’s camp if they support him or on Fox News if they’re blending and regurgitating anything negative they can…*forewarned, that audience is dwindling so you better catch that wave soon!
For all the others out there who actually are looking for some serious inspiration and where the movement is! check out….
the second part of Our Ticket!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmBrj1PRgkU
Scott West put it best (rhyming unintentional). The middle aged white people I’ve seen & heard whining and moaning about “the direction the Green Party has taken,” whatever that means, are apparently utterly clueless when it comes to the surprising surge in interest in the GP precisely because of people like Cynthia McKinney, Jared Ball, Head-Roc, and others.
The GP is now appealing to exactly the activists whom people on the street – disadvantaged, disrespected, misunderstood, minority people look up to. This is the holy grail of American leftist 3rd parties. Let the limousine liberals stay in the Democratic Party – with this ticket the GP now has a chance to really diversify itself and establish footholds in communities around the country that wouldn’t have given it the time of day until this year.
Ralph Nader, whom I love dearly, has never attracted this segment of the electorate, for all his good work, because his own personal causes have for whatever reason never caught a spark with it. I’m not sure how much clearer it can be now that the Nader campaign and the McKinney campaign are hardly competing with each other. They may as well be on different planets in terms of their respective messages and target audiences. I say good luck to both.
When the Green Party is on the ballot I vote Green Party. I take a lot of crap for it from my Obamaist friends. I will vote for McKinney if I have that choice in my state. But she just seems to only appeal to a teeny tiny part of the electorate. She doesn’t inspire me. She’s a complete turnoff to the vasy array of people who will vote in this election. It’s painful to read the issues page on her web site. I’m a Green Party loyalist. I’ll vote for her if I must. But it will hurt a lot.