Green Party presidential candidates announced

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.

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Ralph Nader Visits Orlando

A blogger for the Orlando Sentinel attended the event and he shared these two tidbits:

Nader pointed out the benefits of solar power, nuclear energy and why exactly we need to destroy the corporate monopoly on energy. He said that corporations don't like the idea of solar because it is difficult to control and regulate.

"Corporations want energy they can control," Nader said, "this control then gives them political power and power over you."

Succinct indictment of the Bush's administration againt going green. And then there was this about 2000 Election:

An older attendee asked Nader if he was aware of his complicity in having Bush as our president, the War in Iraq and everything else that has come out of the current administration. The guest was referring to the notion that Nader's presence in the 2000 election cost Democratic Candidate Al Gore victory over President George Bush. He asked how Nader felt about being used as a tool and a pawn by Karl Rove.

"As I recall, Gore did win the election," Nader responded, "it was just stolen from him by Bush."

A nicely done review of the presentation.

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Cynthia McKinney to run for President as a Green?

From a Texas Green Party activist’s e-mail list, that’s the word I have. The former Georgia Congresswoman, active in opposition to the Iraq war, a leader in impeachment calls, and strong in challenging the influence of AIPAC over American foreign policy, is being actively courted by the Green Party.

McKinney recently moved to the Bay Area … and registered to vote as a Green Party member.

She would be, in Green Party terms, a great candidate, relatively speaking, in terms of name recognition and political experience. Not sure how much of a backfire personality issues might cause.

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Amen to Lynn Woolsey: Let’s have some Dems get anti-war primary challenges

That’s what California Democratic Congresswoman Woolsey says herself:

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) is encouraging anti-war activists to find challengers to centrist Democrats, with the aim of moving the party to the left and ramping up opposition to the war in Iraq, to the chagrin of top Democratic aides.

“You folks should go after the Democrats,” Woolsey said in response to a suggestion from an activist during a conference call last month organized by the Network of Spiritual Progressives.

“I’d hate to lose the majority, but I’m telling you, if we don’t stand up to our responsibility, maybe that’s the lesson to be learned.”

Democratic leaders have yet to punish Woolsey for her stance, but their aides were irked by and dismissive of Woolsey’s remarks.

“The political reality is that the real targets of the outside groups should be Republicans who have so far refused to join the overwhelming majority of Democrats in voting for a change of course in Iraq,” a top aide said.

Ahh, the current Democratic Congressional leadership: shoot the message as well as the messenger.

Oh, let’s take Ms. Woolsey’s call one step further.

Let’s have more liberal bloggers beating the drum for Green Party or socialist candidates for the general election, too. I intend to do so.

Oh, on a sidebar note, I’d like to say Kevin Drum really fucked up on this post saying that Kucinch and other second-tier Democrats, most of whom are more ardently anti-war than the “big dogs,” need to pack up, quit the primary campaign, and go home.

Cross-posted at Socratic Gadfly and Out of Iraq Bloggers Caucus.

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