The specifics of Obama’s alleged “move to the center” are complex, but I have to say I’m amused that lefties like Oregon artist Martha Shade, quoted in this NY Times piece, are abandoning Obama for the Green Party. (I say this as someone who voted for Nader in ’96 and ’00.) A person who hangs an “Occupation Is Terrorism” banner out her window needs to wake up, at some point, to the fact that Obama isn’t, wasn’t and never will be her candidate — and thank god he isn’t. It’s my view that “Occupation Is Terrorism” is another way of saying that terrorism isn’t terrorism, but leaving that aside, I’d like to know: If these folks are so “disgusted” by Barack Obama, how can they justify pulling the lever for the Greens’ presidential nominee, Cynthia McKinney?
In her
statement condemning the Sean Bell verdict (and I too was troubled by that verdict), McKinney favorably cites the extremist December 12 Movement not once but four times. As I’ve noted in a
column [pdf] in the current
Jazz Times, the December 12 Movement has long served as a propaganda outlet for the government of Robert Mugabe, which has just brazenly tortured and murdered its way to “victory” in the recent run-off election in Zimbabwe. Let’s also note that the December 12 Movement has now officially
endorsed Mugabe’s sham. The moral bankruptcy of this organization speaks very much for itself, but supporters of the Green Party ought to be wondering exactly what Cynthia McKinney’s ties are.
In 2002 McKinney
went to bat for the Mugabe regime on the House floor. So the position of the Green Party nominee for president would seem to be very much at odds with the party’s
platform plank on non-violence:
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments [my emphasis]. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations [my emphasis]. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.
Read Craig Timberg’s
Washington Post reporting on the outright, unashamed corruption and bloodlust of Mugabe’s illegitimate government and tell me, Green Party voters, why you’re directing all your ire at the Democratic candidate, and not at your own.
