Green Party candidate for president Jill Stein. Photo courtesy Wikipedia.
By Richard Knee
September 23, 2012
Green Party candidate Jill Stein believes that as president she could overcome partisan differences with Congressional Democrats and Republicans by using the media to rally public pressure to her side.
Stein made the assertion Saturday night when a reporter asked why progressive voters should pick her over Peace and Freedom nominee Roseanne Barr or Democratic incumbent Barack Obama, especially since the president is expected to have at least two Supreme Court nominations to try to move through the Senate during the next term.
Speaking to a small but enthusiastic crowd in a cavernous storefront headquarters for several local candidate and issue campaigns in Berkeley, Stein said it was public pressure that caused GOP Congress members to abandon an effort earlier this year to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act, known for short as SOPA, which opponents had argued was censorious.
“People got on the phone and the internet, and that bill was stopped on a dime. The president can be not just commander-in-chief but also organizer-in chief,” she said.
She also told a reporter she was working with other minor-party candidates – those appearing on ballots in states aggregating the 270 or more electoral votes needed to win the presidency – to try to gain inclusion in the presidential debates due to start on Oct. 3. So far, only Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, are the ticketed participants.
During her main speech, to roughly 60 attendees, Stein spent nearly 45 minutes harping on familiar themes such as Democratic and Republican coziness with Wall Street, and Obama’s continuation and expansion of wars abroad and attacks on civil liberties at home. Wars for oil and corporate bail-outs are annually costing $2 trillion that could be used for education, health care and other publicly beneficial services and programs, she said.
Saturday’s speaking engagement was the first of six Stein has scheduled in northern California. The others are slated Monday at College of the Redwoods in Eureka and at Humboldt State University; and Tuesday at Sonoma State University, at Napa Valley College and at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Palo Alto.
The Hunger Site
October 3, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Jill Stein proved herself to be a competent and well-informed debater and candidate when she was included in some of the televised debates for governor in Massachusetts in 2002. The mainstream media outlets basically declared her the winner. The unDemocratic Party then colluded with their Republican partners to exclude her from more debates. If the Democrats truly supported democracy, they’d support having all the ballot qualified candidates in the debates, which would actually help them. Stein would help Obama to destroy Romney; or maybe Obama would come to his friend Mitt’s defense if Jill hammered him too hard.
Stein’s running mate Cherri Honkala us a long time and respected anti-poverty activist who should be part of the VP “debate.” Today on FSRN she pointed out that voters had a chance to hear all the candidates, the 40 percent of voters who identify as independent and the many more who don’t vote might turn out for the Stein-Honkala ticket. Maybe the millions stuck in poverty who aren’t even part of the discussion by Obama and Willard would vote for their interests and against the Wall Street parties, and we’d have a Green president.
But the system is rigged and only mass civil disobedience or disrupting the sham debates will force a democratic change.
September 25, 2012 at 11:27 am
I’m voting for Jill Stein! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaObRxkX8K4
September 25, 2012 at 11:37 am
So is Harvey Wasserman, even though he thinks the GOP is going to manage to steal this one, again, because Obama supporters won’t turn out to protect the vote this time. Here’s Harvey introducing Jill at a fundraiser for the Coalition Against Nukes in D.C., http://youtu.be/8onWkY36xqc
September 25, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Why would the GOP need to steal this one when they have their best president that they’ve ever had in La Casa Blanca/The White House? (Despite that faux “D” behind his name and that “Peace” Prize that Mr Change We Can Believe In received). He has how many “wars” now? One loses count. I think it’s around 7 and he’s pushing for 8 (Iran) plus all the geographic locations where Mr Change is droning and killing innocent people. If anything, the GOP might think he’s a bit far to the right for them. And then there’s this:
Obama moves to overturn court ruling invalidating indefinite detention law
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/sep2012/cour-s22.shtml
As for the Obamabots (Obama’s devout supporters), they are some of the most willfully-ignorant people one can talk with. They have no idea what their “savior” has done because they’ve not been paying attention since he took office, and then when one tries to educate them on his reprehensible Bush-like record, they rush to defend his actions. Yet they protested the same actions under Bush. Their hypocrisy is at a new level.
Drone attacks in Pakistan are counterproductive, says report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/25/drone-attacks-pakistan-counterproductive-report
September 25, 2012 at 1:44 am
Rosa,
There is no way for Jill Stein to get
into the debates if she tries to meet CPD’s ridiculous requirements,
established for the clear purpose of holding our Democracy hostage.
However, there is a petition currently circulating
http://occupythecpd.org/
where the attempt is being made to break through this barrier to
Democracy. Its chance for being heeded are small, but then if you’ll
recall SOPA & PIPA, two bills on the fast track for Congressional
approval and a lightning-fast signature by Obama, you’ll recall that
they were indeed stopped!
The bills were disguised as anti-piracy
protections on the internet, but were truly a corporate attack on the
freedom of the internet. As we know, the rest of MSM is now fully
owned and directed by the corporations. The passage of SOPA &
PIPA would have brought TOTAL corporate control by including the
internet under their control. In fact, if Obama is re-elected you can
bet the same type of attempt will come from a different direction –
or Obama himself might find some way to take away this last vestige
of freedom from us.
The reason the bills were thrown out is
because the public at large discovered – mostly by way of the
internet itself – just how horrible they would have been. So my
hope is that we can have another “miracle” of this sort – a
miracle brought about by the 99% working TOGETHER and not allowing
themselves to be divided (and thus conquered) by the corporations and
their lackeys. Then there’s the battle against electronic voting,
which has been pushed on the rug by both Dems & Repubs in all the
elections since it began.
Tyranny is tough to break, but it can
be done. We face now a tyranny in the U.S. which is potentially as
effective as any the world has ever known. It’s not fully-declared
yet, but the groundwork is being laid steadily and insidiously,
awaiting the right time for the move to be made. We must fight it now
as though it were already declared. If we fail to address it in these
terms then it can continue to hide behind clever manipulators like
Obama.
September 24, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Rosa,
There is no way for Jill Stein to get
into the debates if she tries to meet CPD’s ridiculous requirements,
established for the clear purpose of holding our Democracy hostage.
However, there is a petition currently circulating
http://occupythecpd.org/
where the attempt is being made to break through this barrier to
Democracy. Its chances for being heeded are small, but then if you’ll
recall SOPA & PIPA, two bills on the fast track for Congressional
approval and a lightning-fast signature by Obama, you’ll recall that
they were indeed stopped!
The bills were disguised as anti-piracy
protections on the internet, but were truly a corporate attack on the
freedom of the internet. As we know, the rest of MSM is now fully
owned and directed by the corporations. The passage of SOPA &
PIPA would have brought TOTAL corporate control by including the
internet under their domain. In fact, if Obama is re-elected you can
bet the same type of attempt will come from a different direction –
or Obama himself might find some way to take away this last vestige
of freedom from us.
The reason the bills were thrown out is
because the public at large discovered – mostly by way of the
internet itself – just how horrible they would have been. So my
hope is that we can have another “miracle” of this sort – a
miracle brought about by the 99% working TOGETHER and not allowing
ourselves to be divided (and thus conquered) by the corporations and
their lackeys. Then there’s the battle that needs a strong surge against electronic voting,
which has been pushed under the rug by both Dems & Repubs in all the
elections since it began.
Tyranny is tough to break, but it can
be done. We face now a tyranny in the U.S. which is potentially as
effective as any the world has ever known. It’s not fully-declared
yet, but the groundwork is being laid steadily and insidiously,
awaiting the right time for the move to be made. We must fight it now
as though it were already declared. If we fail to address it in these
terms then it can continue to hide behind clever manipulators like
Obama, and most certainly the corporate powers that be who control the puppet strings for just about all of our politicians.
September 24, 2012 at 6:23 pm
If Jill Stein gets into the debates, then having a more realistic chance of being elected, once in office she will indeed have to use the bully pulpit. And she’ll have a very large one to use, since it will only be with the help of hidden millions of current non-voters and scores of supporters won over by the obvious choice available to see in the debates that she will hold the office of President of the United States. Of course the old Clinton-sign “It’s the Economy Stupid” still holds accurate. As the Green New Deal gains traction, its obvious benefits will increase her popularity with the people.
But by far, IMO, the biggest issue which will eventually run her ship with a full sail will be the environment. Even with the host of changes she promises (which she will make good on to the best of her ability), climate reversal will be very slow. Think of backing up an ocean liner in a sea filled with icebergs. Treacherous going plus the inertia that needs to be gained to move the ocean liner will see the process taking decades. But depending on the degree of her success, people will increasingly be won over, with the aid of so many of the other changes she offers. The end of wars for oil & resources, providing justice for those devastated during the past 30+ years such as cancelling foreclosures and ending student debt, and establishing Medicare for All will all be huge boosts for her – and for our country and for our planet.
We really do need to make this happen. It is actually true and not an exaggeration to say that the future of the planet depends upon her being elected.
September 24, 2012 at 9:09 pm
From my understanding, in order for any candidate to be included in these faux debates organized by the “Committee for Presidential Debates,” the candidate must be polling above 15% in national polls. How is above 15% possible for Jill Stein when she receives little or no exposure from the Corporatocracy and its corporate media? Clearly, the Committee is protecting the Corporatocracy and its two corporatist candidates.
September 23, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Dr Stein makes sense and needs to be heard. What can we do to get her, and other alternative voices included in the debates? Make your voices heard. Let the media know that we don’t think they are doing their job.
September 23, 2012 at 4:19 pm
“What can we do to get her, and other alternative voices included in the debates?”
Nothing.
Univisión is pissed because no Hispano/Latino moderators were chosen by the debate committee. The stale debate committee selected the usual cookie-cookie moderators. So the network (Univisión) offered Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas both of Noticero Univisión as two choices for the committee to add as moderators.
The committee’s answer: No. They elaborated: Many others would like to be included and we can’t include everyone. Translation: So you’ll have to deal with the usual, stale, stagnant, pro-corporate, pro-Establishment basura we usually have for these faux-debates.
September 23, 2012 at 4:04 pm
“a reporter asked why progressive voters should pick her over Peace and Freedom nominee Roseanne Barr or Democratic incumbent Barack Obama.”
Obama is a “Democrat” in name only. Those who have kept up know that he has continued and expanded the Bush regime’s reprehensible agenda/policies. So-called “progressives” protested Bush, they didn’t vote for him. So why would so-called “progressives” vote for Obama when they protested the same policies under Bush? (Answer: Because of that purely symbolic D behind Obama’s name and the “go, team, go” mentality).
This is from Mr Change We Can Believe In:
Obama moves to overturn court ruling invalidating indefinite detention law
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/sep2012/cour-s22.shtml
September 23, 2012 at 11:23 am
Thanks for the Green Party story and report on Doctor Jill Stein. Dr. Stein & Green Party’s Green New Deal provide a smart, sustainable way to create jobs. Solar jobs. Wind jobs. Geothermal jobs. Rail Jobs. The Greens and Doctor Stein have positive solutions.