Friday, November 4, 2016

Jill Stein for President

In 2012, Jill Stein MD defeated comedian Roseanne Barr for the presidential nomination of the Green Party and scored the highest percentage of the popular vote any woman had ever amassed in a general election for chief executive of this land.  This year, Stein achieved the same nomination while her choice of a running mate -- Ajamu Baraka, who is a longtime activist for human rights -- was nominated for vice president. 

Stein and Baraka comprise the only left-of-center ticket on the ballot in states whose combined sum of Electoral votes is a majority.  That duo is therefore the target of attacks from the establishment.  But sadly, the ghastliest hostility toward the Green standard-bearers and their supporters is from media that had garnered the trust of many liberals.

Stein, Baraka (Green Party)
For instance, here are two responses to a poll in which Stein/Baraka drew 10% among voters under 30 years old.
"I have never hated millennials more."
Clara Jeffery, editor-in-chief of 
Mother Jones, 15 September

"Raise the voting age to 30."
Jesse Eisinger of ProPublica, 29 Sept.
Another example is from August 8, when a woman named Cora called into The Thom Hartmann Program.

Cora:  "[A]ll some of us have left is our voice.  So, some of us will vote for Jill Stein because we've protested in the streets, we've written to and called Congress, and they have not paid attention.  I can tell you--"
Hartmann:  "So you'll vote for Jill Stein even though her top five donors are from corporations Aon, Xoom Global Money Transfer, IBM, Thoughtworks and UPS?"

By press time, Stein's campaign had received no more than $4,300 from any of those companies.  To put that into perspective, note Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign has accepted $503K from J.P. Morgan Chase, $503K from Time Warner, $430K from Morgan Stanley, $421K from Wells Fargo, and $418K from Bank of America.  Thoughtworks designs software and Aon primarily manages risk.  Thus, Hartmann's question resembled satire.

For a fuller picture, examine the record of donations from whole industries.  Clinton's campaign, in addition to the pro-Clinton super-PACs and the joint fundraising committee known as the Hillary Victory Fund (through which Clinton's campaign receives laundered money) have accepted a combined $105M from the securities & investment industry.  From retirees, Stein's campaign (which is not supported by any super-PAC or joint fundraising committee) has received $195K: more than from any industry.

Later in the conversation, Hartmann jabbed Stein for residing in "lily-white, upper-middle-class Lexington, Massachusetts."

Clinton at the New York Stock Exchange with its
then-CEO: Duncan Niederauer.  (Dept. of State)
In the Town of Lexington, 26.3% of people are nonwhite, 24.4% are immigrants, 4.4% are in poverty, and the median household income in 2014 was $137K.  That income is indeed characteristic of the upper middle class.  But let us contrast those figures with others.  Clinton resides in the hamlet of Chappaqua in the Town of New Castle, New York.  In that town, 14.5% are nonwhite, 13.0% are immigrants, 3.0% are in poverty, and the median household income in 2014 was $186K.

Clinton lived in a gubernatorial mansion for 12 years and in the White House for eight.  The home she and her husband have had in Chappaqua since 2000 is worth $2.3M.  They recently bought the property next door for $1.2M and began to have renovations done on it without the required permits.  The house the Clintons have had in Washington, DC, since 2000 is worth $5.8M and is in the neighborhood known as Observatory Circle, which includes the vice presidential residence.  Since 2004, the couple has owned an apartment that is 186m² and atop the Clinton Presidential Library & Museum.  The Secret Service has protected Clinton for the last quarter-century.

Hartmann did not explain how she, regardless of all of that, could be more in touch with oppressed groups than is Stein, who often participates in demonstrations for economic, environmental, and racial justice, etc., and would be the first Jewish president of the United States.  Clinton publicly speaks about her Protestant identity, although not much about her connection to religious fanaticism.  As Jeff Sharlet documents in The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power (2008), Clinton in 1993 began her many years of association with a right-wing Christian cult known as "the Family."  While first lady, she regularly attended a prayer-group of women in the Family, which prohibits sex-integrated prayer.  Said group included
  • Susan Baker, who has served on the board of Focus on the Family and is the wife of James Baker III: secretary of State, Bush-Quayle administration; secy. of the Treasury, Reagan adm.; chief of staff at White House, Reagan & Bush-Quayle adms.; undersecy. of Commerce, Ford adm.; chief representative of Bush 2000 for the theft of the election in Florida; director, chairperson, or manager of Bush 1992, Bush '88, Reagan '84, Bush '80 and Ford '76; senior advisor, Reagan '80; regional chairperson, Nixon '72.
  • Joanne Kemp, who has served on the board of the Francis A. Schaeffer Foundation and is the widow of Rep. Jack Kemp (R-NY): the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1996.
  • Eileen Bakke, who is a former senior vice pres. of Imagine Schools, which she founded with her husband Dennis Bakke: fmr. CEO of AES.

Roosevelt (FDR Library)
For decades, Clinton was advised by the late Rev. Donald Jones, who described her as averse to the liberalism advanced by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Jones taught Clinton to be a Burkean conservative: reverential to the ruling class, averse to timely progress, and suspicious of deductive reason.  He encouraged her to embrace the ideology espoused after 1945 by the late Rev. Reinhold Niebuhr, which prioritizes amoral, aggressive pursuit of US interests abroad at the expense of social justice.  Jones persuaded her to accept the theology of Paul Tillich, which values individual redemption over the Social Gospel.  For Clinton, the Family reinforced those philosophical stances, which show in her record.

Hartmann:  "...Stein pops up every four years to be the star of the show.  That's it.  She has no political experience and has no interest in it..."

That is false.  Stein, like Clinton, is running for president for only the second time.  Stein, before and between her presidential campaigns, has visibly worked to advance her cause.  Among her finest moments in that respect was when she, as the Green gubernatorial nominee in 2002, was allowed into the second-to-last debate, which included Mitt Romney (R), then-Treasurer Shannon O'Brien (D) and two others.  Stein was generally deemed the winner of it.
"The kooks should be excluded from the final... debate...  That way, Jill Stein will have the stage all to herself...  [T]he inclusive... format has demonstrated... 'Green' is synonymous with 'Grownup' in Massachusetts this election cycle.  The two major-party candidates... have proven themselves to be no better than schoolyard scrappers...  [E]lections are about values.  To tell progressive Democrats they would throw away their vote to support the... adult in the... race is a losing strategy."
Eileen McNamara, "Clock Ticking for O'Brien," The Boston Globe, 27 October 2002
In that race, despite 1) exclusion from all debates but one, 2) expectation of a close result between the major-party contenders, 3) trickery and scare-tactics Democratic leaders waged against Stein and her supporters, and 4) the conservative wave across the country on Election Day, Stein garnered 3.49% of the vote.  Romney won by 4.77%.

In 2004, as the Green nominee for a seat in the state legislature, Stein drew 21.3% and placed ahead of her Republican opponent.  In 2006, as the Green nominee for secretary of the Commonwealth, Stein received 17.7% statewide.

Perot
(Dept. of the Navy)
As for Hartmann's complaint about "no political experience," let us recall how, in the first debate for the presidential general election of 1992, candidate Henry Ross Perot (I), who never held elected office, replied to his opponents' talk of experience.
"[T]hey have a point.  I have no experience in running up $4T in debt.  I have no experience in gridlock government in which no one takes responsibility for anything and in which everyone blames everyone else.  I have no experience in the creation of the worst public-school system in the industrialized world...  I have a lot of experience in figuring out how to solve problems, making the solutions work, and then moving on to the next problem.  I have a lot of experience in not taking 10 years to solve a 10-minute problem.  So if this is the time for action, I... have experience that counts."
Earlier in the debate, he said:
"I was not put on the ballot by... any money from special interests...  Over time, we have developed a government that comes at the people [and] from the top, down...  [T]he people are... treated as objects to be programmed during the campaign with commercials, media events, fear messages, personal attacks, and things of that nature.  What... makes [my candidacy] unique is that it came from... people... all over this country who want a candidate who works for and belongs to nobody but them.  I am in this race as their servant.  I belong to them."
The reason why this blog includes no review of the face-offs between Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump is that the debates for the presidential general election are illegitimate.  They have been that way since 1988.  Between the two that were held that year, the board of trustees of the education fund of the League of Women Voters unanimously decided to nix its sponsorship of the final said event.  To announce that decision, the League issued a press release that stated in part:
"'[T]he demands by the two [major] campaign[s] would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter,' League president Nancy M. Neuman said...  '[T]he candidates... aim to add debates to their... charades devoid of substance, of spontaneity, and of honest answers to tough questions,' Neuman said.  'The League has no intention to become an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public.'

 "...The campaigns' agreement was negotiated 'behind closed doors' and was presented to the League as 'a done deal,' she said, its 16 pages of conditions not subject to negotiation...  Neuman called 'outrageous' the campaigns' demand to control the selection of questioners, the composition of the audience, access by the press to the hall, and other issues...
"'Never in the history of the League of Women Voters have two ca[mpaig]ns come to us with such stringent, unyielding and self-serving demands.'"
Romney
(Gage Skidmore)
Later that day, Neuman held a news conference at which she elaborated in part:
"Beholden to no political party, the League has, for 68 years, been looked to for the even-keeled information voters need...  Soon after the League was founded, it began to bring candidates... together in public to discuss and debate... various issues.  These forums were at the local and state level...
"In 1976, the League institutionalized debates at the national level by bringing televised, nonpartisan exposure to the presidential candidates'... positions...  After the election of 1984, the League decided... to sponsor a full series of primary and general-election presidential debates in 1988.  In early 1987 -- as our site-selection process and other planning were already underway -- the chairmen of the two [major] political parties announced plans to sponsor their own series of debates.  They had set up a commission... and... urged us to step aside.  We did not.  Since... that day, the League has argued an organization set up by the political parties is not an appropriate sponsor of presidential debates...

 "We forged ahead with our plans for debates in the fall of 1988.  In May this year, we sent to the [major] campaigns proposals that outlined our recommendations for dates, sites, the format and other concerns...  After a couple of weeks of negotiations around Labor Day, the... campaigns announced they settled most points of contention...  The problem was: the sponsors were not in on any of it.  The negotiations... were... by the campaigns alone to serve their interests.  Throughout the negotiations, I asked the campaigns to open the door to the League...  The[y] said no...
"[T]hey went so far as to insist they review the moderator's opening comments...  [T]he campaigns dictated... how the questions will be asked [and] how the cameras will be placed...  [The panelists of the debate] are under very clear restrictions on what they can ask...  [T]he moderator must, before each question is asked, announce the topic...  [That announcement] is like a cue for prepared answers.  There are not supposed to be follow-up questions...  The campaigns... want to be able to communicate with the producer during the debate."
Trump with Clinton's husband
(William Vasta / White House)
The "commission" is the Commission on Presidential Debates, which has controlled all debates for every presidential general election since then and remains a private corporation owned by only the two major parties.  In 2000, Trump blasted the practices of the CPD as "disgraceful," "inconceivable," and "very, very unfair."  This year, 76% of likely voters wanted for Stein to be included in the debates.  Nevertheless, when police noticed her as she gave interviews on the campus on which the first debate would be held hours later, she was escorted off the premises.  When Stein attempted to enter the same campus for the second debate of 2012, she was arrested and then handcuffed to a metal chair in a warehouse for eight hours.

Hartmann:  "If you think a vote for Jill Stein, which will elect Donald Trump, is okay, check your white privilege..."

The next day, a poll commissioned by ABC and The Wash. Post was published.  In that survey, the percentage of nonwhites who back Stein/Baraka is double that of whites who back said ticket.  Nonwhites for Stein/Baraka include 

Cora:  "I have friends who are people of color who will vote for Jill Stein, and--"
Hartmann:  "Just because other people are stupid, that doesn't mean you should be...  Stein has refused to release her tax-returns."

McKinney (Collection of
the US House of Reps.)
In 2010, Stein was again the Green gubernatorial nominee in Massachusetts.  The three other contenders in that election refused to disclose any tax-returns, but Stein disclosed hers from 2009, during which she and her husband had a gross income of $325K while that of Clinton and her husband was $10M.  Stein released her tax-return from 2015, during which she and her husband had a gross income of $349K while that of the Clintons was $11M.

Cora:  "Hillary has refused to release those transcripts."

The caller was referring to remarks Clinton delivered to corporate groups from whom she collected $225K per speech.  In public, she said the reason for her refusal was the existence of a double standard, not fear of political damage.  Clinton's explanation was proven false when WikiLeaks revealed that her staff read the transcripts in order to compile potentially troublesome excerpts and assess how much they could damage her bid for the nomination.  The transcripts were withheld because such damage would have been enormous.

WikiLeaks disclosed those excerpts last month.  As they document, Clinton said she "admire[s]" Rep. Peter King (R-NY), deems chairman & CEO Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs "a legend" (4 June 2013), wants for both major political parties to be "moderate," and is against -- "in all senses" -- legalization of marijuana (18 March 2014).  These additional excerpts are edited for clarity and concision.  Boldface is added.

"[T]o relive a lot of my experiences with [Mayor] Rahm [Emanuel] makes me once again realize how much you want him in any foxhole in which you end up...  [N]ow, he has Chicago's back."  -18 Sept. 2013

"Erskine [Bowles] is a very close friend.  [Ex-senator] Alan Simpson [R-WY] is someone I can't help but like.  I think they're great patriots.  What they've done because they love this country deserves our respect...  [T]heir overall approach is right..."
"[Politicians] have to figure out how to... balance the public efforts and private efforts necessary for political success...  But if everyone watches all the backroom discussions and the deals, then people become a little nervous...  So, [politicians] need both a public position and a private position..."
24 April 2013

Emanuel (Andrew
Nelles / Dept. of Labor)
"Bob Hormats is here.  He was an instrumental partner in a lot of what we did in the economic area..."
"[I]f you're in the middle class in Canada, you're better off... than if you're in the middle class in the US.  If you're poor in the US, you are worse off than the poor in Canada and in Europe...  So, we've..., in my view, not adequately addressed the challenges that have come in the last 20-25 years.  Those challenges slowly crept up on us...  So we're all wandering around, asking, 'What's going on?  Why is it happening?'...  [E]ver since there have been [scientific] polls in this country, ...the vast majority of Americans... believed [life] would be better [for themselves and] their children.  That no longer is the case...  So this deserves thoughtful discussion, not the us-versus-them, finger pointing, blame-placing, which will not get us anywhere."
To J.P. Morgan Chase, 22 April 2014

Clinton evidently thinks the economic assessment by FDR was useless.
"Nature still offers her bounty...  But a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.  Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange... have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence...  Practices of the unscrupulous money-changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion...  Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce [us] to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence.  They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers.  They have no vision."
Roosevelt in his inaugural address, 4 March 1933
"For 12 years, our nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing government...  [P]owerful influences strive today to restore that...  We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace: ...monopoly, speculation, reckless banking..., and war-profiteering...  We now know that government by organized money is just as dangerous as government by organized mob...  [T]hese forces... are unanimous in their hate for me and I welcome their hatred.  I would like [for people to say: in] my first term..., the forces of selfishness and of lust for power met their match.  I would like [for people to say: in] my second term..., these forces met their master...  [T]hose who disparage... citizens on the relief rolls... say those who are on relief... are worthless.  The[ disparagers'] solution... is to... purge the rolls by starvation...  But you and I... refuse to accept that estimate of our unemployed fellow Americans.  Your government is... with the Good Samaritan..."
Roosevelt at Madison Square Garden, 31 Oct. 1936
Clemente
("Democracy Now!")
"[A] reason why, in February of 2009, I started to travel [as secretary of State] was so people could literally yell at me that the US and our banking system caused th[e financial meltdown] everywhere.  That is an oversimplification, we know, but was the conventional wisdom.  A lot of misunderstanding of and politicization of what happened... could have been avoided via greater... openness on all sides, I think.  You guys help us figure it out and let's make sure, this time, we do it right."
"[T]here were a lot of complaints about Dodd-Frank.  But there was a need to do something because, for political reasons, ...members of Congress could not sit idly while their constituents lost jobs and shut businesses a[s]... the press said [the financial meltdown wa]s all the fault of Wall Street...  But what you do is important...  There's nothing magic about regulations...  How do we figure out what works?  The people who know the industry be[st] are the people who work in it."
To Goldman Sachs, 24 Oct. 2013

Who else could have been at fault for the meltdown?  Why should the industry be trusted to police itself?

"[M]ore can and should be done that must come from the industry itself, a[bout] how we can strengthen our economy...  [A]ll of you are up to that job, I believe."
To Deutsche Bank, 7 Oct. 2014

"I would like for additional successful businesspeople to run for office...  [Y]ou have a certain level of freedom.  There's that... phrase from a former senator:  'You can be maybe rented but never bought.'  To have people with those experiences is, I think, important, especially now..."
To Goldman Sachs, 29 Oct. 2013

Clinton:  "[Former secretary of the Treasury Robert] Rubin said... when he came to Washington, he had a fortune, and when he left Washington, he had a small--
Blankfein:  "That's how you have a small fortune -- you go to Washington."
Clinton:  "...Right.  But part of the problem with the political situation... is that there is such a bias against people who have led successful and/or complicated lives.  The divestment of assets, the stripping of all kinds of positions, and the sale of stocks become very onerous and unnecessary."
To Goldman Sachs, 29 Oct. 2013

Sawant (City of Seattle)
"[W]e must resist protectionism...  My dream is a hemispheric common market with open trade and open borders...  I'm all for free trade."
To Banco Itaú, 16 May 2013

"A good sign was when Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe said Japan would negotiate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership...  [H]e said Japan wants to be part of the TPP.  A good sign will be if Japan follows through on that."  -29 May 2013

"[B]usiness leaders have talked to... me about an idea to allow repatriation of the couple of trillion dollars that are out there.  You would get a lower rate -- a really low rate -- if you were willing to invest a percentage in an infrastructure bank...  I meet with lots of corporate executives."
To the Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers, 13 Oct. 2014

The next three quotations refer to the late chairman & CEO Samuel Walton of Walmart.

"[T]wo people who... helped me understand this ethic of shared responsibility [were] my father and Sam Walton...  [W]hen I moved to Arkansas, Sam was already a fixture in its business community, and I got to know him and his wonderful family...  [When] my husband was governor, ...he asked me to help improve education.  I went to see Sam and talked to him about it...  I wanted to know what he thought...  [H]e called the heads of other big companies in AR, like Tyson Foods...  [T]hey pushed hard for comprehensive overhaul...: improved standards, accountability, and teachers' compensation...  Legislation passed and we began to see improvements."  -17 June 2013

Clinton's assertion about "improvements" is false.

"Sam Walton was... a great patriot...  I joined the board of Walmart..."
29 May 2013

"[H]e and I built a very close working relationship...  I had the most amazing experience on the board and working with Sam..."  -4 November 2013

"People are entitled to make a profit [on health care coverage,] but that [profit] drives up costs, and we have that built into the 18%-20% [spent on health care as a share of the GDP].  We made decisions and seem wedded to them.  So, to build a political consensus that would dramatically change [the system] would be very difficult."
17 June 2013

Stein, West
(Green Party)
The last sentence is false.  Fifty-eight percent of the nation favors the idea of single-payer.

"Single-payer systems... impose... wait times.  To get a hip replaced takes longer than it might take here."
17 June 2013

At best, her assertion is correlation without causation.

"[W]e tried to build a universal system around the employer-based system.  With... the Affordable Care Act..., that is what we've done."
21 January 2014

That is false.  Tens of millions of people in the US have no health insurance.

"[W]hile we try to maintain what makes the American health care system so special and extraordinarily effective, how do we work... so new ideas get to market faster...?"
15 Sept. 2014

Three months earlier, the US ranked last in a study the Commonwealth Fund conducted about the quality, accessibility, efficiency, equity, etc. of health care in 11 industrialized countries.  The top 10, ranked from highest, were the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, France, Canada.

"We're in a great position... because of our country's increase in production of gas and of oil..."  -26 July 2014

"[W]e are on a path to surpass Russia in production of oil and of gas.  I hope we know what we're doing to take advantage of that..."  -4 Oct. 2013

"[W]e produce more oil and gas than ever before and we're on our way to be the number one producer in the world.  That is a tremendous opportunity..."
4 Sept. 2014

"I want to be able to export gas, especially to our friends, in order to undercut, in Europe's case, the pressure from Russia..."  -7 Oct. 2014

Dunford
(Dominique Pineiro/
Dept. of Defense)
"[W]ith the new discoveries and new techniques to extract oil and gas, the US and Canada will be powerhouses for however the gas is transported and used or exported.  We have tremendous opportunities to be energy independent and energy secure.  That has great ramifications for our own economies and societies as well as globally."
To the Vancouver Board of Trade, 3 March 2014

"The ability to extract gas and oil from previously used places that didn't seem to have much more to offer... gives us the chance to go in and recover oil and gas; or with... fracking, North America is on a path to be net exporters of energy...  There will always be some environmental cost in extraction...  But we ought to... do it...  I believe we can afford to do it.  I think we have an obligation to do it.  So I want for us to become the number one producer of oil and gas..."  -24 April 2013

"We were... up against phony environmental groups... funded by the Russians to stand against any effort: 'Oh, that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever, will be a problem for you.'"  -18 June 2014

Clinton's campaign ignored a reporter's request for elaboration on that claim.

"I would like for us to accelerate development of pipelines from Azerbaijan into Europe.  I would like for us to look for ways to accelerate the internal domestic production... [a]nd go at this in a self-interested... way."  -18 March 2014

"Dozens of pipelines already cross our borders...  Hundreds of tankers on trains cross our borders.  So, one pipeline will not make the difference between the trade in fossil fuels between our two countries, but I think... [n]uclear deserves a role.  The problem... is that to build nuclear plants, at least in our country, is economically unfeasible for private interests.  The cost and liabilities are enormous.  Are there... nuclear reactors that would be less expensive, more efficient and safer?  We should have a Manhattan Project about all this, to coin a description from the era that opened the nuclear age."
To the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 22 Jan. 2015

Ellsberg
("Democracy Now!")
As Stein knows, the real problem with nuclear power is its extreme dangerousness.  She has a plan to create 20M jobs to transition the US to 100% clean energy by 2030.

"To have a no-fly zone [in Syria], all of its air defense, much of which is located in populated areas, would have to be taken out.  So our missiles... [would] kill a lot of Syrian... civilians."
Clinton, 4 June 2013

Clinton proposes a no-fly zone in Syria even though Russia has warned against the attack she acknowledged would be necessary in order to create said zone.  General Joseph Dunford Jr., who chairs the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified on Sept. 22 to the Senate Committee on Armed Services, "[F]or us to control all airspace in Syria would require that we go to war against Syria and Russia," but to establish a smaller no-fly zone would "Not necessarily" require a war.  Although I cannot find specifics by Clinton as to the vastness of the potential zone, it would risk -- if not guarantee -- war between the US and another nuclear-armed country.  On a related note, Clinton publicly said she would respond militarily to cyber attacks by Russia and China.

"Some people think [Edward Snowden] is quite heroic.  I don't."  -22 April 2014
"I think it is time... to quit making national heroes out of those who steal secrets and publish them...  [W]e are [not] trying to keep anything from the American people that the[y] should know."
Pres. Richard Nixon at the Dept. of State, in reference to Daniel Ellsberg, 24 May 1973
"He did not have to take laptops.  When we went to... China or Russia, we..."
22 April 2014

"...took the batteries out [of our laptops and phones], left the batteries and the devices in special boxes, and left the boxes on the plane... because we knew we were all targets..."  -29 Oct. 2013

Clinton was indeed a target.  But as the FBI found, she nonetheless "used her personal email-account extensively while outside the US, including to send and receive work-related e-mails in the territory of sophisticated adversaries."  Moreover, to insinuate China or Russia obtained classified documents from Snowden is baseless.

Manning
(Dept. of the Army)
"[T]he State Department was [cyber]attacked hundreds of times every day, sometimes by state-sponsored groups, sometimes by... independent operators."  -29 Oct. 2013

"[T]hey went after the personal e-mails of people who worked in the State Department...  So I have a hard time thinking a champion of privacy and liberty has taken refuge in Russia under [Pres. Vladimir] Putin's authority."
At the University of Connecticut, 23 April 2014

Clinton's attack on Snowden is false.  He sought asylum in Ecuador, but the Dept. of State revoked his passport as he passed through Russia.

"But the collection of the metadata has proven to be very useful."  -29 Oct. 2013

That is false, at least in the context of national security.

"Private Manning should have never had access to a lot of what he did... access...  But it did not expose the guts of how we collect and analyze data."
29 Oct. 2013

Stein would pardon Snowden, Manning -- who is another whistleblower -- and John Kiriakou, who was imprisoned because he confirmed the name of a torturer to a journalist who did not publish it.  Furthermore, Stein believes our civil liberties should be restored via repeal of the Patriot Act.

Contrary to what Clinton's campaign has said, no document released by WikiLeaks has been proven inauthentic, and although Dir. of Nat'l Intelligence James Clapper Jr. -- who committed perjury to Congress -- and the Dept. of Homeland Security stated they "believe" Russia directed the hack that led to the leak of internal e-mails of Clinton's campaign and of the Democratic Nat'l Committee, no hard evidence backs up that belief.

Julian Assange, who founded WikiLeaks and is its editor-in-chief, discussed that matter on Meet the Press on NBC on July 31.

Kiriakou
("Democracy Now!")
Assange:  "Clinton's campaign, in order to distract from proof we published of, within the DNC, subversion of Sanders's campaign... is pulling the government, pulling the state of politics along with it, to create an international conflict..."
Chuck Todd, host:  "You are not troubled by the idea of a transfer of this information from a foreign government to you?  Does that not trouble you at all, if a government tries to meddle in the affairs of a foreign government?"

That question is particularly nervy, given Clinton's foreign policy and that she regularly seeks advice on it from Henry Kissinger, who -- as national security advisor to Nixon and as secretary of State to him and to Pres. Gerald Ford -- participated in interventions in Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Cambodia, Chile, East Timor, Laos, Mozambique, Uruguay and Vietnam that resulted in the death of many millions of people.  An example from Clinton's record of military interventionism is her criminal support for the Honduran coup, about which she made several false statements.

Back to the exchange from The Thom Hartmann Program.

Hartmann:  "I see [Stein] as a bottom-feeder..."

The definition of a bottom-feeder is "an opportunist who seeks quick profit, usually at the expense of others or from their misfortune."  He did not specify any charge of profit, like the $22M Clinton collected for speeches.  And in this context, the misfortune presumably is the nomination of the two most unpopular presidential candidates in at least 64 years.  Yet, Hartmann implies the electorate deserves no alternative.

Hartmann:  "Stein is about as far from the Bernie revolution as one can be.  She is a political opportunist..."

Hartmann did not explain those assertions.  But the definition of an opportunist is "someone who tries to gain an advantage, or gain something valuable, from a situation, without thought as to what is fair or right."

He and Assange referenced the quest by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the Democratic presidential nomination this year.  Stein's positions have consistently been very similar to his, including support for a minimum wage of $15, support for restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act, opposition to free trade and opposition to the death penalty.  Consistency is indicative of a moral compass.  Clinton has contradicted herself so many times, the public is left with questions about whether she has core beliefs, and, if so, what they are.  The following quotations are of Clinton unless otherwise indicated.

Sanders embraces Alexa
Torres of Nat'l People's
Action & of Citizens for
Community Improve-
ment.  (Gage Skidmore)
For the Successful?
"I'm running for president for all Americans -- for the struggling, the striving and the successful..."
29 Nov. 2015

"I want to be president, not for those who are already successful.  They don't need me.  I want to be president for the struggling and the striving..."
8 March 2016
Indolent or Industrious?
"We have a lot of kids who don't know what work means...  They think... they're entitled to go right to the top... when they have not done anything to earn their way up."
At a summit held by the US Chamber of Commerce, 11 May 2006

"You worked hard to be here...  Many of you are getting a graduate degree after being in the world of work...  I... wish you well as... each of you works hard to hold onto the sense of possibility and achievement you have so richly deserved and earned...  The other day, I... said I want to make sure that young people will work hard...  I didn't mean to convey... that you don't work hard.  I just want to set the bar high because we are in a competition for the future...  [Y]our generation... has some of the... hardest-working... people we ever had..."
To the Class of 2006 at Long Island Univ. at CW Post, three days later
"The biggest complaint I hear from employers is: young people who show up for jobs... don't get there on time.  They don't know how to conduct themselves appropriately."
To the annual convention of NY State United Teachers, 27 April 2007
Did She Land Under Sniper Fire?  (No.)
"I remember, particularly, a trip to Bosnia, where the welcoming ceremony had to be moved inside because of sniper fire."
29 Feb. 2008, afternoon
"I remember landing under sniper fire.  There was supposed to be... a greeting ceremony at the airport.  But instead, we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base...  Now, that is what happened."  -17 March 2008, morning
"I was sleep-deprived and misspoke."
In response to a video that disproved her story, 25 March 2008
"Hillary, one time, late at night, when she was exhausted, misstated -- and immediately apologized for it -- what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995."
Clinton's husband, 10 April '08  (The trip was in '96.  The war there ended in late '95.)
"On a couple of occasions in the last weeks, I just said some things that were not in keeping with what I knew to be the case..."
Clinton, asked about her story, 16 April 2008
Kissinger, Nixon (WH)
Is Race-Baiting Acceptable?
"The... challenge is to take back our streets from crime, gangs and drugs...  [We must] have an organized effort against gangs...  We need to take on these people.  They are often connected to big drug-cartels [and] are not just gangs of kids anymore.  They are often the kinds of kids that are called 'super-predators': no conscience, no empathy.  We can talk about why they ended up that way.  But first, we have to bring them to heel."
In Keene, New Hampshire, 28 Jan. 1996
"[A]rticles about [Obama's] boyhood in Indonesia and his life in Hawaii are geared to show his background is diverse and multicultural, and to put it in a new light.  Save it for 2050...  [H]is roots to basic American values and culture are, at best, limited.  I cannot imagine America would, in a time of war, elect a president who is not fundamentally American in how he thinks...  He told the people of NH yesterday he has a Kansan accent because his mother was from Kansas.  She lived in many states as far as we can tell -- but this is an example of the nonsense he uses to cover this up.  How can we give some life to this contrast...?  Every speech should contain this line: you were 'born in the middle of America, to the middle class, in the middle of the last century.'  Talk about the... deeply American values with which you grew up... and that drive you...  Let's explicitly own 'American' in our programs [and] speeches...  Let's use our logo to make some flags we can give out.  Let's add flag symbols to the background."
Mark Penn, chief strategist of Clinton 2008, in a memo to Clinton, 19 March 2007
"'When was the last time [you did drugs]?  Did you ever give drugs to anyone?  Did you sell them...?'"
William Shaheen, then-co-chairperson of Clinton 2008 in NH, on
what Clinton Republicans would want for Obama to be asked 
Quoted in "Clinton... Official Warns Obama Will Be Attacked on Drug Use," The Wash. Post, 12 Dec. 2007  (Shaheen resigned amid backlash but evidently not at Clinton's request.)
"[O]n Hardball on MSNBC, Penn... [was] asked about the Clinton team's turn toward negativity.  Penn replied, 'The issue related to cocaine... was not raised in any way by [my] campaign.'  ...Penn returned to Clinton's headquarters in Des Moines, giddy as a schoolgirl, and giggled to his colleagues, 'Did you notice how many times I said "cocaine"?'"
Game Change by John Heilemann & Mark Halperin, p. 163, in ref. to 13 Dec. 2007
"That he is African-American is a big deal...  [H]is capacity to positively influence... the behavior of a lot of underperforming black youth today is very important, and he is the only one who can reach them...  I like that his name is Barack Hussein Obama and that his father was a Muslim...  There are a billion... Muslims and... that experience is a big deal."
Ex-sen. Joseph "Bob" Kerrey (D-NE), surrogate for Clinton,
quoted in "Kerrey Signs On," The Wash. Post, 17 Dec. 2007
"[A]s an African-American, he can speak authentically to underperforming black youth...  [P]eople act as if he is an Islamic Manchurian candidate.  And I feel it is actually a substantial strength...  [T]hat connection to Indonesia and a billion Muslims... is a real strength...  I've watched... blogs t[hat] say because he spent a little time in a secular madrassa, he cannot be trusted...  I think it is a tremendous asset."
Kerrey on The Situation Room, CNN, 17 Dec. 2007
"[H]e is African-American and can speak to underperforming black youth in a way no other candidate can...  [H]is name is Barack Hussein Obama...  I think it enables him to speak to a billion Muslims around the world...  There is nonsense out there that says he is a Muslim Manchurian candidate.  He should... look the camera straight in the eye and say, '...[M]y father was a Muslim...  [T]hat fact and my name mean I can speak to a billion people around the world.'"
Kerrey, quoted in "Why Did Bob Kerrey Mention
Obama's Middle Name...?" ABC, 19 Dec. 2007
"[I]n Iowa and in New Hampshire, ...races require... something no other race does...  It is not a TV-crazed race...  It is... a process that demands more...  [A candidate] cannot shuck and jive at a press conference...  [T]hose moves [a candidate] can make with the press don't work... in someone's living room..."
Then-Attorney-General Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), surrogate for Clinton,
on Live from the State Capitol with Fred Dicker, 9 Jan. 2008
"If you have a social need, you're with Hillary.  If you want for Obama to be your imaginary, hip, black friend, and you're young, and you have no social needs, then he's cool."
A Clinton advisor, quoted in "Clinton's Amazing Comeback
Could Yet Crown McCain," The Guardian, 10 Jan. 2008
"The Hispanic voter -- and I want to say this very carefully -- has not shown a lot of affinity for or willingness to support black candidates."
Sergio Bendixen, pollster for Clinton 2008, quoted in "Minority Report: After New Hampshire, a Hint of Racial Politics," The New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2008
"Hillary was[, at a rally on Feb. 19,] introduced by Tom Buffenbarger, who... compared Obama to Muhammad Ali -- the best-known black American convert to Islam after Malcolm X.  'But...,' [Buffenbarger] said, 'I've seen Ali in action...  Obama is no Muhammad Ali.'  The cunning racism of the attack made my heart beat fast and my ears ring..."
The late Michael Hastings, "Hack: Confessions of a Presidential
Campaign Reporter," Gentlemen's Quarterly, 30 Sept. 2008
"I have no... problem with people looking at... Obama in his native clothes -- in the clothes of his country."
The late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH), surrogate for Clinton, while questioned about the leak of a photograph of Obama in Kenyan garb, Morning Joe, MSNBC, 26 Feb. 2008
Timothy Russert Jr., co-moderator:  "Sunday, the headline in... The Chicago Tribune was 'Louis Farrakhan Backs Obama for President at Nation of Islam Convention...'  Do you accept the support of... Farrakhan?"
Obama:  "I have been very clear in my denunciation of... Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments.  I think they are unacceptable and reprehensible.  I did not solicit this support...  [My campaign] is not doing anything formally or informally with... Farrakahan...
Russert:  "Do you reject his support?"
Obama:  "...I have been very clear in my denunciations of him...  [W]hat he has said is... inappropriate.  I have consistently distanced myself from him...  I [would] not tolerate anti-Semitism in any form...  I would not be here if not for... Jewish Americans who supported the Civil Rights Movement...  [I]n front of a large, African-American audience, I specifically spoke out against anti-Semitism within the African-American community..."
Clinton:  "Tim, ...you asked specifically if [Sen. Obama] would reject.  There's a difference between denunciation and rejection.  I think when it comes to--"
(laughter from audience)
Debate on MSNBC, 26 Feb. 2008
"As I... watched... Clinton's... '3AM' ad..., I realized I... often in my study of US racial history have seen images much like these and seen the sentiments to which they allude...  [T]his... ad... states something is 'happening in the world.'  But the ad never says what...  [W]hen I saw the... ad's central image: innocent children asleep and a mother who are in... the night, at risk...[, I thought] of D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation: the racist movie epic that helped revive the Ku Klux Klan with... portrayal of black men as they lurked... around white society...  The ad could... have excluded its racist sub-message if the ad had included... a black child... or [parent], or if it had stated the danger is external terrorism.  Instead, the first child on whom the camera focuses is blonde.  T[he] other... children... are not black...  In my view, the ad... says... Obama is... the danger, the outsider within...  For over a century, politicians in the US have played on racial fears in order to divide the electorate and mobilize xenophobic parties.  Blacks have been the 'domestic enemy,' ...who could always inspire unity among 'us whites.'  ...Nixon's Southern strategy... us[ed] coded language -- 'law and order,' 'silent majority' -- to destroy the alliance between blacks and white labor...  The ad about Willie Horton that George H.W. Bush used... was a crude manifestation of this strategy, as was the... attack... on John McCain's adopted daughter, who is from Bangladesh ...  Clinton's campaign used its... ad in Texas, where a poll Fox conducted Feb. 26-28 showed whites favored Obama..., and not in Ohio, where she... comfortabl[y... le]d among whites...  [T]he... weekend the ad was broadcast, Clinton refused to unambiguously state Obama... has never been a Muslim."
Orlando Patterson, professor of sociology at Harvard Univ.,
"The Red Phone in Black and White," The NY Times, 11 March 2008
"[M]ute... the ad, and what you see are not images that suggest foreign invasion or terrorists.  You see something reminiscent of an ad... about home security...  [T]he images that come to mind for the kind of voters Clinton targets... are not of foreign terrorists.  They don't creep up at 3:00 in the morning.  They want to attack in broad daylight, where they can get maximum coverage.  What come to mind are images... that associate blacks with intruders at night..."
Patterson on Hardball, MSNBC, 14 March 2008
"[I]n addition to the questions about Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright, what he said, when he said it, and whatever reason he might have had for why he said [it], there were... variations on the explanations we heard, and it... deserves further exploration...  [W]e have a choice of with whom we associate and to whom we apparently give... approval...  [Wright's] relationships with... Farrakhan [and]... the leader of Hamas... are problems..."
Clinton in an attack on Obama's choice of church
Debate on ABC, 16 April 2008
"Sen. Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again...  [W]hites... who ha[ve] not completed college support me."
Clinton, quoted in "Clinton Makes Case for Wide Appeal," 
USA Today, 7 May 2008  (The audio is included here.)
"At the last [Republican] presidential debate, two candidates referred to [Pres. Obama] as a 'child.'  That kind of racially coded rhetoric has no place in our politics."
Clinton, "What Pres. Obama's Legacy Means to Me," The Huffington Post, 20 Jan. '16
Kerrey (David Kennerly/
Lyndon Johnson Library)
Bonus: Which of These Current Surrogates of Hers Was Right?
"[Clinton] has not changed a single position in her entire career."
Lanny Davis on Fox Business News, 2 July 2015
"Hillary Clinton will say anything to get elected...  She'll say anything and change nothing.  It's time to turn the page."
Message approved by Obama, Jan. 2008
Hartmann:  "I [mode]rated the debate between [Jill Stein] and Gary Johnson four years ago.  Her positions are brilliant but she is a vanity candidate..."

So we're supposed to disregard policy.  Although Clinton has not articulated a rationale for her candidacy, Hartmann spares her from the accusation of "vanity."  That accusation is usually hurled at candidates who threaten the establishment.

Hartmann:  "Jill is not even on the ballot in a third of states..."

That is false, at least by omission, as Stein remained able to obtain a place on the ballot in additional states.  She is on the ballot in 44 states and in DC, which amount to 480 of the 538 Electoral votes.  (In 2012, 2008 and 2004, the Green ticket was eligible for 439, 368 and 286 Electoral votes, respectively.)

Hartmann:  "She's [running] to just [say], 'Hey, let's get some money from the rubes.'"

Again, Hartmann makes an accusation but provides no evidence for it.  Stein raised $894K for her previous campaign and has raised $4M for this one.  Clinton raised $246M for her previous campaign.  In this cycle, her campaign in addition to the Hillary Victory Fund and the pro-Clinton super-PACs -- one of which coordinates with her campaign in a way that is illegal at least in effect -- have raised a total of over $1B, which includes $31M from the real-estate industry and $13M from the pharmaceutical & health-product industry.  Of course, the corporate donors who help Clinton are not rubes.  They know which candidates would serve which interests.

Hartmann:  "...You can vote for Hillary Clinton and -- and, you know, hope that, and, I think, in all probability, have some assurance that--"


Hartmann:  "...[Trump would] put[ ]crazy people on the Supreme Court..."

The president cannot simply put people on the Supreme Court.  He nominates a potential justice, who must then be confirmed by the Senate in order to be seated.  After the first year of Nixon's presidency, the senatorial Democrats only once prevented confirmation of a nomination by a Republican president to the Supreme Court but always could have done so via filibuster if not a vote of rejection.

Hartmann:  "[P]eople of color, immigrants, people who have immigrants in their family, people with $1T of student debt, and people who depend on Social Security... can't afford [to vote for Stein]..."

He argues they can afford to vote for Clinton, who has no specified plan to increase funds for Social Security (Stein would lift the cap on how much income is subject to the payroll tax), who does not share Stein's goal to cancel student debt, and whose record on race and immigration is dismal.  (That record has been discussed in previous entries.)
"I am... adamantly against illegal immigrants."
Clinton on The John Gambling Show, 11 Feb. 2003
Hartmann:  "[Y]ou can, by voting for Jill Stein..., choose not to participate."
"The issues that face people are so big, the people can become either demoralized or radicalized...  [Prime Min. Margaret] Thatcher's most dangerous statement was, ‘There is no alternative.'  She said to people, 'Whatever you do, whatever you think, however hard you work, you'll get nowhere.  Don't even try.'  It paralyzed a lot of people...  [Y]ou can make progress only by doing something...  [Y]ou have to believe it can be done."
Tony Benn (1925-2014), member of the Parliament of the UK (1950-2001)
Cuomo is now governor.
(nysenate.gov)
If the Democrats were particularly disturbed by the prospect of a victory for Trump, they would have nominated the scandal-free Sanders, who, according to a year of polls, would have had a better chance to beat Trump than Clinton has.  Yet, many Democrats who voted to nominate Clinton insist people should be so scared of him as to betray their conscience even though, on July 20, Clinton's campaign stated, "Vote your conscience."

In above quotations, Hartmann somewhat vaguely pushed the common argument by which a vote for Stein risks a repeat of when, in the presidential election of 2000, votes for Ralph Nader -- who was the Green nominee -- in Florida "cost" then-Vice-Pres. Al Gore the race.  However, that argument is fatally flawed for various reasons, such as that Nader did not cost Gore the race.
  • The critical Electoral votes of FL were stolen for George W. Bush by his brother, who was governor of the state, by Katherine Harris, who was secretary of State of FL and simultaneously co-chaired Bush's campaign there, by numerous Republican operatives, and ultimately by the majority of the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore.
  • An objection by at least one member of each house of Congress is required in order for it to debate the legitimacy of Electoral votes from a given state and then vote on whether to void them.  More than a dozen members of the House of Representatives objected to the Electoral votes from FL.  But every senator, including Clinton, refused to join the objection.
  • Although Gore won the popular vote, the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress from 2007-2011 did not bring forth a constitutional amendment to abolish the Electoral College.  Even with Obama as president for the last two of those four years, no federal legislation was enacted to eliminate the various electoral deficiencies that -- via accident or exploitation -- resulted in an unfair loss of many votes for Gore.
  • Much of Bush's agenda had Clinton's vote.  Examples: five free-trade pacts, the fence on the southern border, the Bankruptcy Reform Act, the bailout for robber barons, the Patriot Act, the authorization to invade Iraq, and six years of funds for the occupation of it.  Gore's opposition to the Patriot Act and to said invasion mean he and Clinton are fundamentally disparate.
  • Many officials of the Bush-Cheney adm. favor Clinton's candidacy.
  • Corporatism, espoused by Clinton, created the desperation Trump exploits.

G.H.W. Bush, Obama
(Jerry Morrison / DoD)
When Hartmann interviewed Stein twice as she first sought the White House, he did not
  • question her fundraising
  • ask about her tax-returns
  • criticize her lack of experience in office
  • hold the demographics of Lexington against her
  • dismiss her supporters of color as "stupid"
  • call her vain, opportunistic or a bottom-feeder
  • claim she was not on enough ballots to warrant support
  • say participation allows no alternative to corporate parties
  • assert votes for her could result in a Republican victory
  • in any other way insult her, insult her supporters, raise suspicions about her motives, or discourage votes for her.

But in his introduction of Stein on 23 Feb. 2012, Hartmann did state this nation should "remake our economy in the fundamental way necessary to revive the dying middle class and increase economic opportunity for all Americans, not just the top 1%."  He added, "For that, we need..., to borrow a phrase from... Roosevelt, 'a bold New Deal.'  ...[N]either Republicans nor Democrats seem committed to a revolutionary New Deal.  But that doesn't mean no presidential candidate this year offers a New Deal of sorts.  In fact, my next guest does exactly that.  Dr. Jill Stein joins me now...  Dr. Stein, welcome!  I should have worn my 'Jill Stein for President' button..."

Later in that segment, Hartmann noted, "I voted for Nader in 2000.  I lived in Vermont and did not think my vote would much affect the [outcome of the] presidential election.  But I wanted for the Green Party to get federal... funds."

Indeed, Gore bested Bush in VT by 10 percentage points.  Hartmann also was referring to this legal provision, as explained by the FEC.
"Minor-party candidates and new-party candidates may become eligible for partial public funding of their general-election campaigns.  (A minor-party candidate is the nominee of a party whose candidate received between 5% and 25% of the total popular vote in the preceding presidential election.  A new-party candidate is the nominee of a party that is neither a major party nor a minor party.)  The amount of public funds to which a minor-party candidate is entitled is based on the ratio of the party's popular vote in the preceding presidential election to the average popular vote of the two major-party candidates in that election.  A new-party candidate receives partial public funding after the election if he receives 5% or more of the vote.  The entitlement is based on the ratio of the new-party candidate's popular vote in the current election to the average popular vote of the two major-party candidates in the election.
"Although minor and new party candidates may supplement public funds with private contributions and may exempt some fundraising costs from their expenditure limit, they are otherwise subject to the same spending limit and other requirements that apply to major party candidates."
Thatcher
(Ronald Reagan Library)
The Green Party has a good chance to meet that threshold in this election.  Stein was at 5% in a national poll completed on Sunday.  In previous national polls, she has reached 6% and 7%.  In surveys of individual states, she has hit as high as

Let us address a few of the other talking-points used against Stein.

"Stein's investments prove she is impure!  What do her backers say to that?!"

I say it means we who back her should no longer be accused of insistence on purity.  Neither Stein -- who rebutted the attack about her investments, which are indirect -- nor any of her backers ever claimed she is pure.  She remains an infinitely better choice than Clinton is.

"Stein is anti-vaccination!"

That is false.  Stein -- who is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, is licensed by Massachusetts to practice internal medicine, and taught it at Harvard Medical School, from which she graduated -- does not think vaccines cause autism.  She has been criticized because she does not definitively say vaccines do not cause autism.  However, even the latest research does not prove a negative on this matter.

"Well, Stein panders to opponents of vaccination."

That false charge is based on Stein's proposal to end corporate influence on the Food & Drug Administration.  Her policy would likely increase public confidence in vaccines.  That increase, and her plan for single-payer, would heighten the rate of vaccination.  Stein therefore describes herself as "the most pro-vaccine... candidate in this race."  

Even before 2008, the Nat'l Institutes of Health accepted numerous studies that searched for but did not find any link between vaccination and autism.  Clinton, that year, nonetheless wrote, "I am committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines...  We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism..."

Clapper
(Peter Souza / WH)
For this cycle, Clinton changed her position on that issue.

"Stein said Wi-Fi harms people's brains."

That false accusation is based on a comment in which Stein 1) praised precautions recommended by organizations such as the European Parliament with regard to wireless technology, and 2) lamented how little research occurs in the US about that matter.  Meanwhile, Clinton insists more research is necessary in order to determine whether medical marijuana is safe.
"But we also have anecdotal evidence from Colorado, where coroners believe that when some people who took medical marijuana died, they had drug interactions with other things they took."
Clinton's daughter as a surrogate for Clinton, in defense of her waffle
By the way, Stein favors legalization of marijuana for medical and recreational use.

"The Green Party puts forth candidates for president but not for other offices."

That is false.  Moreover, Green candidates on state and local levels sometimes do very well and even win.  Information about Green contenders in this election is here.


And here are more people who back Stein/Baraka.

Blankfein
(Myles Cullen / DoD)
On Aug. 16, Atty. Gen. Kathleen Kane (D-PA) resigned because, the day prior, she was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.  She was an official of Clinton 2008.
"Kathleen Kane would be a great attorney general...  I'm proud to endorse my friend Kathleen Kane and I hope she'll be the first woman ever elected attorney general by the people of Pennsylvania...  Who's more likely to do more good in this job?  The answer is Kathleen Kane."
Clinton's husband, before the primary in 2012
Speaking of resignation, CNN recently accepted that of pundit Donna Brazile because WikiLeaks revealed she sent, to Clinton's campaign, questions the candidate would be asked at a debate and a town-hall-style program that were hosted by said network in March.  Since July, Brazile was on leave due to her interim chairpersonship of the DNC. 

On Sept. 5, Clinton held her first news conference in 275 days.


From Walmart to Wall Street, from Goldwater to Goldman Sachs, from race-baiting to red-baiting, Clinton has proven to be so destructive, unethical, vindictive and secretive as to be an extremely dangerous candidate for any position of considerable power.
"[T]here are three ways to judge a politician.  The first is to look at the record.  The second is to look at the record.  And third, look at the record.  The method is tried, true, time-tested, and pretty much infallible.  In politics, the past is prologue.  If a politician is left, right, weak, strong, given to the waffle or the flip-flop, or, as sometimes happens, an able soul who performs well under pressure, all of that will be in the record."
The late journalist Molly Ivins with Lou Dubose
The electorate must have standards that will halt the race to the bottom of quality of presidential nominees of the major parties.  Among the values crucial to the endurance of this republic are ethics, courage, and the rule of law.  A vote for Stein/Baraka is a vote for those values and for goals the Constitution enshrines: justice, domestic tranquility, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty.
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