Outside the Beltway

GREEN PARTY SANITY?

James Joyner · Tuesday, May 27, 2003 · 2 comments

WaPo reports that the Green Party is seriously considering throwing its support to the Democrat candidate for president in 2004 in order to defeat President Bush. This would be a tough decision to make, since they have so many stellar candidates:

The committee began the process of finding a candidate months ago, soliciting recommendations from its state party representatives across the country. It compiled and picked over that list, contacting about 40 people it believed might make suitable candidates — those who could help build the party, while upholding its leftist commitments to nonviolence, anti-corporatism and diversity.

The party declined to identify who is on its list or who has responded to its inquiries. But officials confirmed media reports that they have been conferring with two-time candidate Ralph Nader, former representative Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), party consul David Cobb and New York activist Paul Glover. All are considering running.

Let’s see, a guy most famous for a 1966 book about unsafe cars, the wackiest Democrat of all time, and two people that I have never heard of despite being an avid follower of politics for 20-plus years! Any one of those would be such a terrific commander in chief!

Still, they might make the sacrifice in pursuit of a larger goal:

But while Nader often said, during the campaign, that there was little difference between Al Gore and Bush, the party has since become an especially vociferous critic of the Bush administration, attacking seemingly every major presidential initiative — from the war on terrorism and the conflict in Iraq, to the latest push for tax cuts. That has some rethinking their plans for 2004. “There are Greens at all levels who are so infuriated with . . . the Bush administration that they would do anything to see him turned out,” Strawn said.

Such is the fate of all third parties. The Greens are totally insigificant as a national party except as a spoiler. I mean, their whole reason for existence is they think the Democrats aren’t liberal enough! Obviously, running a candidate to siphon off a couple million votes from the Democrat base is self-defeating.