Now there's a clown car

The Green Party Takes Itself Very Seriously, But No One Else Should

No, not center-left.

And not progressive.

Use of that word to characterize the politics of these guys is just another case of the sort of totally false labeling in American politics that lets the reactionary and trailer-trash right call themselves "conservatives," though they have absolutely never been that.

It sounds like the start of a bad joke ― and in a way, it was ― but three Green Party activists actually did walk into a McDonald’s on Saturday; specifically the McDonald’s in the University of Houston’s student center, where the far-left party had convened to nominate physician Jill Stein and human rights activist Ajamu Baraka as its presidential and vice presidential candidates.

“I try not to buy things from Walmart and eat at McDonald’s,” one said, frowning, his politics laid bare by his T-shirt: “WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE USA? Capitalism and Greed | Racism (White Supremacy) | Religion.” 

However, most of the center’s dining options were closed for the weekend, meaning attendees faced the unappetizing option of going hungry or stomaching a tray full of corporatist, anti-worker, GMO-laden bile washed down with a McFlurry.

And this photo does no credit to either Cornell West or Jill Stein.

 Sedinam Kinamo Christin Moyowasifza-Curry.

The Green Party Has No Shame

Sure, the idea that there's something shameful about trying to draw in Bernie voters is absurd.

But ignore that.

Go for the meat.

Polls show that upwards of 90 percent of Sanders supporters are planning to vote for Clinton in the fall.

But that's the voters, not the activists.

These folks are the activists.

Before Julian Assange beams into the theater, former nominee David Cobb says the Green Party considers Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Anonymous, and Assange—who lives in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition for rape charges in Sweden—to be heroes, an assertion that Stein later echoes.

When Assange finally appears, the crowd gives him a hero’s welcome, chanting, “WikiLeaks! WikiLeaks! WikiLeaks!” 

Assange then compares the choice between Clinton and Trump to choosing between “cholera and gonorrhea,” and calls Clinton’s campaign strategy to present herself as a vastly superior alternative “extortion.”

. . . .

When the Skype session ends, the delegates file out and order Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets from the onsite McDonald’s, some taking the opportunity to find a seat or hit the bathrooms, which is where I overhear two of them discussing Assange’s talk.

“He sure as hell gave it to her,” one says.

“Hell yes,” says the other.

Washing my hands, I notice one is wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt. 

A Bernie 2016 pin hangs from his lanyard. 

“You’re a Bernie guy?” I ask.

“You bet,” he says, ripping off some paper towel.

“And now you’re with the Greens?”

He gives me a look like I’ve misunderstood something. 

“I’ve always been with the Greens.”

. . . .

The difference between Stein and Hillary Clinton is striking, and leaves little doubt as to the former’s lack of preparedness for the office. 

Her performance more closely resembles the debacle of a Trump presser, especially when Stein bumbles her way through an explanation of her muddled position on vaccinations, which skirts dangerously close to anti-vax territory.

In this and other ways, the Green Party National Convention exposes an uncomfortable truth about the Bernie Sanders movement: it was composed of members of the hard left who never had any intention of working with the Democrats if Sanders lost. 

The convention is an opportunity for discontented Sanders supporters, many of whom were already fans of the Green Party before Bernie’s run, to blow off some steam.