Will 2008 Be the Surprise Year for the Green Party?

Will this be the year of the Green Party to steal away the Presidential election?

Yeah, I didn't think so either. But tell me, do you know who the Green Party nominee is this year? No. Well wait until you hear this.

It is none other than former infamous Congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney. Remember her? She served as Georgia's first American-African delegate in the House of Representatives from 1993-2003 and from 2005-2007. But this was not the distinction for which she may be remembered.

In 2002, she made several comments suggesting that President Bush knew of the 9/11 plot in advance. She later advocated the unsealing of records pertaining to the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., demanded an investigation into the murder of Tupac Shakur, introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush, VP Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condolezza Rice.

Her most infamous exploit, however, came on March 29, 2006 and resulted in her election loss to Hank Johnson in the Democratic Primary. On this date, then Rep. McKinney entered one of the House of Representatives office building. She walked around the metal detector, which most Reps due since they are not required, and continued on her way down the halls. Here is where some items get sketchy, but according to most reports it is a fairly accurate reporting.

A Capitol Hill Police Officer, Paul McKenna, did not see her wearing her Congressional pin and di not recognize her. He ran after her calling "Ma'am! Ma'am!" She did not stop nor respond. As her reached her, he grabbed for her arm in an effort to detain her. Rep. McKinney then turned around and began hitting the officer on the chest with a "closed fist." He did not arrest her at the time but did file a report on the incident.

McKinney asserted that the officer should be able to recognize all 435 members of the House, even without their pins. She held press conferences, made claims of racial profiling and basically called much more attention to herself than either the incident warranted or the Democrats wanted.

Rep. John Lewis, said of McKinney that "she needs to lower the temperature and stop holding press conferences." Nancy Pelosi, then Democratic minority leader, said on April 5, 2006, "I find it hard to see any set of facts that would justify striking a police officer." Democrats pulled any support they may have had for McKinney and even hairstyle change is brought up as possible defense of her assault.

Now she has found her new calling. The Green Party candidate (along with journalist Rosa Clemente as VP) for the 2008 Presidential election.

If you think her exploits in Congress are behind her and that she is turning over a new leaf (yes, Green Party pun intended), you are wrong. She now accuses the government of slaughtering and dumping the bodies of over 5,000 prisoners during Hurricane Katrina into a swamp.

She is running a "shadow campaign." Which I suppose is accurate since no one in her campaign knows where she is at any given time. She attends online debates like the one recently with her and Ralph Nader answering taped questions from Bob Schieffer and one where she debated herself, since none of the other third party candidates showed. The Washingont Post reports that she recently appeared before a small crowd of aging Black Panthers holding a reunion.

At the event held in a public library in Atlanta, she leans in and insists that there are spies, all around; listening, watching, conspiring and "taking it all down." During her interview at the event with Post reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia, she says that the campaign is not about getting votes but about "finding kindred spirits." When asked why run, she quotes former comptroller David Walker who said, "Now is the time for leadership, not lag-ship." When asked what that meant, she cryptically told the reporter, "I'll let you figure that out."

Getting her wish, McKinney and her Green Party do not even figure in any national polling. Barr and Nader, however are shown in such national polling data as NBC, CBS and the AP.

The ten key values of the Green party are 1) grassroots democracy, 2) social justice and equal opportunity, 3) ecological wisdom, 4) non-violence, 5) Decentralization of wealth and power, 6) community based economics and economic justice, 7) feminism and gender equity, 8) respect for diversity, 9) personal and global responsibility, and 10) future focus and sustainability. You can find this and their platform on their website.

How Cynthia McKinney fits in with their values, especially the non-violence and personal responibility, is a real question. It is kind of like Bob Barr, who for years stood for everything the Libretarian Party stood against, yet now is their 2008 Presidential candidate.

The Green Party made it on the ballots of 31 states plus the District of Columbia. And they are valid write-in candidates in 17 states. Showing some sanity, South Dakota and Oklahoma have the Green Party candidates on neither the ballot nor as a valid write-in vote.

Sources:

FoxNews.com - McKinney Reveals Status of Gender, Race

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191400,00.html

Cynthia McKinney - Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynthia_McKinney

Stealth Candidacy - Washinton Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/26/AR2008102602240.html?sub=new

RealClear Politics - election 2008 - Obama vs McCain (with Barr, Nader)

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/us/obama_vs_mccain_with_barr_nader-957.html