[Peace-discussion] Re: [GPUS-PAX] Democrats lack the guts- Expose of the Dems by one of our own

[Michael Canney]

Dear GPAXers:

I find it a shame that some Greens expend so much energy attacking other 
Greens, with whom they happen to disagree on a narrow philosophical 
point. Tony's ongoing vendetta against Pat LaMarche over the so-called 
"safe states" issue in the 2004 presidential election is 
counterproductive to building this party and inconsistent with Green 
Values. It is time to bury the hatchet on this one.

Pat LaMarche has done as much as anyone to build the Green Party over 
the past few years, and perhaps Maine has something to teach the rest of 
us about party building, considering they have the highest percentage of 
voters registered Green in the country, as well as more than their share 
of elected officials.

Tony says, "The results of the 2004 election speak for themselves. 
Safe-states and worse was an electoral disaster for this party.  It 
severely "undermined" our party. It almost "destroyed" us, but for the 
majority Nader supporters among us."

He has a right to his opinion, but most Greens are weary of hearing it, 
and there is little evidence to substantiate it. I agree with many of 
Tony's political ideas, but I find that his historical account of the 
Greens presents a narrow, sectarian perspective of the party. We need to 
be about building principled unity among Greens, not promoting 
factionalism and polarization.

Some Greens - including staunch Nader supporters - believe Ralph Nader 
miscalculated and made a strategic error in deciding to run as an 
independent in 2004, and that his decision had the unintentional result 
of doing tremendous damage to the Green Party, not just in the election 
but in the internal divisions that were generated. Here are the 2004 
national vote totals and the campaign money that was spent in getting 
them. You do the math:

   Ralph Nader  463,653 votes,  $4,567,299
   David Cobb   119,859 votes,  $496,658

To the extent that David Cobb or Pat LaMarche embraced a "safe states" 
strategy in 2004 I disagreed with them, but from what I saw of their 
campaign they were out in the communities talking up the Green Party at 
every opportunity. I argued against the ABB and safe states positions, 
but I also disagreed with the Nader supporters who viciously attacked 
Cobb-LaMarche and their supporters.

I was one of Nader's Florida Electors in 2000 (one of 27 who would go to 
the Electoral College if my candidate won) and worked hard to help Nader 
win 10,000 votes in Pinellas County, where there were about 250 
registered Greens at the time. We got almost 100,000 total in Florida. 
In 2004, ABBers were unfortunately the majority among Greens in Florida. 
Many had bitter memories of 2000 and they held their noses and voted for 
Kerry. In 2004, Nader got 1/3 of the votes in Florida that he got in 2000.

In 2004 I wrote to Nader and said I would support him again if he ran as 
a Green, but that I intended to support the GP nominee regardless. I 
urged him to seek the nomination. He chose not to, and in 2004 I was one 
of David Cobb's Florida Electors. I supported Nader's ballot access 
battles, but when Nader supporters sought to block ballot access to our 
GP nominee, even in states where they had a ballot line for Nader (they 
tried and failed in Florida), I opposed them.

2004 was a difficult year for Greens. Let's learn from our mistakes and 
move on. Pat LaMarche is not the enemy, and if she and David Cobb are 
covert moles working for the Democratic Party (as some have claimed) I 
sure hope they will send us more, because we need all the help we can get.

To Tony I'd like to say: Sometimes we need to "respect diversity" and 
love one another, and accept that we will not always agree on 
everything. Many of the ABBers with whom I argued with in 2004 are 
coming back around, and they are beginning to sound more like Cindy 
Sheehan when talking about the Democrats running for president.

Toward Green unity,

Michael Canney
Florida


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: [GPUS-PAX] Democrats lack the guts- Expose of the Dems by 
one of our own
Date: 	Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:27:32 +0000
From: 	a.gronowicz@att.net
Reply-To: 	peace@lists.gp-us.org
To: 	peace@lists.gp-us.org


The facts as cited in numerous newspaper articles quoting La Marche 
speak for themselves. 

Were they all "misquoting"?

In violation of the rules,I was removed from ONE committee when I 
persisted at the time of the 2004 campaign in pointing out how our 
anti-war independent position was being undermined by her pro-Kerry 
statements. I was quickly reinstated.
I was just re-elected to that committee-- the International Committee. 

The results of the 2004 election speak for themselves.  Safe-states and 
worse was an electoral disaster for this party.  It severely 
"undermined" our party. It almost "destroyed" us, but for the majority 
Nader supporters among us. 

The venom comes from you who use words such as  "trash".

Tony

P.S. And why quote from John Wayne, a war-monger? Why not Mark Twain, an 
anti-imperialist?

    -------------- Original message from "John Atkeison"
    <john@atkeison.org>: --------------

    Tony has been removed from the email list of other committees for
    carrying on his personal vendetta against Pat and disrupting work by
    doing so. Maybe it is time for a "time out" here as well.

    Just one comment so the trash does not go unchallenged. How many of
    us have spoken with a journalist only to find that what we said was
    distorted? I happened to me about a year ago when I was the manager
    of the Berg for Congress campaign. Then it gets picked up by other
    outlets owned by the same people, and god help you if it is a big
    one like Gannett or Associated Press! So, who am *I* gonna believe-
    the Green who is bustin their butt for us and has integrity and
    dedication, or the corporate media that we all bash for good reason?

    Pat and the Maine Greens have built the GP with the largest per
    capita Green registration in the country-- not NY, not CA, but
    Maine. She is the public face of that Party. Why would someone want
    to attack her and be so venomous?

    Why are we are allowing a few in our midst to undermine and destroy
    us? It has to stop.

    John