[Peace-discussion] Re: [GPUS-PAX] Democrats lack the guts-
Expose of the Dems by one of our own
John Atkeison
john@atkeison.org
Thu, 21 Jun 2007 00:08:13 -0400
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wow.<br>
Actual political discussion- that's <i>great!<br>
</i>(and I am not being a smart ass!)<br><br>
At 10:08 PM 6/20/2007, Michael Canney wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">Dear GPAXers:<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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."<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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:<br><br>
Ralph Nader 463,653 votes, $4,567,299<br>
David Cobb 119,859 votes, $496,658<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
Toward Green unity,<br><br>
Michael Canney<br>
Florida<br><br>
<br>
-------- Original Message --------<br>
Subject: <x-tab> </x-tab>Re:
[GPUS-PAX] Democrats lack the guts- Expose of the Dems by one of our
own<br>
Date: <x-tab> </x-tab>Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:27:32 +0000<br>
From: <x-tab> </x-tab>a.gronowicz@att.net<br>
Reply-To:
<x-tab> </x-tab>
peace@lists.gp-us.org<br>
To: <x-tab> </x-tab>peace@lists.gp-us.org<br><br>
<br>
The facts as cited in numerous newspaper articles quoting La Marche speak
for themselves. <br>
Were they all "misquoting"?<br><br>
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.<br>
I was just re-elected to that committee-- the International Committee.
<br>
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. <br>
The venom comes from you who use words such as
"trash".<br><br>
Tony<br><br>
P.S. And why quote from John Wayne, a war-monger? Why not Mark Twain, an
anti-imperialist?<br><br>
-------------- Original message from "John
Atkeison"<br>
<john@atkeison.org>: --------------<br><br>
Tony has been removed from the email list of other
committees for<br>
carrying on his personal vendetta against Pat and disrupting
work by<br>
doing so. Maybe it is time for a "time out" here
as well.<br><br>
Just one comment so the trash does not go unchallenged. How
many of<br>
us have spoken with a journalist only to find that what we
said was<br>
distorted? I happened to me about a year ago when I was the
manager<br>
of the Berg for Congress campaign. Then it gets picked up by
other<br>
outlets owned by the same people, and god help you if it is
a big<br>
one like Gannett or Associated Press! So, who am *I* gonna
believe-<br>
the Green who is bustin their butt for us and has integrity
and<br>
dedication, or the corporate media that we all bash for good
reason?<br><br>
Pat and the Maine Greens have built the GP with the largest
per<br>
capita Green registration in the country-- not NY, not CA,
but<br>
Maine. She is the public face of that Party. Why would
someone want<br>
to attack her and be so venomous?<br><br>
Why are we are allowing a few in our midst to undermine and
destroy<br>
us? It has to stop.<br><br>
John<br><br>
<br>
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