Jill Stein Officially Wins Green Party Presidential Nomination
It’s official: Jill Stein is the presidential nominee of the Green Party, rather than just the presumptive nominee.
Stein’s expected selection was made official today at the Green Party national convention in Houston, Texas.
Her running mate is civil rights activist Ajamu Baraka.
Stein, 66, is a medical doctor who claimed in recent interviews that “politics is the mother of all illnesses” and that’s why she now practices what she calls political medicine. Stein was the Green Party standard-bearer in 2012 and also unsuccessfully ran for governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and 2010.
With a social justice focus on climate change and eradicating poverty, the far-left Green Party is seen as a natural home for some Bernie Sanders-supporting progressives — i.e., the #BernieOrBust or #NeverHillary cohort that used to #FeelTheBern — who are fundamentally unenthused about and feel disenfranchised over Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy. Many of them made their feelings known outside the recent Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
JUST IN: Jill Stein wins Green Party nomination https://t.co/4Ffkb6ev66 pic.twitter.com/u45Hqn0JIb
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) August 6, 2016
Jill Stein is actively embracing the Bernie Sanders cohort as she explained in her acceptance speech, Politico reported.
“It is such an honor to also being running in alliance with the Bernie Sanders movement, who I now hear called as ‘Berning Green.’ We are ‘Berning Green’ together. We owe you such a debt of gratitude for lifting up this revolution that has been smoldering for decades. You broke through the media blackout, you lifted us up, and you refused to be shut down by the DNC.”
Stein has consistently rejected the premise that for liberals, Hillary Clinton, the Democrat nominee, is a lesser of two evils, and that a vote for a third party helps GOP hopeful Donald Trump.
“Hillary Clinton is the problem, she is not the solution to Donald Trump. We are the solution. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” she declared. She has also described Hillary Clinton as a warmongering corporatist.
The Green Party nominee has previously claimed that Hillary Clinton has already done some of the things that Donald Trump says he’s going to do if elected president.
Jill Stein: Clinton is not the solution to Trump https://t.co/IgIVCaX5x0 | AP Photo pic.twitter.com/XB0SoCMcYW
— POLITICO (@politico) August 6, 2016
According to the latest Real Clear Politics average of nine national polls, Stein receives just 4 percent of the vote, trailing Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson who has 8 percent in a four-way race. The RCP compilation gives Clinton a six-point lead over Trump, although several pro-Trump websites argue that polling agencies are skewing data to favor Clinton. Presidential candidates need at least a 15-point showing in polls to gain entry into the nationally televised debates this fall.
Stein today deemed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a hero for his role in releasing thousands of DNC emails suggesting that party insiders attempted to undermine the insurgent presidential campaign of Sanders in favor of Hillary Clinton, including collusion with news outlets to make Bernie and his campaign look bad. The controversy led to the ouster of Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC chair. Several other officials subsequently were let go by the DNC.
She expressed disappointment when Sanders endorsed Clinton on July 12 in New Hampshire (which he reaffirmed at the DNC convention) and subsequently referred to the Green Party as Plan B for the Bernie movement. Earlier in the campaign season, Stein said she would even step aside in favor of Bernie Sanders to lead the Green Party ticket.
“Stein said since Sanders endorsed Clinton, the floodgates have opened for her campaign. They have received enough funds to purchase television spots at a level she said they never had before. ‘We’re now a party with a fundraising base,’ Stein said. ‘Suddenly, we have access to bigger things,'” CNN reported.
According to the Washington Examiner, the Green Party currently is on the ballot in just 21 states.
[Photo by John Minchillo/AP Images]
