Green Party Watch

It’s too bad so much coverage of Presidential politics this election is being spent on personality and gamesmanship. One would think that there was nothing as important as whether Sarah was Sarah or Joe revealed his feminine side by coming close to tears. Meanwhile, the 800 billion dollar gorilla in the room was allowed to dominate his own kingdom. As the economy is the theme of daily broadcasts as to WHEN, not if, Congress will pass the bailout, the rest of us watch in astonishment that our future and our children’s future is treated in such a cavalier manner by the two parties.

It’s not just a matter of how much time was spent on the debate about the bailout, but also where the maverick was when it came to the bill? Where was the YES WE CAN candidate when it comes to the opposition to the bailout by the vast majority of American people? If people expected something of substance would be said about it in the Presidential debate there were surely disappointed.

The word both VP Candidates used was “oversight”. This is a term, like Main Street and Wall Street that has been abused in the recent bailout debate. Policy means enforcement which is more than oversight. It is a comprehensive restructuring of the economy that has already taken place. The income gap between rich and poor has widened; the public infrastructure (such as mass transportation, energy production, public health and education and resource management) has deteriorated; vast numbers of the American people have no health care and the inflated housing prices that were so popular to investment bankers closed any opportunity for millions to own homes. The distinction made was that we were told Obama would “fundamentally change the focus of economic policy” after voting YES for the bailout, while we were told that John McCain was “representing reform” while voting YES for the bailout. read more »

Green Party VP candidate Rosa Clemente, and Ralph Nader’s VP Matt Gonzalez are interviewed together on Democracy Now:

We play excerpts of the much-anticipated showdown between Sen. Joe Biden and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and get reaction from two vice-presidential candidates excluded from the debate: Matt Gonzalez, running mate of Independent candidate Ralph Nader, and Rosa Clemente, running mate of Cynthia McKinney of the Green Party.

Read, Listen or Watch on Democracy Now here!

Teasers:

ROSA CLEMENTE: Well, I mean, I think both people up there last night were clear that they don’t have the majority of the American people’s interests at heart, including the majority of American people that have called, into the last week, telling the Democrats and the Republicans no bailout.

MATT GONZALEZ: Well, I think, first of all, it was one of the things about the debate that I thought was awkward. I think the Democrats successfully, during the debate, really placed the blame at the feet of the Republicans, but it’s not historically correct.