Green Party planning to sabotage midterms and 2020 elections (NYT).

[DanTex]

Every time the Green Party gets mentioned here, the usual suspects here spring to their defense and tell us to "get over" the two presidential elections they pushed to the GOP.

Problem is, the Greens aren't done. Right now, they are trying to capitalize on the divisions in the Democratic Party caused by people like Nina Turner. Their goal, as always, is to help Republicans win elections.

So we must continually be vigilant and remind people who might have Green-ish leanings that the Greens are not about leftist policies.
They are, and have always been, about punishing Dems by electing right-wingers, regardless of how odious.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/01/us/politics/green-party-midterm-elections.html

[Initech]

1. The Green Party can go fuck themselves. They helped create this mess.

[empedocles]

2. On MSNBC video this morning

of KOC besides herself with excitement - seemingly about herself

This is not good for the needed House win.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. Who?

[triron]

25. KOC??

[oberliner]

26. Guessing they meant AOC

As in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

[LanternWaste]

28. "Seemingly" isn't an objective lead-in for House-win analysis.

When we predicate our conclusions on that which is entirely subjective, we invite bias directly into those conclusions.

[DinahMoeHum]

3. GREEN - Getting Republicans Elected Every November

n/t

[Proud Liberal Dem]

5. +1

[workinclasszero]

41. Yeah

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. People need to let themselves stop being fooled by them

Their only role seems to be as a Presidential Election spoiler- to weaken the Democratic candidate and allow the Republican candidate to win, so they can spend the next 4 years having somebody to fight and fundraise against (although they will still spend just as much and maybe more time attacking Democrats whom won't have any real power to do anything). They'd be more at home in the Democratic Party if they wouldn't keep attacking the party and demanding purity tests and fealty to their stances no matter how impossible it is to enact all of their agenda overnight and in exactly the way they want it.

[honest.abe]

7. The progressive activists: "Democratic Party was their foe and decided to quit it."

These people are completely clueless and just as bad as the TrumpHumpers. The Democratic Party is the only thing between us and America being completely taken over by a madman with aspirations to becoming a dictator.

[Ezior]

8. The political (far-)left in the US needs to understand...

... that the way to "beat" the two-party system is NOT to vote third party.

If you want to turn the two-party system into a more-than-two-party-system, you need to use the two-party system itself to introduce rules that support more than two parties, before you can responsibly vote for a third party. Like for example the French system with runoff elections, or similar methods. If you vote third party in an election without runoffs or similar methods, you might as well just stay home and let the GOP fascists take over.

I know I'm preaching to the choir here on DU, sorry about that.

Obviously, the US Green party has additional issues, like Jill Stein's Russia connection. They remind me of our German "Die Linke" party in some ways.

[smirkymonkey]

15. +1000

[leftstreet]

36. There is no far left in the US n/t

[MineralMan]

9. Green is also the color of bread mold.

When the bread turns green, it goes into the trash bag.

[kcr]

10. Be afraid. Be very afraid...

You read the article, then scroll down to see that this was their national meeting this year, in Salt Lake City. What a mighty force.

?quality=90&auto=webp

[lagomorph777]

11. I don't think they'll be very visible.

And every time they pop up, we need to share that photo of Jill Stein hobnobbing with Putin.

[kcr]

13. I agree

I think she did a lot of damage to a party that was always on the fringe, to begin with. Always throw that in their face, every time.

[thucythucy]

12. You don't need masses of people

if you've got:

a) Russian military backing to provide millions of social media posts and tens of thousands of bots;

b) a complicit and complacent media willing to spread your message;

and

c) people willing to be duped, again and again, into thinking "both sides are the same" and "I won't sully myself by voting the lesser of two evils."

[rogue emissary]

14. d) Republicans willing to dump illegal cash into Green campaigns

and prop up Green candidates running as spoilers.

[thucythucy]

16. That too.

[TommyCelt]

38. Hmmmm....

Perhaps fight fire with fire. Support libertarian/constitution party candidates?

[rogue emissary]

39. sadly they might do better than a Green candidate and win in some places.

[kcr]

18. Oh, I agree

My intention was to make fun of the pitiful looking crowd, but I see how that came across as minimizing. That wasn't my intention. Jill Stein and her 3rd party spoiling is a scourge.

[uponit7771]

34. +1

[oberliner]

27. Here's another good photo of that meeting

Note that was taken as the meeting was going on while Jill Stein was speaking.

[ooky]

17. If the Green party really cared about green

they would confine their activities to working for Green by supporting democrats in elections.

[NurseJackie]

19. Fuck the Green party. Fuck the Green party supporters. Fuck the...

Fuck the Green party. Fuck the Green party supporters. Fuck the Green party defenders. Fuck the Green party candidates. Fuck the Green party apologists. Fuck the Green party voters. Fuck Jill Stein (and her supporters, voters, defenders, fans.) Fuck Nina Turner and her attacks and smears of Democrats (and fuck her supporters, defenders, fans, rehabilitators, apologists). And, of course, FUCK SUSAN SARANDON (and her defenders, her supporters, her apologists, her rehabilitators.) She's a lousy excuse for a human being. She's beneath contempt.

[NCTraveler]

23. I would like to add my name as a co-sponsor to this.

[mcar]

37. +1000!

[UCmeNdc]

20. The Green party is being financed by the GOP.

[OilemFirchen]

21. From the article:

Greens bristle at the “spoiler” accusation, which they say ignores poll data that suggested many of Ms. Stein’s 2016 supporters either would not have voted if she had not been on the ballot or would have voted for Mr. Trump.

Erasing all doubt...

[Aristus]

22. I don't understand those Green Party guys.

I'm about as far left as one can get, but I see no value in cutting the legs out from under the Democrats and handing the whole shebang to the Republicans.

[Recursion]

24. A reminder that the woman in the grey shawl is Jill Stein

Never, ever forget who she really works for

[Gothmog]

29. Who is surprised by this?

[JCanete]

30. Your framing is bullshit. I've never voted green, but do you have something proving the intent

you are claiming? Otherwise that's just inflammatory and defamatory.

[thucythucy]

31. Well, the first paragraphs are all filled with statements

from Green Party members about how corrupt and evil Democrats are.

And they're running third party candidates in hundreds of local elections, where the main focus would seem to be espousing the old "both sides are equally evil so vote for us."

So the headline certainly isn't "defamatory"--it's a reflection of what is actually happening.

As to "inflammatory"--any progressive who isn't "inflamed" by what the Green Party has done and is doing by using GOP and Russian backing to help elect Republicans--most especially Trump--isn't paying attention.

[DanTex]

32. There's plenty of proof of intent.

Nader came out and actually said "If you want the parties to diverge from one another have Bush win." Stein said that Hillary was more dangerous than Trump.

And then there's the fact that, obviously, the only effect that the Greens could possibly have on the election is to help Republicans win. It's like pointing a gun straight at someone's forehead point blank and shooting, and then trying to pretend they were really just doing target practice and didn't mean to shoot anyone.

They campaign in swing states. The GOP even helps them in some instances. Everyone knows what they are doing, including the Greens themselves.

[Tom Rinaldo]

33. I will argue untill my face turns blue with anyone who intends to vote Green this November

Anyone doing so for sincere reasons would be making a potentially catastrophic mistake.

Having said that, with no reservations, it is nonsense to state as fact that everyone who might vote Green is doing so with the explicit intention of helping elect right wingers, or that their literal goal is to help Republicans win elections. I believe that is true of some, but not all, of those involved today's Green Party. I also believe that the result of some voters supporting Green candidates for Congress could in some races result in Republicans winning over Democrats (if it is a very safe Democratic seat to begin with that would be an unlikely result). I accept your assessment of the threat caused by the Green Party. I just know enough about how some people think to know that not everyone who votes Green does so because they want to elect Republicans.

[Cha]

35. Of Course they are. Fuckers assisting russia in getting us

the Asshole wasn't enough.

[brooklynite]

40. Misleading headline...

I don't have any love for the Greens, but "planning to sabotage" is an assertion that calls for evidence not found in the source article.

[Cha]

42. KICK!

[dalton99a]

43. People who help Republicans win elections are not our friends.