Take The Jill Stein Pledge!

[liberalnarb]

[democrattotheend]

1. I like it!

I met a bunch of Bernie or Bust people who are now for Stein at the Convention, and I really do not understand them, especially the ones who live in swing states. Even the guy who organized some of the protests at the convention said Bernie supporters in swing states should hold their nose and vote for Hillary.

[liberalnarb]

2. I was a staunch Bernie Supporter in the Primaries. Stein never appealed to me.

[democrattotheend]

3. Me neither

If she did, I would consider voting for her because I live in a very solidly blue state. But I have never liked her or any Green candidates. I am voting for Hillary because I want to, not because I have to.

[geardaddy]

8. Me either

My issues with the Green Party are that of shitty dealings here in Minnesota. Namely, one Green Party member was sent to prison for accepting bribes and the Green Party members here in MN still look up to that loser.

That, and they vociferously oppose one of the best DFLers in MN history - Keith Ellison.

[Maru Kitteh]

13. Greens are *always* about opposing Dems, that's why they labeled Bernie a "white supremacist"

along with his supporters, and called President Obama "Uncle Tom." Those were the words of Baraka, the anti-Semitic, race-baiting asshole who Stein chose to share the ticket with.

When asked about this in their stupid little town hall on CNN, Stein just kind of blinked back at the host, Coumo, and said she loved that Baraka was "really passionate" and "spoke the truth" and she had never heard him say derogatory words in person.

[MynameisBlarney]

10. Stein BRIEFLY appealed to me years ago

But then she went down the rabbit hole.

And I was a staunch Bernie supporter myself, now....I'm a staunch Hillary supporter.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. The only way a Bernie voter would switch to Stein

is if they hated Clinton so much that they'd rather vote for anyone else than her. Or are so genuinely ignorant of what any of the candidates actually stand for.

Come to think of it, I think genuine ignorance is all too often a motivator of who someone votes for. Such as all those people who support Trump because "He tells it like it is" without really listening to what he's saying. Or those who thought McCain was actually some kind of Maverick. And so on.

Coupled with that ignorance is that far too many people are Republican because their family members have always voted Republican. Both parties are quite different from what they were a hundred years ago. Or even forty years ago.

[democrattotheend]

14. I agree with a caveat

I think what you say applies to people who live in swing states and are willing to throw their votes away.

I do think that a non-swing state voter might rationally decide to vote Green in order to send a message to Hillary to watch her left flank and not take liberals for granted once she is elected. I will admit that I briefly considered this option, but decided against it because I want to vote for Hillary, can't stand Jill Stein, and don't want to help the Greens keep public funding, since they are far more keen on attacking Democrats than Republicans.

I am fortunate to live in a state with cross endorsements, so I can vote for Hillary on a more liberal party ticket and send the message that way.

[BobbyDrake]

15. A vote is a vote, not a message.

If it were a message, it wouldn't be called a vote.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. As a strong Bernie supporter,

if I wanted to send a message I'd write in his name come November.

Anyone who thinks voting for Jill Stein or Garry Johnson or any other candidate "sends a message" does not fully understand how our political system actually works. If you want to send a message, start working at the grass roots level for the candidates and policies you support. Don't vote for candidates that not only can't possibly win, but who probably do not at all represent what you believe.

Those who sincerely think any of the third party candidates are a good choice and represent their beliefs, should by all means vote for them. I don't really have a problem with that. That would actually be an honest vote.

[hlthe2b]

4. I have zero respect for Jill Stein at this point.

She is nothing but a self-aggrandizing opportunist.

[beachbumbob]

5. I been ar war with 3rd party types for a couple decades...

They all put ego before welfare of our country....no different now with stein supporters....

[calimary]

11. Take a number.

I had one Peter Camejo supporter (Green Party candidate for CA governor, 2002 & 2006) tell me point-blank, with a dead-eyed facial expression and an idiotic singsong voice: "WE have to SEND a MESSAGE!" Yeah, girlfriend. You're gonna send a message, alright: "Hi! I'm a chump!"

[ancianita]

6. I know some pseudo-purists who should see this on social sites. Thanks.

[niyad]

9. I know a couple of people who hate HRC so much (and cannot point to one actual, verifiable reason

why) who state that they will vote for stein. they have no idea what she actually stands for, other than that she is the green party candidate.

[Maru Kitteh]

12. Excellent! Thank you for sharing this!

[ColemanMaskell]

17. Helps explain Gary Johnson polling near 10% while Jill Stein's percentage not even a blip

Last edited Tue Sep 13, 2016, 06:34 PM - Edit history (1)

Yeah, thanks for sharing. This does a lot to explain why Gary Johnson has been polling near 10% and Jill Stein's percentage doesn't even register as a blip on 538. Just to see if this quote was serious or satire, I Google searched. Did not find this particular pledge text, but did find enough anti-Clinton Stein material to make it clear that Stein seems to be running not so much FOR anything Green as just AGAINST Democrats. Bizarre.

Previously (go ahead, laugh) I had thought Green was probably a left-wing alternative for the disgruntled in the same way that Libertarian is a right-wing alternative for dissatisfied Republicans. I had thought the Green party would be in favor of -- you may laugh at me again, but -- in favor of environmentally sound policies. You know, save the whales, stop global warming, that sort of thing -- More national parks and sanctuaries like the big marine reserve Obama recently announced in Hawaii -- Environmental stuff. It makes no sense that such a group would spend five minutes or fifty cents trying to tear down the only serious chance we have to do major things to help the environment. It's still hard to credit this quote as being authentic, but it looks as though it probably is. . . .

Further research has convinced me (95%) that this is probably a satire, not an actual pledge; There is something very similar at wontvotehillary.com . . . This is the closest satire to reality I've seen yet.

On the bright side, this means that Stein is appealing to the same demographic as Trump, so any votes she does get as a result of this line of (thinking?) are votes that otherwise would probably have gone to Trump. So if she siphons off Trump votes, fine. Party on.